Lubricating Rifle Cases for Loading on Progressive Press

jtischauser · Jan 9, 2011

I found out the hard way yesterday that you need to lubricate your rifle cases before you stuff them up into the resizing die or they will get stuck. What and how do you lube your rifle cases? Is that the same procedure that you use for your pistol cases?

Chambers · Jan 9, 2011

Jesse I'm told that this stuff is the tits for .223:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=519525

No lube needed on the straight-walled pistol cases with carbide dies!

jtischauser · Jan 9, 2011

How does a guy go about lubing 400-500 cases real fast like? It seems you would have to touch every every case with this stuff???

Lube on pistol cases makes it smoother and easier so why not spray a little lube on them?

technetium-99m · Jan 9, 2011

You can use the wax, you rub a bit on your hands and then run cases through your hands a few at a time.

Spray lubes are the best for lots o' cases, the Dillon lube is the best spray lube, Hornady one shot sucks. Since its just lanolin suspended in alcohol I make my own by taking a 4 oz. container of liquid lanolin and bring it up to 24 oz. with everclear. Put it in a spray bottle from wallyworld and you have a lifetime supply of spray on case lube.

Rinse repeat, wipe hands on pants.

jtischauser · Jan 9, 2011

How do you apply your spray lube so it doesnt get inside the cases?

Wall · Jan 9, 2011

Chambers said:
Jesse I'm told that this stuff is the tits for .223:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=519525

No lube needed on the straight-walled pistol cases with carbide dies!

Jesse, this is the stuff I was talking about.

Spiff · Jan 9, 2011

jtischauser said:
How do you apply your spray lube so it doesnt get inside the cases?

You want it to get inside the cases. OneShot and Dillon Spray Lube don't affect powder or primers, and they lube the inside of the next for when the expander ball comes through.

jtischauser · Jan 9, 2011

Spiff said:
You want it to get inside the cases. OneShot and Dillon Spray Lube don't affect powder or primers, and they lube the inside of the next for when the expander ball comes through.

Well spank my ass and call me Mike. I guess the old spray in the baggie full of cases and shake it up should be GTG.

technetium-99m · Jan 10, 2011

How's it goin' Mike.

Wall · Jan 10, 2011

Spiff said:
You want it to get inside the cases. OneShot and Dillon Spray Lube don't affect powder or primers, and they lube the inside of the next for when the expander ball comes through.

Nice, I was always told to not get it inside the cases.
This will definafetly make things easier.

Scott Hearn · Jan 10, 2011

Jesse,

That Imperial stuff is the the tits. It's by far the best case lube I've ever used and I've tried them all.
I rub it on both hands and then roll the cases in my hands. You can do 5 or so at a time so they go fairly quick.
Also a large tin of this stuff will last practically forever, it takes very little to get the job done.

Imperial also makes a powdered graphite for inside the necks. I just use a q-tip for that on about every 4th case.
You don't have to do the necks on every case. Don't get this stuff on your clothes 'cause it ain't coming out.

For pistol cases I do what G. T. does only I'm using the Hornady case sizing wax in the tin and it works pretty good.
I'm going to try the Imperial on my next batch. As long as the alcohol will dissolve it, it should be golden.

This is the neck lube:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=319390

pyplynr · Jan 10, 2011

The Imperial is the best I've used. I'm going to start using this http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/pid=33148/Product/Imperial_Application_Media to do my case necks. Just dip them in and done

jtischauser · Jan 10, 2011

Do you guys tumble the loaded rounds to clean them up? Andersen left a batch in hus tumbler overnight by accident and it looked awesome. It was so clean that I would probably forget that I loaded it and was likely to have one or two squibs per match.

Scott Hearn · Jan 10, 2011

jtischauser said:
Do you guys tumble the loaded rounds to clean them up? Andersen left a batch in hus tumbler overnight by accident and it looked awesome. It was so clean that I would probably forget that I loaded it and was likely to have one or two squibs per match.

Yes. About 10-15 minutes in fresh corncob does them nicely. But longer doesn't hurt anything that I can tell, I've forgoten them too. :blink:

pyplynr · Jan 10, 2011

Don't know how my clout this has. But I have heard with stick powders, if the case isn't packed where powder can bounce around in the case, tumbling finished rounds can cause the powder to break into smaller bits and create a quicker burn rate i.e. a hotter load. But I've never seen any real data to back that up. Just heard it from some of the ol' timers that taught me to reload.

Spiff · Jan 10, 2011

jtischauser said:
Do you guys tumble the loaded rounds to clean them up? Andersen left a batch in hus tumbler overnight by accident and it looked awesome. It was so clean that I would probably forget that I loaded it and was likely to have one or two squibs per match.

Yeah. BEnos said he used to take a towel and hose it down with brake cleaner and then roll the loaded rounds around in it. That seems a bit hazardous to health, so I've done it with rubbing alcohol on my lead bullet .45 reloads. Works ok. But for anything jacketed, goes in the tumbler.

irons_shooter · Jan 13, 2011

Jesse. Not sure why you post this stuff after you ask us, but I will reiterate. The Dillon lube will have ill effects on powder is sprayed on the inside of cases. This is not forum talk or I heard from a friend that heard from a friend stuff. One shot is fine and will not ruin your load with spray inside the case. You have to use a lot of it though. The lanolin stuff needs to be washed off for best results. Cleaning them in a tumbler is fine after you load, but if you use Dillon lube, make sure your media is clean. Like Scotty said, I have left the in there for hours accidentally, and nothing bad happened. I have only loaded and shot about 15,000 rounds in the past year, so take this opinion with a grain of salt.. :lol:

technetium-99m · Jan 15, 2011

Jesse,

It sounds like you're trying to load 223 like pistol ammo, don't do it, life is much easier with 2 trips through the press.

Just tumble the Dillon lube off after the first trip through, it also helps to get the chips etc. from trimming out of the cases.

jtischauser · Jan 15, 2011

technetium-99m said:
Jesse,

It sounds like you're trying to load 223 like pistol ammo, don't do it, life is much easier with 2 trips through the press.

Just tumble the Dillon lube off after the first trip through, it also helps to get the chips etc. from trimming out of the cases.

Right now I'm using some pretrimmed and primed brass. I figured I'd step into it the easy way then go to process the brass after I'm comfortable and understand the process.

Kurt came Over and set my machine up for me but I went and screwed it up by not lubing. I stuck the 2nd case I ran in the sizing die. I had to pull the die out so I am trying to get that thing back where it belongs. I bought that RCBS device spiff mentioned above but haven't had a chance to mess with it yet.

I did make 50 rounds of ammo with the die set to seat at the approximate length that the bullets Kurt made were at. They all ran with the exception of two that didn't go bang because the primers wouldn't ignite. I thought that was real strange too. CCI primers are in the brass. I hate not knowing for sure that I'm doing this stuff perfect. I have seen so many guys at big matches having trouble because they screwed up something during reloading. I don't want that problem ever!