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Lubed vs. Coated Bullets

Posted by George on Aug 31st 2018

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

What are Lubed bullets?

Lubed bullets are lead alloy cast bullets that have a lube groove that is filled with a lubricant that keeps the bullet metal from getting smeared onto the barrel as the bullet is fired. Lube started out as bees wax and has now moved into high tech engineered materials. The lube is applied during the sizing process.

What are Coated bullets (Polymer Coated Bullets)?

Coated bullets are the same base bullet and has an epoxy coating. This coating is baked onto the bullet and protects bullet metal from getting smeared onto the barrel as the bullet is fired. The coating is applied before the sizing process.

How do these two coatings compare?

The epoxy coating is much more durable and much less messy. As you handle coated bullets the lead does not come in contact with your skin. Less chance of absorbing lead. As you load bullets there is no lube to creep up the seating die and change the seating depth on the bullet. When you fire coated bullets there is no lube to burn so they make much less smoke. And after you have fired the round (or 500 rounds) the barrel is cleaner.

Other coatings.

There are many other coatings used to coat bullets. Powder coating, spray epoxy paint, Molybdenum disulfide (molly) just to name a few. We have no experience with these and you will have to judge on your own how well they work.


Our coated bullets are slightly more expensive that our lubed bullets (about $0.01 per bullet). There are more processing steps to making coated bullets.