Waterbased lube & die corrosion!

glang1

glang1

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Ottawa, Ontario
I am a fan of Lee waterbased lube, but I have to remind everyone that uses it to make sure you clean your steel dies after each reloading session. Here is a picture of the decapping rod after I neglected to clean the die properly.

DSC01455_zps23fc5473.jpg
 
The RCBS lube will lube for a short period of time and for a specific purpose but it will rust if left sitting and seize two pieces as if one.
A little on my Forster case trimer and sometime later it would not move.
 
upon seeing your pics I promptly checked my dies and thank god they're fine.
haven't disassembled them in years but then again, I allow the soapy lube to dry before sizing.
your dies look like they've seen quite a lot of moisture.
 
I had that happen with a 308 die and Lee lube. Have had RCBS lube left on the decapping rod go all crusty but never rusted on me so far. Since switching to Imperial Sizing Wax based on the advice of several board members I haven't looked back though.
 
Well that settles it for me, I aint using the lube that came with my Lee Press. I keep hearing people mention the Imperial wax, perhaps I'll take a look at that.

Is there general consensus around here that Lee lube sucks? The Lee manual seems to think it's the cat's a$$ but no surprise there.
 
Great Crouton said:
Well that settles it for me, I aint using the lube that came with my Lee Press. I keep hearing people mention the Imperial wax, perhaps I'll take a look at that.

Is there general consensus around here that Lee lube sucks? The Lee manual seems to think it's the cat's a$$ but no surprise there.
Click to expand...

For some people, anything Lee sucks, but I'm not one of them.

I have found that if the lube is used after some time has passed since it was applied to the brass, then rust is not an issue. It's water-based, but the water is only there as a "carrier" for the actual lube, and will evaporate given a bit of time, say an hour. I like it because it's not oil based and doesn't have to be removed before priming and charging.

All that having been said, I stopped using it when my last tube ran out. I bought and now use a Lanolin-based spray I buy at Princess Auto, and have some Imperial Sizing Wax for "tough jobs". In reality, anything slippery works.
 
The Lee lube works fine, it's just messy. The RCBS lube also works well but is less messy. The Imperial Sizing Wax is great since you require so little and it's the least messy I've used so far.
 
Haven't had anything like that happen to any of my dies or gear yet (thankfully).

Which PA lube are you using? I need to make a run to PA soon so might look at what is around.
 
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