Picked up some Hornady 148gr HBWC in 38 and was suprised to find no lube on the lead bullet. My only experience is with lubed or moly coated lead bullets. I'm assuming this is just fine with this bullet - just wanted to be sure. thanks.

Factory swaged lead bullets are dry wax lubed. Not much lube, but enough for the under 800 FPS wadcutters are normally loaded.

The wax lube works very well. I regularly push Speer SWC bullets to 1000fps without significant leading. The condition of the bore has a lot to do with it, but often soft bullets lead less than hard projectiles. They readily bump up and seal the bore to gas blow by.

Microcrystalline wax. Works well if not pushed to hard.

I have had excellent results with those bullets and highly recommend them. They do leave a little residue around the loader from the wax flaking off. A little compressed air and it's mostly gone.

I also put some in a wire mesh strainer and give them a shake over a trash can to get rid of some if the excess wax so the mess is less.

They also have a light dusting of mica, which kind of obscures the light coating of lube.