A question about lubricating pistol ammo before re-sizing

Schwing said:

This is the reason I just always use lube. My favorite is that cheap lee stuff. I mix one tube in about 1 liter of alcohol and spray a few squirts into a ziplock back full of brass. I roll it around to make sure they all get a little and then dump them out and let them dry.

The entire process takes less than 2 minutes (plus drying time) but it seems to make everything go smoother even using carbide dies. You don't have to remove the lube either.

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I do the same thing for all calibers only use a little spritz bottle. Even with carbide dies it makes sizing much easier. I do not even wipe it off as it is water based and can not even see it on the brass.

For straight walled pistol the effort required to resize on my Redding T7 using a Redding tungsten carbide die is so negligible that I have never had the desire to use lube. Just depends where one want's to put their efforts I guess. Lubing or a little more oomph on the press handle.

The thing you have to watch out for with a handgun caliber steel sizing die is scratched cases.

Especially if you ever run dry cases in one.

The brass will gall and tiny specks of brass with stick inside the die.

After that, every case you size will be scratched by the stuck brass particles.

The only cure is polishing the die again with 400 grit emery paper until you get all traces of the galled brass out of it.

Doesn't happen with carbide dies.

rc

Back when using steel sizer dies and pistol brass, I always used some sort of lube AND very clean brass without any grit to scratch inside dies.

Even later with carbide pistol dies, I started out using a dab of spray lube.
But found that when I use my vibrating cleaner with walnut media, Nu-Finish car polish and a splash of mineral spirits, the brass was retaining a touch of polish after cleaning which made sizing easier without any extra lube added..!!

With the wet method of cleaning brass with chemicals, I found that all coatings on brass are removed which make them "dry" for a lack of a better word at this moment and cause them to have more friction in the sizer die. ( IMHO )

YMMV ?

The main idea to me in cleaning brass of any type is to remove all dirt and grit that may harm dies and or chambers
However you get there is a personal preference, there are many ways to clean brass these dayZ.
Even the old soft damp cloth.....

TxD

I do add Nu-Finish to my walnut media when tumbling and agree that it makes sizing easier.

ColtPythonElite said:

You need to lube pistol cases with steel dies, too....I don't wipe off the lube. I use Hornady One Shot. It dries.

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I second that. Works for me .

I asked a few months ago about using lube for 9 mm loading with carbide dies and was surprised how many people said that if you try it you will never go back to not lubing the cases first. I tried it this summer and it makes loading much more smooth and easy (Dillon XL 650) and that keeps the press working better and eliminates a lot of the vibration and forces that previously had been making it necessary to stop and adjust things frequently.

I had asked about it because I heard an interview with one of the Dillon guys on The Arms Room podcast and that guy said that lubing pistol cases with carbide dies was one of the things reloaders should do that they often try to skip doing. He said they recommend it and that many reloaders only refrain from doing it because they don't want to take the time to tumble the lube off the finished rounds, but it makes it a lot easier to load the ammo if you lube the cases first. I had never heard that, so I asked about it on the Brian Enos forum and a few others, and nearly everyone said they found it to be helpful and would, in fact, never go back to not doing it.

There was a time many years ago I lightly lubed brass pistol cases before sizing with a carbide die. Then one day I got the feeling I was doing what my wife often does: wash the dishes before they go into the dishwasher.

That was sometime in the mid '80s I think. Haven't lubed pistol cases since; haven't had a problem.

I do add Nu-Finish to my walnut media when tumbling and agree that it makes sizing easier.

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I'll second that.. Very noticeable difference for all calibers, even with my RCBS carbide dies.

Mostly Lead

Quote:
I do add Nu-Finish to my walnut media when tumbling and agree that it makes sizing easier.
I'll second that.. Very noticeable difference for all calibers, even with my RCBS carbide dies.

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On RCBS web site they say it's preferred to lightly lube pistol brass before resizing even with their carbide dies.
Some people do and some don't.....

Like I mentioned, I found it to be easier to size with carbide dies with just the residual polish left on the brass when using a vibratory cleaner with Nu-Finish polish added.
Cleans good too at least for me...The added mineral spirits helps too plus seems to reactivate the polish on the media.

Are we having fun yet

TxD

Guess I'm one of the few that doesn't use lube for pistol brass. Really don't cause everywhere I read, "I only lube rifle brass, don't bother with strait wall pistol"

Guess I'm one of the few that doesn't use lube for pistol brass. Really don't cause everywhere I read, "I only lube rifle brass, don't bother with strait wall pistol"

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I surely hope that you use carbide dies then.... not regular plain steel dies as the OP was referring to...

Yep, standard lee steel dies. No issues yet, brass looks no different than normal

I started lubing my 9mm pistol brass. For whatever reason, the stuff was so hard to get in the sizing die, that powder would bump out of my Dillion 550 B powder horn. Once lubed, the cases glided into the sizer. I started lubing long cases, like 44 Magnum, 45LC, and it worked great.

And I left the lube on. Extraction is easier and function is better. I am currently shooting Bullseye Pistol. When the M1911 starts running sluggishly, I dribble motor oil over the stack of my 45 ACP cartridges. Messy as heck, but I don't want alibi strings due to malfunctions. One of these days I am going to figure out a dry lube which to spray my loaded 45 ACP cartridges.

That someone is confused. Fortunately, should you opt for it, you can buy a carbide sizer die by itself for not stupid amounts. For the cartridges you load, you'll need one for .38/.357(same die) .44 and .45. RCBS(not the only game in town. Bit pricier too.)$39.99 per cartridge.

The only people I know that don't lube pistol cases, even when using carbide dies, are people who have never tried it. Lube just makes the process so much smoother.

With carbide resizing dies I never lube the brass. Simply another step that is not needed. The only exception to that is the relatively small #'s of 50AE, 460mag and 500mag that I shoot. I find lubing them definitely helps. IIRC the 50AE die might not be carbide.

Also 50AE nickel cases are impossible to resize, at least for me in my Big Boss II. The 50 or so I have loaded are staying at the range when I shoot them up.

All my pistol dies are tungsten or titanium carbide and in 40+ years of reloading I never lubed straight walled pistol cases. The only pistol dies that I wasn't impressed with were the Hornady Titanium Nitride pistol dies. Alway expected the titanium nitride coating to scrape OSS eventually.

I lube every case...rifle, pistol, revolver. I do that for 3 reasons. #1 repition. When you do thing over and over again you find yourself in a position where you feel like something is wrong if you don't follow the exact same series of steps each time. #2 stuck cases. Stickers are a pain in the butt to clear, and using lube prevents a lot of stuck cases, even when using carbide where you supposedly don't have to. Just like the effort of resizing is minimized by lube, the effort of clearing a stuck case seems to be minimal on lubed cases. #3 repition. When you do things over and over again you find yourself doing them more consistently.

mikemyers said:

Seems to me that for carbide dies, there is one answer as to if you "have to" use the lube, and other for if you "prefer to" use the lube. The first seems to be "no". For the second, I've read here how those who've tried it want to continue to do so, and recommend it. I suspect I will feel the same way.

I suppose I should get a carbide re-sizing die, and try it for myself. I'm not sure though what, if anything, I'll gain over my 1980's (or older) RCBS dies, if I'll use lube either way.

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Very little. I have had multiple sets before where one was standard steel and the other carbide. I tried them out back to back with little if any noticeable difference.

Trust us old timers in the reloading dept sizing with carbide dies will save you from a case of tennis elbow and carpal tunnel syndrome from cleaning lube off of your cases.