Post sizing rifle brass how do you get lube off your cases?

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The article I thought I was linking to basically just talked about a dod study about how a specific machine gun tended to have case head separation stoppages early in a firing sequence. They suspected excess lube. Them went on to say that particular firearm's design made it more prone to this problem, but suggested all shooters should be cautious about excessive lube on cases and in Chambers.

I believe I have seen what you are referring to. This is another Army coverup, blaming grease and oils for problems created by Army Ordnance Bureau incompetence. The more you study them, the more you realize that the Army Ordnance Department exists in such an magnificent vacuum that they have NO clue what anyone has done, in fact, they are in such a vacuumatic state that they don’t even know what the hell they are doing...

What the Army did was test a machine gun, and its ammunition, at temperatures above the operating parameters of both. The high end operational temperatures for ammunition and small arms is 125 F. However, items are expected to be able to survive storage temperatures of 160 F. Imagine holding a 160 F weapon, you would get second if not third degree burns. I have been in 100 + temperatures and I can tell you, in full MOP gear, it would kill me. I can't imagine anyone fighting at 125 F, even though that is close to the extreme high temperatures found in the middle east. Ground equipment is not expected to "operate" at 160 F, I doubt anyone can survive at 160 F, humans have a habit of dying above 106 F when the humidity is high enough. It has to be pretty dry to survive 125 F for any length of time.

Nevertheless, the Army, and apparently most people, don't realize that high temperatures means high pressures. Ammunition pressures increase the hotter it gets. Pressures are not controlled for ammunition above 125 F. Pressures are specified at 125 F, there are not to exceed pressures at 125 F but not at 160 F. Pressure can be infinity at 160 F and the ammunition would pass, because it is not supposed to be fired at 160 F, that is a maximum storage temperature. So when the dumb, dumbs in the Army fired 160 F ammunition in 160 F weapons, they created pressures that damaged the weapons and the ammunition. Pressures were out of spec because temperatures were out of spec.

However, the Army blamed oily cases. This is their get out of jail card. Everyone has been taught for a century that oily cases increase bolt thrust and vastly increase pressures, and therefore, people will accept this explanation. This is the one constant with the Army Ordnance Corp, they never, ever, accept responsibility for their failures. They twist and manipulate facts to prove themselves blameless. They are really quite shameless about this, you have to really study what they say, understand what they are talking about, for you will find that you cannot take anything they say at face value. This is basically true for all organizations, all organizations are incapable of self investigation. Any self investigation by an organization always proves just how smart, and right, and perfect the organization motives and actions were. In other words, self investigations are farces. Everyone reading this probably knows this as they have seen how their organization never admits responsibility for the problems it creates, and instead makes up fictitious stories to shift the blame and will scapegoat the innocent in a moment. Remember: they shoot the messenger!

I think industry has figured out the Army Ordnance Bureau does not know the operating characteristics of its own weapons. Which is back to the vacuous nature of these guys. They don't know their own requirements, they don't know what their weapons are supposed to do, what their limits are, etc, etc. You see that industry has learned it has to educate these morons, such as in this Orbital Small Caliber Ammo Book

https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/small-caliber-systems/overview/docs/Ammo Book.PDF

and a data sheet here:

https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/small-caliber-systems/5-56mm/docs/PS001830 (M193).pdf

Notice the continual referencing of the operational temperatures of the ammunition. It is not supposed to be fired at 165 F. The Army Ordnance Bureau are those guys who need the warning labels not to

W9yn7nz.jpg

Without constant education, they might grab it!
 
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To the OP, I use Midway's spray-on lube, which is water soluble, so rinse and dry before priming.

Re. the low numbered 1903's... I lost/lent/wore out my copy of Hatcher's Notebook several decades ago, but what I recall is that there were no reported instances of brittle fractures in the field. As to the root cause, the heat treat furnaces did indeed have thermometers but the old timer operators refused to use them. (You can well imagine how a geezer of long experience would react to some shavetail "college boy" telling him how to do his job!)

What Mr. Geezer didn't appreciate was that the building was lit by skylight, so the amount of light coming into the workroom depended on time of day and degree of overcast (of which there's a lot in central Massachusetts). On a bright day the eye's pupil will be narrow and a quick glance through the sightglass to judge workpiece temperature will show a given bright orange at a higher temperature than the same color would correspond to when viewed with wide-open pupils on a dull day.
 
I was under the impression you could leave One Shot on the case without ill effects.

Yes, You can and this is what Hornady says too. I do not remove the OS. But it does gradually gets cleaned off as it gets handled. I run all my sized cases through my Trim-It 2, faster than measuring, sorting then trimming. I find if you put it on too heavy it does make things a little messy. But if applied properly it's good
 
I was under the impression you could leave One Shot on the case without ill effects.

Oops, right you are. Since he talked about wiping rifle cases to remove lube, I thought he was using a lanolin or wax based lube. Oh, and that nobody would be foolish enough to use One Stuck on rifle cases.;)

Don
 
Here's what I do: Tumble brass till nice & bright, lube with RCBS lube & pad, full length resize, toss in plastic pan with a little naphtha & slosh around a bit, then air dry &/or use elect brass dryer (AKA hair dryer) on low heat....done this for years & zero problems.....works for me!!
 
I don't use One Shot. However, before I got a tumbler, I didn't bother wiping off the lube. Now that I have a dry tumbler, I just throw the loaded rounds in there for a few minutes after loading. Not necessary, but that way I end up with clean, lube-free rounds. If I didn't have a dry tumbler, I wouldn't worry about it. Just load and go. With the spray lubes like One Shot, I suspect its even less of an issue than with the wax lubes like Unique (which is what I use).
 
I believe I have seen what you are referring to. This is another Army coverup, blaming grease and oils for problems created by Army Ordnance Bureau incompetence. The more you study them, the more you realize that the Army Ordnance Department exists in such an magnificent vacuum that they have NO clue what anyone has done, in fact, they are in such a vacuumatic state that they don’t even know what the hell they are doing...

What the Army did was test a machine gun, and its ammunition, at temperatures above the operating parameters of both. The high end operational temperatures for ammunition and small arms is 125 F. However, items are expected to be able to survive storage temperatures of 160 F. Imagine holding a 160 F weapon, you would get second if not third degree burns. I have been in 100 + temperatures and I can tell you, in full MOP gear, it would kill me. I can't imagine anyone fighting at 125 F, even though that is close to the extreme high temperatures found in the middle east. Ground equipment is not expected to "operate" at 160 F, I doubt anyone can survive at 160 F, humans have a habit of dying above 106 F when the humidity is high enough. It has to be pretty dry to survive 125 F for any length of time.

Nevertheless, the Army, and apparently most people, don't realize that high temperatures means high pressures. Ammunition pressures increase the hotter it gets. Pressures are not controlled for ammunition above 125 F. Pressures are specified at 125 F, there are not to exceed pressures at 125 F but not at 160 F. Pressure can be infinity at 160 F and the ammunition would pass, because it is not supposed to be fired at 160 F, that is a maximum storage temperature. So when the dumb, dumbs in the Army fired 160 F ammunition in 160 F weapons, they created pressures that damaged the weapons and the ammunition. Pressures were out of spec because temperatures were out of spec.

However, the Army blamed oily cases. This is their get out of jail card. Everyone has been taught for a century that oily cases increase bolt thrust and vastly increase pressures, and therefore, people will accept this explanation. This is the one constant with the Army Ordnance Corp, they never, ever, accept responsibility for their failures. They twist and manipulate facts to prove themselves blameless. They are really quite shameless about this, you have to really study what they say, understand what they are talking about, for you will find that you cannot take anything they say at face value. This is basically true for all organizations, all organizations are incapable of self investigation. Any self investigation by an organization always proves just how smart, and right, and perfect the organization motives and actions were. In other words, self investigations are farces. Everyone reading this probably knows this as they have seen how their organization never admits responsibility for the problems it creates, and instead makes up fictitious stories to shift the blame and will scapegoat the innocent in a moment. Remember: they shoot the messenger!

I think industry has figured out the Army Ordnance Bureau does not know the operating characteristics of its own weapons. Which is back to the vacuous nature of these guys. They don't know their own requirements, they don't know what their weapons are supposed to do, what their limits are, etc, etc. You see that industry has learned it has to educate these morons, such as in this Orbital Small Caliber Ammo Book

https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/small-caliber-systems/overview/docs/Ammo Book.PDF

and a data sheet here:

https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/small-caliber-systems/5-56mm/docs/PS001830 (M193).pdf

Notice the continual referencing of the operational temperatures of the ammunition. It is not supposed to be fired at 165 F. The Army Ordnance Bureau are those guys who need the warning labels not to

View attachment 765706

Without constant education, they might grab it!

I appreciate this. I fancy myself a pretty good critical thinker, but I guess I bought into the "must not have oil on cases or in chamber" thing hook line and sinker.

And why'd you have to bring up mopp gear? I was having a nice day until you made me think of launching jets in mopp 4 for 12 hours. Good times : )
 
Decap
Wet tumble
Out of tumbler into one gallon freezer bag, no need to dry, I cut Lee lube with water
Spray and shake then dump into cardboard box to dry for a hour or a month which ever.
Resize
Trim
Back into tumbler
 
I appreciate this. I fancy myself a pretty good critical thinker, but I guess I bought into the "must not have oil on cases or in chamber" thing hook line and sinker.

And why'd you have to bring up mopp gear? I was having a nice day until you made me think of launching jets in mopp 4 for 12 hours. Good times : )

Well you get into these arguments with keyboard commando's who think that because the highest recorded temperature in Iraqi was 121 F, that ammunition and guns ought to function on the surface of the sun, and of course, so should GI's. Not to many people know that troops have to suit up in MOP IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOPP and run around not only in their combat gear, but also covered up in a rubberized suit. I cannot imagine doing that in 125 F weather and surviving.

Thank you for your service to our country. Hope you don't have any hearing loss from the jets. Jets are loud!
 
Well you get into these arguments with keyboard commando's who think that because the highest recorded temperature in Iraqi was 121 F, that ammunition and guns ought to function on the surface of the sun, and of course, so should GI's. Not to many people know that troops have to suit up in MOP IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOPP and run around not only in their combat gear, but also covered up in a rubberized suit. I cannot imagine doing that in 125 F weather and surviving.

Thank you for your service to our country. Hope you don't have any hearing loss from the jets. Jets are loud!

I worked on KC135 R/T model tankers. Engines were fairly new and quiet. It was the dang APU that would demolish your hearing.

I was pretty smart about hearing protection and got out with minimal loss. I was pretty careless about chemicals though. Always covered in jp8, hydraulic fluid, and oil, and had antisieze compound embedded in every crevice of my hands. If I could go back I'd wear rubber gloves at least.

But I digress! Suffice it to say that this thread is going to help me save time reloading 223 because I won't obsess about getting the lube off.
 
Tony, I would be the last person to suggest that you should obsess about anything. Reloading is a hobby and hobbies should be fun, or at least rewarding in some way. But I always thought that a key component of accuracy was consistency. If you leave the lube on, are you sure your process is consistent? For me the only way to be sure that one case has the same amount of lube on it (or in it) when I am done sizing, trimming, and what have you is to clean if off and have none. None is always the same. None is always none. How long does it really take to dump a batch of brass in a tumbler anyway?
 
Re tumble in a separate batch of media I keep in separate container. I usually trim after sizing so that also rids any extra shavings that may be present
 
Tony, I would be the last person to suggest that you should obsess about anything. Reloading is a hobby and hobbies should be fun, or at least rewarding in some way. But I always thought that a key component of accuracy was consistency. If you leave the lube on, are you sure your process is consistent? For me the only way to be sure that one case has the same amount of lube on it (or in it) when I am done sizing, trimming, and what have you is to clean if off and have none. None is always the same. None is always none. How long does it really take to dump a batch of brass in a tumbler anyway?

I hear ya.
Honestly, obsessing is part of the fun. Immersing yourself in it is incredibly relaxing for me. However, I'm not always loading for maximum accuracy. With my hunting rifle? Absolutely. For varmint loads I use to shoot ground squirrels? Yep. For some 55 gr fmj that I'm going to shoot steel silhouettes with 100 rounds at a time ? Nah, I'll trade some accuracy for expedited reloading as long as it's safe and reliable. It'll still probably be more accurate than a lot of factory bulk ammo.

You're right though, throwing it in a tumbler is pretty effortless.
 
Slamfire, thank you for some very informative and well written posts!

When I size cases, I wipe each one off with an old sock. My socks wear out fast, so they get a last washing, (yes, they are cleaned before I use them on brass!), and they live one last time as either a gun cleaning rag or a brass wipe off rag. I only do 50-100 at a time, (very small batch production in reloading), so it's not big deal, killing time I'd waste online anyway. :) I don't use One Shot, use Lee lube.
 
I haven't seen anyone else mention my system so I guess I'll throw it out there. It's simple and works very well:

1. When I get home from the range I simply rinse all the spent brass in a bucket of clean water. I'm only interested in getting off any grit that might harm my sizing dies. (I know of some old timers who consider this all the case cleaning that needs to be done.) I toss the wet brass on a beach towel to dry.

2. Size and deprime on the progressive. The sizing die goes in station 1, and the sized cases get a free ride around the merry-go-round.

3. Wet tumble.
 
Folks,
My normal procedure:
1. Universal decap my cases
2. Wet tumble with SS media, Dawn and lemi shine
3. Dry cases in case dryer
4. Lube cases with Hornady one shot case lube
5. Size cases

After sizing I have been hand wiping cases to get lube off with a rag. kind of a PITA... What do you folks do to get the lube off? Do you wet tumble again?
Thanks,
Dom

I used to dry-tumble a second time when I used RCBS' greasy lube. I have since switched to Imperil Sizing Wax and their Dry Neck Lube. I wipe cases off w/ a paper towel, but if in a hurry, I don't bother. The Wax and Lube don't contaminate the powder or affect chamber pressure.
 
If I'm doing a short batch (100 or less) I'll use Imperial wax and just wipe it off with a shop towel. If I'm doing more than that, I'll use Dillion case lube (lanolin & alcohol) and give them a quick dip in lacquer thinner after sizing, then blow them off with compressed air and they're GTG.
 
I use the RCBS glycerin lube. I use hot water and a kitchen spaghetti strainer to remove the lube. I get as much water drained off through the strainer and then let the brass air dry. I finish it all off with an hour or 2 in the walnut media. When the cases get loaded and stored there is virtually no lube of any kind on the cases.
kwg
 
I have lots and lots of Lees paste lube, so I'm running through that. I used to just wipe them down with the blue shop towels, but just recently started using real shop rags again. A bit cumbersome, but I don't mind. It goes fast enough, and gives me another opportunity to inspect.
 
You have had replies that include step by step case prep,and and also all about greasing bullets.
First the lube, I dry tumble then lube and prep cases,prior to handpriming wet tumble with stainless and dry. The cases will be clean and free of lube and debri. Use any lube from STP to Pam cooking spray sparingly.
Clean with products already mentioned.
Oiling brass is sop in the early 80's in tanks the 50cal had issues. We used hydraulic oil I carried along ( systems do leak on old stuff) to oil the cases combined with only firing the 50 on high, low rate of fire didnt do well even with lubed brass. Lubing any ammo was just wrong, we led,broke the rules and solved my TC's malfunction problems or at least minimized them.
Happy safe loading and shooting.
 
I was under the impression you could leave One Shot on the case without ill effects.

I hope so. I use one shot spray or home brew on pistol/revolver to resize and never wipe off. However, on rifle (30-06, 45-70 or 300 WM) I use my fingers to apply lube (Hornady Unique wax) and wipe off with a rag before putting in box. Have never had a problem with either method.
 
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