Removing case lube from completed cartridges

With my progressive presses, and actually all cases, I prefer to clean the cases between resizing and reloading. I tumble them to clean and polish.

If I use lubricant, it is cleaned off during the cleaning step. Of course, I lose some efficiency with this process.

Other folks do it differently.

I also clean my brass after resizing, but before priming. I don't like residue.

I find the very light, fine walnut dust inside the neck also helps the bullet slide in to the case a little bit easier. (I briefly dabbled with wet cleaning cases, their necks were too clean.)

With rifle cases I lube size/deprime and then tumble again then load.
With pistol cases I usually shoot a little lube on them and tumble them after the rounds are assembled.

First, NEVER leave lubricant on rifle rounds. The case can't grip the chamber wall if it's lubed. The lube is to keep it from gripping the wall of the die, works the same for a chamber. Results in false high pressure signs, and undue force on the bolt locking lugs.

Second, it does no harm to tumble loaded ammo. Forget the myth that it degrades the powder. Also there's no way possible that the tip of a bullet can set-off the primer of another shell. AS LONG AS IT'S A VIBRATORY TUMBLER.

+1
I tumble everything I load 15-20 minutes after the ammo is loaded.

With the exception of lead bullet handgun ammo.

rc

I'm very happy with the lubricity I am getting with the Dillon Case Lube, but I noticed that the completed cases have gummy feel to the touch. I've noticed that the longer the cases sit, the less gummy they feel, but I wonder if I should be attempting to wipe the cartridges down before I fire them. About a month ago, I had a failure to extract due to unexpected rim removal in my AR-10. The problem brass (PPU headstamp) and few other pieces loaded with the same dose of Varget and 168 gr. AMAXs were diagnosed by THR members as showing signs of extreme pressure. At the time, we chalked it up to soft brass. However, come to think of it, those were also the first cases that I lubed with the Dillon stuff. I wonder if the presence of case lube residue could the real culprit

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I really doubt that case lube is the cause of your pressure problems. Too much powder is the cause of 99.9% of pressure problems.

Humans don’t think in exponential terms, we think linear. Unfortunately for us the slope of a smokeless pressure curve is exponential. Just tiny increases in powder will send pressures shooting up tens of thousand of psia.

As for external lube on the cases. I have fired tens of thousands of M1a and Garand loads with Johnson paste wax on the outside. I got the idea from a Distinguished HM gunsmith who left RCBS case lube on his cases. I did not like greasy cases and used paste wax, which melts under the pressures and temperatures of combustion, providing lubrication similar to the waxed ammunition used in the Pederson rifle. We were able to take cases an entire shooting season without any case head separations. As a science experiment I took one set of one hundred LC 22 reloads in my M1a and never had a case head separation. Sectioned cases show absolutely no case head stretch. Current advice is to only shoot brass in M1a’s and Garands and toss them after five reloads. This is good advice if you are shooting dry cases. I have sectioned cases from shooting Bud’s, and at five reloads, their dry cases are about to pull apart.

My hottest 308 load was a 168 grain bullet with 41.5 grains IMR 4895. This is not a “hot” load from what bolt gunners post, but it is a maximum in the M1a.

I have been leaving case lube on my .223 AR rounds. No case head or body separations to date.

I also develop loads with case lube on the cases. I found that lubed cases gave me rounded primers whereas dry cases gave me flat primers with the same load. Obviously dry cases are not producing more pressure, so what I figured was going on was that lubed cases and primers were sliding to the bolt at the same speed. Dry cases, the primer backs out first and gets stuffed into the pocket as the case is stretched to the bolt face. When I develop loads with lubricated cases I can see the transition from rounded primer to actual flat primers. That gives me a bit more information as to what is going on, especially for gas guns.

Primers are not reliable indicators of pressure though.

There are some mechanisms which all lube should be removed before firing, the Lee Enfield is one of these. This rear locking 19th century design is extremely flexible, made from plain carbon steels, and is very weak in comparison to modern front lockers made from alloy steels. No one seems know the actual design values but the British must have designed the action with the assumption that cases would take some of the thrust. They have always had warnings about oily cases. Currently the British and Australian NRA are warning their shooters not to shoot Lee Enfields in the rain as the action can apparently break if the cartridge case gets wet. They are also warning shooters not to shoot 308 diameter bullets in 308 conversions. Apparently it is only safe to shoot 307 diameter bullets in the things. I think the Lee Enfield is a special case but I think all 19th century actions need to be approached with caution when reloading.

But back to lubrication. Don’t worry about the lube, worry about your powder charges. Cut your loads, cut your loads by a lot if you are pulling rims off, blowing primers, or having leaky primers.

If you want to wash the lube off, go ahead. If you are tumbling your cases with car wax in the media it will be self defeating. Car wax will transfer to the brass and will act as a lubricant. However removing lube won't hurt anything unless you are shooting a Swedish m42 Ljungman rifle. That rifle was designed to be shot with lubricated cases and Swedish soldiers were instructed to oil up their cases.

I tumble as little as possible. If I FL the brass I tumble after that. If I get some crusty looking ammo I will ether polish with steel wool or tumble.

I don't know it for fact but I've heard that factory ammo is loaded then tumbled before boxing.

With the exception of lead bullet handgun ammo.

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I do occasionally and have no issues with bullet damage. All my rifle rounds are tumbled after loading and I also use Dillion lube. the trick is to use very little and shake first.

I do not tumble handgun cartridges. I use a spray and only get a very small amount on the cases prior to resizing.
Rifle cartridges are another matter, and I have not had good luck with the spray. I wipe every cartridge after it is resized. It is not a problem since I reload rifle ammunition on a single stage press.

Jerry

I was using a ultrasonic cleaner for a while but went back to tumbler. No matter how many times I rinsed the brass still looked like crap when done even though it was clean. I've tumbled finished rounds but I just usually wipe it off with a damp cloth.

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That is the best one I've seen.

Its truthful

I use RCBS on a large green RCBS ink-type foam pad (large, about 5" x 11").

After I resize, I use a rag and wipe several times to get the oil off. Sometimes the next step is for me to tumble and sometimes I have just tumbled. I use as a decapper inner-neck lube a small bottle of white dust called motor-mica. It seems to work quite well and only uses a very little bit of it with each neck-dipping.

rcmodel said:

+1
I tumble everything I load 15-20 minutes after the ammo is loaded.

With the exception of lead bullet handgun ammo.

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RC, what is your reasoning for not doing lead handgun ammo?

Cast bullets often have bullet lube grease residue on them.

Media dust gets stuck in the grease, tumbling packs it down hard, and it takes an act of god to clean it off the bullets.
Especially SWC bullets with the front driving band exposed.

rc

I tumble all of my rifle ammo after it loaded to remove the lube. Like Snuffy said it's not a big deal.

RC has the magic answers frequently. This is not one of the exceptions to my previous statement.

Use a terrycloth towel or a old t-shirt to wipe "ALL" case lube from your cases.

Below isn't a opinion, it isn't guesswork, it is a written fact, anyone who tells you to lube cartridge cases does not have the pressure measuring equipment to back up their claims. The Firearms industry, the Ammunition manufactures, the reloading companies and the United States Army tells you to "NOT" lube your ammo.

rcmodel said:

Cast bullets often have bullet lube grease residue on them.

Media dust gets stuck in the grease, tumbling packs it down hard, and it takes an act of god to clean it off the bullets.
Especially SWC bullets with the front driving band exposed.

rc

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Wonder how you learned that? If you're anything like me, the hard way.

I tumble everything I load 15-20 minutes after the ammo is loaded.

With the exception of lead bullet handgun ammo.

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Same here.
I tumbled some .40s loaded with lead bullets once. Won't do that again. They were ugly.

Thanks RC. When are you going to write a book filled with gems like that?

I'm picky about lube sticky brass too. I use pure acetone on a cotton ball and just make a quick wipe over the cases after resizing. It evaporates instantly and doesn't leave a rediue. A large bottle from the pharmacy is about $4 and will clean a couple thousand or so cases. I prefer using something that isn't water based.