Case Lube- Am I Doing it Wrong?

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lawn gnome

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Made my own case lube.
1:10 lamoline to rubbing alcohol.
So far I used it for the full length sizing and de-priming and it has been great.
Single stage press by the way.

Before I go pouring powder and pressing and crimping I have a question or two.
Do I use case lube again for the pressing and crimping?:confused:
Or do I have to wipe them clean and dry first before I crimp?

If I have to use it for the pressing and crimping, do I use more or less?

Simple question, but I have to start some where.
My first time loading all alone and I have set myself a goal of 10K 223 by third week of April.
 
As per Laker415, the key is to make sure the case is clean before you pour powder, seat the bullet and crimp. If you have lube in the case mouth or inside the case itself it will gum up your powder drop. I would prime after the sizing and cleaning though and personally wouldn't tumble after the primers were in (assuming you were going to), just in case any media gets stuck in the primers.
 
Reloaded pistol rounds before with a friend on his progressive dillon.
Those are actually relatively easy. Once you lube them they get in the disk and just keep rolling through the progressive until they are spit out completed.

Not like the single stage where I already just did 5K resizing and they sit until I get around to the next stage.

I soaked them pretty good for the resizing, so I imagine my curiosity is if they need to be as wet as it were? Already resized some 5K and waiting to prime, and have another 5K primed that were already processed.

Maybe the question should be, can I over-lube and gum up the crimping die?

Seems the consensus is wipe off the majority of it
but a small amount won't hurt.

Like I said, should be a simple thing.
Just the advice and the trial of a couple, then I go on my robotic roll of pressing my little arms into stumps.
 
laker415 said:
If you have too much lube you can start getting dimples on the cases in the shoulder area due to the excess lube having nowhere to go when sized
Click to expand...

,,,gets magnifying glass out,,,

I'M GOOD!

Thanks Laker.
So many little things.
Be easier to invite a friend over and ask questions as we cracked open a case of beer.
Pity being under lock down.

Seems to be ok so far.
 
I use the alcohol/lanolin method. All my loading is either done on a turret, or on a progressive. So the lube doesn't get removed until the case is finished being reloaded. As long as you let the alcohol dry before proceeding, no issues.

Some people find pistol cases load easier on a progressive if they are lubed. Not necessary, but a personal preference thing.
 
Going for 10K of 223 rifle.
Fargone you may have nailed it.
I really did over lube when sizing.

Seems most of the alcohol content evaporated off.
Just waxy feeling enough to dirty my fingers after a couple hundred primed.
 
Thanks Ganderite.
My lube is viscuous enough that I just spray the bottom of a dollar store tupper ware tub.
Pour in enough casings and just roll them around in the tub for a second.
Pretty much the same story just a flat tub.

Hope you're still doing the Borden shoots.
Last time there I had a riot with everyone there.
We were that first group years ago, with the tent awning and the roofing magnet for our steel casings.
I think that was the first year Alex drove all the way from Quebec and brought his dad to have fun too.
 
lawn gnome said:
Reloaded pistol rounds before with a friend on his progressive dillon.
Those are actually relatively easy. Once you lube them they get in the disk and just keep rolling through the progressive until they are spit out completed.

Not like the single stage where I already just did 5K resizing and they sit until I get around to the next stage.

I soaked them pretty good for the resizing, so I imagine my curiosity is if they need to be as wet as it were? Already resized some 5K and waiting to prime, and have another 5K primed that were already processed.

Maybe the question should be, can I over-lube and gum up the crimping die?

Seems the consensus is wipe off the majority of it
but a small amount won't hurt.

Like I said, should be a simple thing.
Just the advice and the trial of a couple, then I go on my robotic roll of pressing my little arms into stumps.
Click to expand...

From these statements, I don't think you have fully grasp the concept of why we lube cases and why they need to be clean of it after the loading process.

Of course, you have it down as to why we initially lube a case...to prevent them from sticking in a sizing die, even pistol cases if using an old style plain steel die. The thing is that you do not need any lube after the sizing operation and any remaining on a case during the actual shooting of re-loads has the potential of damaging your gun. The use of brass to contain a powder charge was initially used only because it didn't spark and it was a malleable material that was easily manipulated into the shapes we/they needed...but, as pressured increased with larger powder charges & eventually the invent of smokeless powder, a couple more advantages that brass the malleability soon became evident to shooters. the first being that at the point of ignition, the brass expanded easily against the chambers and sealed the powder charge from being blown back into the shooters eyes & face. This will all happen weather we clean all the lube off our cases or not...however its the last point I want to make that makes cleaning "all" the lube from any reloaded case an important issue. The last reason for a "no lube" case is gription to the chamber wall during firing. As already mentioned the case swells against the case wall to seal but it also, while the pressure curve is very high, creates a bit of a "hold back" of pressure in the barrel from fully hammering the bolt face, bolt lugs and lug recesses in the action ring. Plain & simple, if there is lube left on the case it doesn't grip the chamber the way it should to reduce "bolt thrust" (it is referred to) with the increase in chamber pressures since smokeless powder became a "fad that might not last".

Clean every bit of lube/oil from your cases immediately after resize.
 
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