I just started reloading 30-30. Picked up a set of new Hornady 30-30 dies and some brass and started resizing / depriming. Is it normal for the brass to be VERY hard to resize? I have lubed the cases etc, but it takes some serious force to resize them and it almost feels like they are going to get stuck in the die. Also makes a very loud click when lowering the press. I have reloaded a lot of calibers, but this seems extreme. Any feedback / advice would be appreciated.
30-30 Reloading Question
- Thread starter CobraGuy
- Start date
Joe Amorosi
CGN Regular
- Location
- Not Where I Thought I Was....
Put a little lube on the inside of the case mouth
Graphite works well for this
Too much lube on the neck or shoulder will easily dimple the cases
Graphite works well for this
Too much lube on the neck or shoulder will easily dimple the cases
Joe Amorosi
CGN Regular
- Location
- Not Where I Thought I Was....
Spay a Q-tip with the lube and swab the inside?
Should work too
30-30 have really long necks for a bottle neck cartridge
A buddy of mine polished his decapping pin. Said it helped with the "click"
Should work too
30-30 have really long necks for a bottle neck cartridge
A buddy of mine polished his decapping pin. Said it helped with the "click"
This^^^^^ This is what I do.
Hornady One-Shot aerosol lube? I stopped using that stuff years ago. It works fine for a while then seems to have more carrier than lube left in the can. I'd shake the can for 3 full minutes and absolutely douse my 223 cases. Still had a ton of sizing effort and even stuck a case. New can fixed it until the same problem came back again.
The .30-30 is one of the easiest bottleneck cartridges to size as far as effort goes. I just tumble them in Lee lube. The Hornady case sizing lube in the little squeeze bottle (#050009) works really well too, slicker than most other lubes. Cases almost size with no effort at all using that stuff. I can easily size .30-30 in the Lee hand press with it. Pulling the expander back through the neck takes more effort than sizing the case.
The .30-30 is one of the easiest bottleneck cartridges to size as far as effort goes. I just tumble them in Lee lube. The Hornady case sizing lube in the little squeeze bottle (#050009) works really well too, slicker than most other lubes. Cases almost size with no effort at all using that stuff. I can easily size .30-30 in the Lee hand press with it. Pulling the expander back through the neck takes more effort than sizing the case.
Spray lube is your problem. I never had a stuck case until I started using it. I don’t use it anymore and no more stuck cases. I used RCBS lube yesterday to do up some 30-30 cases, got a little too much lube on two of the case necks with the rest being easily sized. Try a different lube.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I will comment as above - resizing fired 30-30 cases should not be hard to do - has to be the lube that you used or how you applied it. If you are using a compound leverage press like a Rockchucker, and RCBS type dies - only the neck is getting squished as the case goes up into the die - is only last small amount of movement, when your press has maximum leverage, that the case body makes contact with the die wall, and might become a little "harder" to do.
I can not help about the "click" sound - I do not recall experiencing that - my only guess would be the de-capper pin is making contact with the case head (is not centered - either the pin or the flash hole or the case in the shell holder) - or perhaps you have got a component cracked in your press??
As I mentioned to a local young fellow that is starting to re-load - every home hand loader should experience getting "chintzy" with case lube - be that via brand, quality, quantity or alternatives - get a case stuck up in the die, and then rip the rim off when trying to pull that case out - after you go through the commotion to get that case out, without wrecking the die, you will be more attentive to case lubing, until you do it again.
OP did not say where in the case trip that it was "hard" to do - on the trip into the RCBS type sizing die, the expander ball should not be making any contact at all with the brass case - for the trip into the die, the neck should get scrunched a bit small, and at very end of the trip, the case body gets squished down slightly. It is when you pull the case out of the die that the expander ball will "expand" the case neck out to final size - when there is no other contact being made with the case.
Is different if you are trying to reform a case into something else - say 38-55 into 30-30 - or imagine trying to reform 8 mm Rem Mag or 416 Rem Mag into 300 H&H - your press is likely made to do that - re-sizing fired 30-30 cases is pretty minor in comparison - in the examples that I gave, you are forming a smaller neck, and most of the trip into the die is also re-forming the case body - so that will be a bit challenging to the lube that you use on the exterior of that case - when a case is withdrawn from those types of dies, is when the expander ball opens up the inside of the case neck - it is at that point that a bit of lube inside the case neck can help - but even the soot from previous firing likely acts as enough lube to open up that case neck.
FYI - many years ago, I reformed some IVI 7.62 NATO into 243 Win by running those brass into an RCBS 243 Win die, in a single leverage RCBS press - part way through doing up 50 or so, I put a snipe on the press handle and bent that handle - so that was just from the force of sizing the case necks from the size to accept .308" bullets, down to the size to accept .243 bullets - the case body was pretty much the same. I think if I was going to try that again, that I would use something of intermediate size for that neck - perhaps to 7 mm (like a 7mm-08) or so.
I am fairly "old school" for lubing for sizing - back then I used an RCBS lube pad - now I've replaced that with a Lyman lube pad - and I use RCBS Case Lube-2 - so that ends up on the exterior case body only - I do not recall having to lube case necks on the exterior, for "normal" re-sizing. Some re-sized brass really "screamed" and "creaked" as the expander ball comes up the neck - for those I often use a Q-Tip and put a tiny bit of lube in the case neck or on the rear edge of that expander ball.
A late thought - assuming that you are using RCBS type dies - remove the expander ball and de-capper pin completely from the die - you will only be sizing the exterior of the case that way. See how that goes. Then, open up those necks by extending the expander ball perhaps 1/2" (1 Cm) further than normal - without a de-capping pin - you would be expanding the necks by pushing the case UP into the die - just go as far as there is resistance - once the expander is through the neck, just withdraw the case. Finally, re-install the decapping pin, and punch out the fired primer - at some point in all that, is likely your issues will go away, and then return, as you go to next phase?
I can not help about the "click" sound - I do not recall experiencing that - my only guess would be the de-capper pin is making contact with the case head (is not centered - either the pin or the flash hole or the case in the shell holder) - or perhaps you have got a component cracked in your press??
As I mentioned to a local young fellow that is starting to re-load - every home hand loader should experience getting "chintzy" with case lube - be that via brand, quality, quantity or alternatives - get a case stuck up in the die, and then rip the rim off when trying to pull that case out - after you go through the commotion to get that case out, without wrecking the die, you will be more attentive to case lubing, until you do it again.
OP did not say where in the case trip that it was "hard" to do - on the trip into the RCBS type sizing die, the expander ball should not be making any contact at all with the brass case - for the trip into the die, the neck should get scrunched a bit small, and at very end of the trip, the case body gets squished down slightly. It is when you pull the case out of the die that the expander ball will "expand" the case neck out to final size - when there is no other contact being made with the case.
Is different if you are trying to reform a case into something else - say 38-55 into 30-30 - or imagine trying to reform 8 mm Rem Mag or 416 Rem Mag into 300 H&H - your press is likely made to do that - re-sizing fired 30-30 cases is pretty minor in comparison - in the examples that I gave, you are forming a smaller neck, and most of the trip into the die is also re-forming the case body - so that will be a bit challenging to the lube that you use on the exterior of that case - when a case is withdrawn from those types of dies, is when the expander ball opens up the inside of the case neck - it is at that point that a bit of lube inside the case neck can help - but even the soot from previous firing likely acts as enough lube to open up that case neck.
FYI - many years ago, I reformed some IVI 7.62 NATO into 243 Win by running those brass into an RCBS 243 Win die, in a single leverage RCBS press - part way through doing up 50 or so, I put a snipe on the press handle and bent that handle - so that was just from the force of sizing the case necks from the size to accept .308" bullets, down to the size to accept .243 bullets - the case body was pretty much the same. I think if I was going to try that again, that I would use something of intermediate size for that neck - perhaps to 7 mm (like a 7mm-08) or so.
I am fairly "old school" for lubing for sizing - back then I used an RCBS lube pad - now I've replaced that with a Lyman lube pad - and I use RCBS Case Lube-2 - so that ends up on the exterior case body only - I do not recall having to lube case necks on the exterior, for "normal" re-sizing. Some re-sized brass really "screamed" and "creaked" as the expander ball comes up the neck - for those I often use a Q-Tip and put a tiny bit of lube in the case neck or on the rear edge of that expander ball.
A late thought - assuming that you are using RCBS type dies - remove the expander ball and de-capper pin completely from the die - you will only be sizing the exterior of the case that way. See how that goes. Then, open up those necks by extending the expander ball perhaps 1/2" (1 Cm) further than normal - without a de-capping pin - you would be expanding the necks by pushing the case UP into the die - just go as far as there is resistance - once the expander is through the neck, just withdraw the case. Finally, re-install the decapping pin, and punch out the fired primer - at some point in all that, is likely your issues will go away, and then return, as you go to next phase?
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If you can use a lube pad instead, try it. I have used the One Shot in the past with okay results, however the last batch of 308s were stiff. In my stubbornness I kept going until I got a case stuck. After I pulled the case, I used my lube pad and everything went smooth. One Shot has it's limits.
1-consider Imperial sizing wax instead of spray lube. If you have to use spray, make sure you let us sit for a while before sizing. Don’t lube the shoulder at all (hard to do with spray)
2-try to thoroughly clean the dies
3-check that you’re not sizing and expanding the neck at the same time (sorry if that seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t set their dues up properly) the expander may need to be moved down a bit.
Good luck. Hope you sort it out.
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Thanks everyone for the feedback / advice. I am going to mark this as reloading (rifle) inexperience. I tried again this morning and the only change was allowing the case (Dillion spray) lube to sit for 10-15 minutes before resizing. The resizing was much smoother, no horrible click - just worked as it should.
