What is your Lube and Size Routine?

[bpacman]

I have tried the Lube Pad and Lube Die but it always seems to cause a build up in the die and cause case dimpling.

I have since moved to setting up two trays of 50 (upside down) and spraying one tray with Hornady One Shot then alternate between lubed and dry casing. I don't get a build up in the die and it goes much faster.

Just curious if anyone does something similar or have a better way of doing it.



Bp

[mmcnx2]

I use one shot on pistol and it is great but have never got it to work well on rifle. I use Imperial Wax and have never had any trouble.

[BC98]

I use a homemade resize lube. Either a liquid lanolin/rubbing alcohol mix or a similar mix using Lee resizing lube with the alcohol. Both work well.

[user293]

i only reload 38 super, and i put all my brass in a box, spray horndady one shot quick, shake and stir the brass, and spray again. do that llike 3 times and it makes the press run smooth as silk. works great

[Rem700]

Straight walled pistol = carbide dies

Bottle neck = brass in zip lock baggie and a shot of Oneshot shake and let dry a bit and size.

[Sigfan220]

I too have had problems with one shot, expecially on anything bigger than 223. I now use Dillon spray lube. I set all the cases on cardboard neck up and spray a good amount on. After they dry I size and trim the cases. Then they go back in the tumbler for a bit.

I just finished a bunch of 30-06 tonight, ready for some bullets tomorrow

[Norsesmithy]

I use Bag Balm (lanolin) as case lube, and I just give the case a quick once over with my fingers and then run a brush in the case neck. A light film of lube on my fingers and on my brush is more than enough, and I've yet to stick or dimple a case.

Of course, I do all my decapping/resizing on a single stage, so my process might not be practical for people who are loading with progressives.

[cobb]

Been using the Dillon lube with good results. I stand the cases up in a cardboard box, spray at a couple downward angles and then vigorously agitate the box to spread around and then let dry and size.

[wrench]

Straight walled pistol cases, carbide dies and no lube. Or, if I think of it, I'll give a tub of brass a spray of 'One Shot'.
Bottlenecked rifle cases, I use Hornady 'Unique', rub a little on my fingers, swipe each case as I'm handling it anyway, and size.
Very smooth, never stuck a case, and that little tub may outlast me.

[Seismic Sam]

Imperial die wax is the best, even for making wilcat cartridges. Plus, you don't have to fart around with lubing and then sizing. You can just intergrate the lubing into you sizing process with very little added time. Rub your index finger in the die wax tin, grab a case, rub the case with your finger while moving it to the sizing die, and resize. The last thing I would want to do is spray lube over one of my reloading blocks. That may work fine for lubing, but what are you going to do when it comes time to load the cases and put them in a block that has residual lube on/in it?? Lube on a magum rifle or pistol case is very bad ju-ju.

[usnret]

Imperial die wax is the best, even for making wilcat cartridges. Plus, you don't have to fart around with lubing and then sizing. You can just intergrate the lubing into you sizing process with very little added time. Rub your index finger in the die wax tin, grab a case, rub the case with your finger while moving it to the sizing die, and resize. The last thing I would want to do is spray lube over one of my reloading blocks. That may work fine for lubing, but what are you going to do when it comes time to load the cases and put them in a block that has residual lube on/in it?? Lube on a magum rifle or pistol case is very bad ju-ju.

I'm calling B.S. on that comment!

[Seismic Sam]

Imperial die wax is the best, even for making wilcat cartridges. Plus, you don't have to fart around with lubing and then sizing. You can just intergrate the lubing into you sizing process with very little added time. Rub your index finger in the die wax tin, grab a case, rub the case with your finger while moving it to the sizing die, and resize. The last thing I would want to do is spray lube over one of my reloading blocks. That may work fine for lubing, but what are you going to do when it comes time to load the cases and put them in a block that has residual lube on/in it?? Lube on a magum rifle or pistol case is very bad ju-ju.

I'm calling B.S. on that comment!

Well, seeing as every reloading manual I've looked through have very clear instructions to REMOVE ALL lubricant from the case after sizing or loading, would you care to venture a guess as to why EVERYBODY has that instruction in their manual? The reason is that for both rifles and pistols, when the round is fired, a clean case will grip the walls and not allow the case to slide backwards. And as a matter of fact, THAT is why having the correct headspace on a cartridge is important, because if there is an excessive headspace problem with the cartridge, the firing pin strike will drive the case to the front of the chamber, and then the base of the case will stretch backwards because the rest of the case is stuck to the walls of the chamber. This will cause thinning the brass in the base and set you up for the case head blowing off at some point in the future. Now, if the case has lube on it, even if the case has a headspace problem, the case will just slide backwards in the chamber until the case head hits the bolt, and in this situation the resulting pressure on the bolt can be much greater than with a clean case.

If by chance, you still think this reasonably logical explanation of why all reloading manuals have the caution to remove all lubricant from the case after loading is a B.S. rationalization on my part, check this out:



Lyman reloading manual #45, published in 1970, so this knowledge has been out there for over 40 years. If you want to call up the Lyman people and tell them the information in their manual is B.S., be my guest.

[promod1385]

I use an old cake pan, throw the casings in there, spray with one shot and roll them around.

[Rip Van Winkle]

I've been experimenting with Pam cooking spray. I've found 100 .223 cases in a sandwich sized ziplock style bag with a quick squirt of Pam is just right. Zip up the bag, stir the cases in the bag, let it sit for a few minutes and your ready to resize.

Put the cases in your corncob tumbler to clean.

[Seismic Sam]

As I mentioned, I use Imperial Die wax exclusively, and one of those little tins will last you thousands of cases. After that, I wash the cases in the sink with dish soap in a collander, then rinse with another sinkful of hot water, and put the cases in a glass Pyrex cake pan and let them dry im my oven with a gas pilot light over night.

I have NEVER considered using my tumbler to get the lube off, because that begs the question of how many times you can do this before your media gets enough lube on it to start adding lube to cases you have resized dry with a carbide die. I can't think of a good way to figure this out, and considering the consequences of shooting ammo with lube on it, how would you know when you have gone too far, apart from something really drastic happening? I'm not about to use a technique that has foreseeable questions that don't have answers to them, and it's clear that at some point you're going to have to throw your media away and start with fresh stuff.