Lube Die or Lube Pad?

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I use Imperial sizing wax manufactured by Redding. It comes in a shoe polish type can. This will last you a lifetime and is not messy.
 
A little Imperial wax or mink oil (from the shoe dept) on your fingers works great and lasts and lasts.
Something else I've started using is Teflon spray from Blaster corp. Put brass in a Margarine tub and spray and shake a little. Gives you a dry lube that just wipes off.
 
I've always used a small amount of Break Free on a pad. Now whether it is better or worse I don't know because I really haven't tried a whole bunch of lubes. It has worked fine for many years and I never screw with success. But.... all I shoot is rifles. Not sure it would be as easy with .38s?
 
I still use a lube pad because it came with my press and I have still two bottles of rcbs lube to burn up. Since this is at least another 5 years worth of lube, I won't switch to anything else yet.

The key is to figure out what tool you have, can you make it work and why replace something until you use it up. I will probably switch to imperial eventually, but I had to waste what I have already got.
 
Back to your original question.

Lube the brass or lube the die.

Lube the brass. All lube systems are designed for this method. It would be tough to spray lube up into the die.
 
RCBS Case Lube II or Imperial Sizing Die Wax. Applied with the fingers. Haven't used my lube pad in over 20 years.

Never tried the lube die. I imagine it works well.
 
I lube the brass with Hornady One Shot case lube. Been using the stuff for about 15 years with no problems. Yep, you have to shake well before using.
 
Hey folks,

Maybe I am wrong, but I think we missed the point of Chagasrod's original post concerning "Lube Die or Lube Pad - What's the advantage of one over the other?" I thought he was asking about the use of a lube die in a progressive press rather than using a lube pad before placing cases into the progressive. Then again, maybe I'm wrong about what he meant.

In any case, I still use a lube pad at times, and I also use spray lube at times when sizing cases using non-carbide dies. However, since buying a progressive LNL press over 12 years ago, I have always wondered how the lube dies worked, but I never bought one to try them. My understanding is that you need more than one size of lube dies to fit a large variety of case sizes. I have never seen any in person, so I wonder how they work. Is there a lube "mop" inside the die which you apply lube to it every so often? I think RCBS sells several sizes of lube dies.

Surely there must be some folks here who use a lube die in their progressive presses. Could someone tells us how they work? Also, could Chagasrod tell us if his original question was about the lube dies I am asking?

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
I have the RCBS lube die. I have used it for .223 on my LnL AP.

I've also used the wax (the Hornady kind, which I presume either is or works just like Imperial wax). The wax is great--far superior to the lube on the RCBS pad, or Hornady one-shot (you pays your money and takes your chances with One-shot).

Anyway, the lube die works shockingly well. It's less messy than wiping the wax on each case w/ fingers, and you can resize a ton of cases *FAST* with the lube die.

I'm working toward being able to reload .223 on my LnL, with the lube die in station 1 (it has a decapping pin too, so I can prime between stations 1 and 2 as per normal), then the RCBS X-Die in station 2 for resizing (the X-die controls case length growth, no trimming), powder drop in station 3, bullet seating in station 4.

When I've used the lube die like this (I have only resized--I'm still getting all the X-die-prepared brass), naturally the lube has to be removed. I've tumbled the cases w/ corncob for about 20 minutes to remove the lube, works fine.

The short version is that I'm quite happy w/ the lube die. Works as advertised, and it's FAST to prep a ton of cases. And w/ the X-Die, you can move right along.
 
I posted earlier, but do folks realize just about any slick substance will work? Slick feeling dish washing detergent actually works well.
+1

While all these guys are painstakingly copping a feel on each and every case applying imperial wax I've already shot, sized and have my cases in the tumbler using a $1.30 can of cheap nonstick cooking spray.
 
Hey RC,

Thanks for the RCBS Lube Die PDF which I have printed. I don't know how well they work, but this is the most information I have seen on them thus far. I went through the list of rifle calibers, and it seems I could use all four die sizes, and even then they apparently will not do a few other calibers like 30-40 Krag, 303 Brit, and 7.62X54.

Is there anyone here who uses these dies and can give some information on them? If they really worked well, I wouldn't mind buying them.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
I use both the lube pad and one shot, depending on what mood I'm in. I like them both. Never used the Lube die so I can't speak on it.

The Dove
 
Thanks David. I Just wanted to know if the lube dies are somewhat an advantage over the pad.
I'm curious if the lube dies get the job done like the pads.
 
Hey folks,

When I am working on cases which require lube to be sized, I have been using a lube pad for over 50 years. With the lube pad and regular old messy RCBS lube, I can say that it has been a long time since I have either had a case stuck in a sizer die or had lube dents on the case shoulders. A little experience with the use of a lube pad can result in regular success with resizing cases.

However, I have always disliked the chore of removing the lube from the cases after they were sized, and I refuse to put lubed cases in a vibratory cleaner to remove the lube. Yes, it will remove the lube, but it also ruins the media for actually cleaning the cases, and corn cob media was always too expensive for me to use it to clean lube from cases. Accordingly, I have always cleaned my lubed cases by washing them in a small coffee can of gasolene and letting them dry on a towel. Then they came out with the spray stuff, and it worked like a charm - as long as you made sure the cases were completely covered. Getting them completely covered with the spray stuff was a lot more expensive than doing them on a lube pad. When the spray stuff works, that’s great, but I found I sometimes had problems with some cases that apparently did not get enough lube, and sometimes cases would get stuck.

After a few years of trying the spray stuff and getting cases stuck occasionally, I decided to stick with the old fashioned lube pad which I was good enough to use without getting cases stuck nor getting lube dents. When working on the progressive press with rifle cases, I lube them all on a pad and then feed them to the press for the progressive rotation. When I heard about the RCBS lube die, it seemed like a good idea if it actually worked properly. If so, I could be feeding the cases with a clean hand rather than having to handle messy lubed cases.

If the lube die works, I will still have to remove the lube from the finished rounds, but a gasolene soaked towel would do that job just fine. I just need to know if lube dies actually work well, or if they result in stuck cases every now and then like the spray stuff.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
Hey David, didn't you get the memo that it is impossible to clean things safely with gas? You gotta buy expensive, specially packaged cleaning solvents, or the whole world will fall apart!:what:

Sorry, just had to do that. Goes along with the cooking spray lube a few responses back.:eek:

(I fell for that a while back, and now have a majority of a gallon of kerosene left over, as I don't really change the bottle of kerosene I soak things in all that much. Its such a waste, it would have been better to just steal some gas out of a can.)
 
I use Imperial on an ancient RCBS lube pad. 1) I find that it evenly distributes a minute amount of lube over the entire case surface. (Just enough to easily see your fingerprints.) This makes a can of Imperial last for-EVER. 2) I don't have to worry about a glob of lube causing a mis-ire or hang-fire. 3) I also find that a lot of the corn cob dust stays on the pad and never makes it to the dies.

The RCBS pad is not my favorite. At one time I had a large 8x10 un-inked stamp pad from a local office supply store. I thought that held the lube better than the synthetic RCBS pad. In another 20 years when this pad gives out, I may go back.
 
Hey Xcgates,

Yes, I do on occasion have folks tell me my use of gasolene for a cleaning solvent is dangerous, and some have seemed to be certain I am lucky to be alive. Now I don't suggest that gasolene is not a dangerous product, but I would also submit that knives, battery acid, rat poison, gun powder, lighter fluid, and many other products are also dangerous if they are not used in a safe manner. I can tell you that my use of gasolene as a cleaning solvent was learned from my father and his father. Any time some piece of dirty, greasy machinery was torn apart for fixing, we cleaned the parts in gasolene with the use of a stiff bristle brush. Now I am not suggesting anyone use a tub of gasolene to clean things. I use a can about the size of a 3 pound coffee can, half full of gas, and slosh the loaded rounds in the gasolene for a few seconds and then wipe them off on a towel. No sparking tools involved.

I never used any cooking spray to lube cases. It might be fine, but I still haven't finished a case of RCBS lube I purchased maybe 35 years ago. I still have about three or four cans of the regular spray stuff, but like I said before, I am more comfortable with the old lube and pad method.


Hey Wobbly,

I find it interesting that you prefer an ink pad over the RCBS lube pad. When I first started reloading, I did not want to pay for one of the expensive RCBS or other brand lube pads. Instead, I bought a new cloth covered ink pad and used it for maybe ten years until I finally spent the money for an RCBS Lube Pad. When I got that RCBS pad, I thought I had finally arrived. The RCBS pad was a fair bit bigger than my ink pad, and I could roll more cases on it than I could on the ink pad. To this day, however, I still have the ink pad sitting around.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
I used a lube pad for twenty years very successfully (with RCBS case lube) and then bought carbide sizing dies for my pistol calibers...never lubed a case again!!! Can single-stage press reload 50 rounds of .38SPL in about 30 minutes, start to finish, including primerpocket cleaning with a hand drill turned cleaner.

Rifle calibers, carbide sizing dies and very lightly pad-lubed cartridge cases.

Hope this helps!
 
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