Bullet lube, DEWC, SWC leading questions…

[ChuckV_net]

Bullet lube, DEWC, SWC leading questions…

I have a question about bullet lube, leading and lead bullet design.

I have been reloading SWC .38 special for 50’ bulls eye shooting out of a 4†revolver.

The SWC pictured I picked up from a local shop which got them from a local guy doing the casting. The most recent batch had a number of bullets with incomplete lube. The question is: will it cause much of a problem to use them, or should I take them back?

The DEWC also pictured below I picked up at another shop and they don’t seem to have any lube at all. How will those behave for me? Will they cause a lot of leading? Other possible problems?

-ChuckV_Net

 

[P95Carry]

It would appear that the full wad cutter has the ''rolled-in-lube'' - by which I mean, it is probably a swaged bullet and the rough outer surface has (should have) traces of lube ''impressed'' - tho it will not show much. Should be fine to shoot at low velocities but - very likely you will get some leading if swaged soft lead.

The SWC ... looks like a good bullet - Lyman possibly, around 158 grn. Some lube missing should not matter greatly - as long as the grooves together can pretty much supply what is needed. In other words - small gaps in lube on one groove is not a major problem. In fact this type of lube in grooves, is pretty much supplying way more lube than needed - thus extra smoke sometimes. Often, a recovered bullet will still have lube present too - bit of ''over kill'' if you will.

Unless there are many examples of these with little or no lube - I'd load and use them .. again - keeping velocities to around .38 spl levels.

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Oh and Chuck - all but forgot ... welcome to THR!

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[ChuckV_net]

Chris,

Thanks for the reply.

You are right about the SWC it is a 158 grain bullet. I think I paid around $5 per 100. And they do seem to smoke a lot. I figured that was the powder…

The DEWC is lighter (maybe 148 grains) and from Hornady. It doesn’t feel sticky like the SWC.

I am currently using 4.0 grains of Unique with the 158 grain, but haven’t looked up anything for the lighter bullet.

My goal is an accurate target load, which bullet do you think would be more accurate?

-ChuckV_net

 

[P95Carry]

Both bullets have potential - but I always used to shy away from full WC's - just me! I do like the clean hole in the paper and they can be very accurate.

On balance tho I would favor the 158 SWC ... I have had terrific accuracy from mine - and have used several loads. You will find probably - in one given platform - that there will be one ''sweet'' load. I never used Unique but - did at times play with Bullseye - both 2.7 and 2.8 grain loads. Most tho used a Brit Shotgun powder - N80 by ICI Nobel .. that was great at 3.3 grains.

I am about to experiment with using some Solo 1000. It is very close I think to the old N80 I used - and seems loads in the range 3.0 - 3.4 will be where I'll try. Biggest advantage - cheap!!!

So - back to ''which bullet''? Purely my choice - the 158 SWC. Probably a lesser prob with leading and with right load - should be good - plus it still makes a nice clean hole too. The smoke, you'll have to put up with!