Replacement Die Set/Upgrade

What are you using for case lubricant?

With bottle neck rifle cases, I use either RCBS Case Lubricant and a lubricant pad or Redding Imperial Sizing wax. I've never stuck a case with either of these lubricant.

Try a different lube or a lot more. What were you using?
Lube dents in the shoulder are fixed upon firing, stuck cases not so easy.
The only cases I have stuck were from too little lube.

cfullgraf said:

What are you using for case lubricant?

With bottle neck rifle cases, I use either RCBS Case Lubricant and a lubricant pad or Redding Imperial Sizing wax. I've never stuck a case with either of these lubricant.

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+1

You may want to clean the die fully and then lightly lube the die before first use. A first case stick means you should use more or use a different lube. Redding makes arguably the best and the white lee is also good. I dont use any of the aerosols but you may be able to coat the clean die on first use.

Are your Lee dies steel or carbide? I haven't had any problems with Lee carbide dies and Hornady One Shot for reloading 223 and 308.

One shot gets a lot of bad press. To use it properly you need to shake it really well and to let it dry on the case before sizing them. I've stuck a couple of cases with one shot and I followed the instructions. Try another lube.

D.B. Cooper said:

Hornady One Shot Case Lube. Aresol stuff.

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While I use alcohol/lanolin spray lube (home made version of One Shot) on 204 Ruger cases with good success, the small trial that I did on larger 308 Winchester cases did not end well. I was too impatient to fiddle with methods to get the lubricant to work that I've abandoned using the spray lubes for the larger rifle cases.

Others have made One Shot work for them but it seems to be finicky to easily use.

I have stuck two cases in about 30 years. Both times were FL rifle dies using Hornady One Shot and following the instructions on the can. After the second time, I went back to RCBS lube and a pad.

With that said, I still like One Shot to make sizing pistol cases easier with a carbide die.

D.B. Cooper said:

Hornady One Shot Case Lube. Aresol stuff. Worked fine on all my 243, with the same model Lee dies. I always spray some up inside the die, and then spray some on the cases.

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It's not the dies, it's the lube. First you must be sure the spray is completely dry, then hope you still don't stick the case.

I highly recommend Imperial Sizing Wax. A very little goes a long way and a 2oz tin lasts a very long time.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012768051

For that 3006 use Imperial or the Lee lube in a tube and put it on by hand. Just on the body of the brass and a dab inside the neck using a Qtip. You should have no more problems then.

D.B. Cooper said:

I don't know. I didn't know they even made a carbide set. I thought al they made was steel. It's their more expensive set.

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Carbide dies for bottleneck rifle cases are few and far between. I know Dillon offers dies for just a few bottleneck rifle cases such as 223 Remington and 308 Winchester (I think). There may be other sources that I am not aware of.

Dillon still recommends using lubricant with their carbide bottleneck rifle dies. Also, the carbide rifle dies are for loaders that size enough cases to wear out a steel sizing die. And, for the most part, virtually no body sizes enough cases to wear out a steel sizing die. (As Han Solo once said, "I can imagine alot" and you still need to be resizing more cases to justify the cost of carbide bottleneck sizing dies.)

Redding Imperial Sizing Wax is good stuff. Hornady makes a similar product called Unique case lube. Mink Oil shoe polish is also a similar product and works well.

I dry tumble my cases after sizing and the media does a pretty good job of removing the lubricant. Wet tumbling will work well as well.

RCBS Case Lube II is water soluble. I dry tumble to clean the RCBS Case Lube II off but wet tumbling works well with this lubricant.

RCBS case lube is my favorite. I tried imperial sizing wax. While it works great on pistol cases, I don't like it on rifle ones.

D.B. Cooper said:

Okay. Well. Crap. So are you guys saying the Hornady One-Shot is insufficient for rifle cases? (I mostly use it on 44 spl cases.) I sprayed quite a bit on both case and die. smh.

I can just grab another Lee die set and different lube pretty quick and easy and try again. I know Lee will replace the wrecked die...eventually. (But I need this done pretty much this weekend.)

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Don't feel too bad I stuck 5 cases in the last 3 months ruined 4 decapping rods, 2, 223, 1, 7mm08, and 2 3006. I tried imperial dry lube, went back to rcbs lube.

ArchAngelCD said:

highly recommend Imperial Sizing Wax. A very little goes a long way and a 2oz tin lasts a very long time.

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This was the best I ever used, switched from rcbs lube, but ran out and couldn't find any more locally. Hence the change to dry lube.

When ever I feel excess resistance during sizing I backup and apply more lube. Using brute force just gets you into trouble. Doing this will keep you from sticking a piece of brass in the die or from ripping the extractor groove off. I use Imperial Sizing wax on all my rifle loads. I've tried the lanalon mix and did not like how sticky it made the cases. It does work though but you have to readjust the sizing die to compensate for the thick film lube. Some have reported that the Hornady Unique Lube to be better than the Imperial. I have not tried it since I'm still working on the 2 oz can of Imperial, 10+ yrs old.

I only use OS for lubing handgun and 223R only. Nothing larger. It works but you must shake up the can real good and give it time to dry.

+1 for the Imperial sizing wax and their neck lube (graphite). I tumble first for clean cases, then use a rag to wipe off whatever lubricant remains. I don’t see a need to tumble to remove lube.
I have gotten a case stuck with one shot, just like you. And it was 30-06.

D.B. Cooper said:

On that note, do you tumble before you resize, or just wait until you've decapped and resized and then tumble? (I've been tumbling everything first.)

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If the cases have been wallowing in the dirt, I tumble them before and after sizing. If the cases have not hit the ground, I wipe them off before sizing then tumble after sizing to clean off the lubricant.

I decap brass first with decamping die. Then dry tumble. I use lee white lube only applied to case neck(very thin layer) and swab inside neck with qtip. Then size and trim. When finished sizing spray out die with gum out carb cleaner. Never had a stuck case.

cfullgraf said:

While I use alcohol/lanolin spray lube (home made version of One Shot) on 204 Ruger cases with good success, the small trial that I did on larger 308 Winchester cases did not end well. I was too impatient to fiddle with methods to get the lubricant to work that I've abandoned using the spray lubes for the larger rifle cases.

Others have made One Shot work for them but it seems to be finicky to easily use.

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Hornady One Shot is a wax and doesn't get sticky like lanolin can.