Oily Bullets?

[NYDAN]

I know that bullets generally come with a slight oil film on them. I never really thought about it much and never took it into consideration. Recently however, I was getting more velocity spread on some 358 Win. reloads than I expected. The next time I went to reload that round I noticed that the bullets were noticeably oily. I rolled them on a paper towel and the oil left tracks on the towel.

Just this week, I noticed wipeable oil on the 6.5 mm bullets I was going to reload. I also rolled them on a paper towel, and they left tracks on the towel.

I would think that oily bullets would affect the velocity spread on reloads. My velocity spreads with these two bullets seems to have lessened since I started rolling them on paper towels.

Has anyone else ever noticed oily bullets? Does anyone take the trouble to degrease them before loading?

Thanks for your experiences and thoughts on the subject.

 

[JD338]

I never noticed or paid much attention to it.

JD338

 

[RL338]

In the past I’ve had Bergers that felt a little oily. Hornady A-tips come off the press sequentially and packaged in that order. With the box of bullets there is a bag included to polish the oil off them.

 

[300WSM]

A positive cerebral effect is never a bad thing but that is all you're really benefitting.

The velocity spread with bullets oily or not is negligible. I'm not saying there is zero difference but rather there is zero difference in performance that you will see.
As example....
25 fps spread at the muzzle will net exactly 1/10th of an inch at 200 yards.
Yes.....@ 200 yards the difference is .100
One hundred thousandths of an inch. Smaller than 1/8 of an inch.

That is not counting any other variables including yourself, the shooter, the weapon, optic/sight ignition variation, brass variation etc etc..

all things being equal its simply nothing.

Now if you're getting 100 fps difference then perhaps.... BUT.... you won't see 100 fps difference from just residual storage oil in the poly bag thus I'd say you have other issues going on.

If it makes you think you will group better though...wipe away my friend. Confidence is a powerful entity

 

[PJGunner]

I've been reloading ammo for a it over 70 years and I've never noticed oily bullets. About the only ones that come close are my cast bullets when lubed with that Lyman 50/50 Alox/beeswax stuff. It's messy as hell to work with and if it wasn't for the excellent results with it, I'd drop it in a heartbeat.
Paul B.

 

[hunter24605]

Diddy bullets

 

[300WSM]

I've been reloading ammo for a it over 70 years and I've never noticed oily bullets.

That's interesting because it's quite common.
I will say the oil is definitely harder on a copper jacket but....
Let's say Ballistic Silvertips with the black coating.

Oil is in every bag...easier to see

Here's a bag showing what I mean



You will just have to trust me.

The dark on that bag is oil residue.


To add...

Once a box is opened and closes many times the oil dries.

It's not like the Exxon Valdez is in the box but a little oil is more common for me than no oil.