Removing lube - necessary?

It's up to you. But think about this. If you were to drop a round, all the dirt and grit would stick to it. Would you chamber it without cleaning it off? I would not run it through my gun. Hornady OneShot is the only lube I know that does not need to be cleaned off. I clean off my rifle loads. Pistols loads I use carbide dies and no lube since I run on a progressive press.

Whatever you do, do not try to clean them with a run thru your vibrating case cleaner! You would not like the result.

I clean them by hand with a rag on which I have put a bit of mineral spirits.

GBExpat said:

Whatever you do, do not try to clean them with a run thru your vibrating case cleaner! You would not like the result.

I clean them by hand with a rag on which I have put a bit of mineral spirits.

Click to expand...

why is that? I throw mine in there and no issues but I'm using imperial wax.

Throwing them in a tumbler for a few minutes is perfectly fine and safe. Do a search here on this site and you will find hours of reading telling you it's ok. The manufacturer does, so it should be good for us too.

lightly wipe off and don't worry about residual.
(unless you plan a trip to the sandbox.)

It's not necessary, but people remove it for all kinds of reasons.

ohihunter2014 said:

why is that? I throw mine in there and no issues but I'm using imperial wax.

Click to expand...

DOH! Brain Fart! Sorry!

While multi-tasking I allowed myself to mentally confuse this case lube Thread with a lead bullet lube Thread that I was halfway paying attention to elsewhere. <sigh>

O'course, with lanolin-based case lube ... I imagine that it could get pret-ty ugly in the old corn cob media, too.

Another point of view, I do clean the case lubricant off my cases after sizing. I do not like handling cases with lubricant on them, even dried lanolin based lubricants, any more than I have to.

(I'm one of them weirdos that separates resizing from reloading on my progressives. I even use a little lubricant when resizing with carbide dies. Oh, the sacrilege.)

As already said. cleaning loaded rounds to remove the lubricant in a vibrating tumbler is an accepted practice.

For the OP

Here is a article about lubes (maybe more than anyone really wants)

But if you use a vibrator cleaner to remove lube, you should have separate media just for that. It will eventually mess up the cleaning ability of polishing media.

I also do not know if the Dillion lube is the same formula anymore

http://www.uniquetek.com/store/696296/uploaded/Cartridge_Case_Lubrication.pdf

http://www.columbuschemical.com/MSDS/SDS/Dillon Case Lubricant 3481.pdf

Why don't you wipe the cases off with a rag then tumble the cases. THEN load primer, powder and bullet. That makes more sense to me and that's how I do it.

"Another point of view, I do clean the case lubricant off my cases after sizing. I do not like handling cases with lubricant on them, even dried lanolin based lubricants, any more than I have to. (I'm one of them weirdos that separates resizing from reloading on my progressives. I even use a little lubricant when resizing with carbide dies. Oh, the sacrilege.) As already said. cleaning loaded rounds to remove the lubricant in a vibrating tumbler is an accepted practice."

Yep, I echo the same thoughts. Well stated.

azrocks said:

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right. Are you suggesting I tumble the cases (to clean), lube, resize/deprime, wipe the lube off, tumble them again, and then load them?

If so, that seems like a lot of unnecessary work, especially since I'm using a progressive press.

Click to expand...

I wet tumble rifle rounds, lube, resize/deprime and tumble again, but I don't use the progressive press (I only use my LnL progressive for pistol, and I don't lube the cases). It doesn't add much time when you use a single stage press. If I am only processing 10-20 cases, I remove the lube by hand. If I am reloading for a bolt rifle where the cases don't land on the ground, I skip the first cleaning.

After reading a number of threads on case cleaning and loading, I found there are many approaches to case prep and reloading depending on the individual. Some tumble after depriming to clean primer pockets, others don't care. Some like to make the brass look shiny and new, others don't care. Some enjoy the process and time is not an issue, others want to load as quickly and efficiently as possible. I like to read the threads to see what others are doing, but in the end you are the only one who can decide what works best for you.

Especially in bottle neck rifle cartridges, it is advisable to clean the lube off as it will increase bolt thrust. Brass cases stick to the chamber to a degree, and lubing the brass decreases friction. There were machine gun designs in the early 20th century that required lubed cases to extract correctly, but they were axed because of the hassles of FTEs and dirt fouling the cases. I wipe my loaded rifle cases off on a shop towel dampened (not saturated!) with Prestone Brake Cleaner by rolling them around on it, then toss them into the Dillon vibe tumbler for 30 minutes or so. Pistol cases aren't an issue since all of my straight wall cases are sized in carbide/TiN dies.

"Especially in bottle neck rifle cartridges, it is advisable to clean the lube off as it will increase bolt thrust. Brass cases stick to the chamber to a degree, and lubing the brass decreases friction."

+1

Regards,
hps