Carbide Dies vs non-Carbide Dies

[Corner Pocket]

I was out there in the garage preparing some .357 cases for loading earlier this morning, using Lee Carbide dies. The thought occurred to me -- "What ill effects would one encounter if no lube was used with a non-Carbide set of dies?" Your insight is welcomed and appreciated.

Corner Pocket

 

[SSN Vet]

haven't tried it....

but it sounds like a recipe for a stuck case to me

 

[rcmodel]

In handgun calibers, very hard sizing, and bits of brass will gall and weld themselves inside the steel die, leaving deep scratches in every case sized after that.

In bottle-neck rifle cases, the first one will stick in the die and pull the rim off.

rcmodel

 

[Corner Pocket]

Telling them apart...

Thanks for the helpful replies. That leads me to another thought -- if you were to pick out a die or two, say, from a box of reloading "junque", is there any diagnostic on the die that lets you know that it is of the carbide variety?

CP

 

[amlevin]

Corner Pocket---

When you look at the mouth of a die, a carbide die will show a concentric ring indicating that there are two different metals present. The "carbide" die is actually a steel die with a "carbide" insert.

 

[Halo]

Yep, the carbide ring will typically be darker than the steel body of the die and can be easily noticed. Some dies, namely Hornady, use titanium nitride rather than carbide. Those have a gold appearance.

 

[tlen]

I was out there in the garage preparing some .357 cases for loading earlier this morning, using Lee Carbide dies. The thought occurred to me -- "What ill effects would one encounter if no lube was used with a non-Carbide set of dies?"
Corner Pocket

Try it once and I'm sure you won't do it again....

 

[brickeyee]

The 'trick' that allows carbide dies for straight wall cases to work without extra lubrication is that the carbide ring is not very long.
the inside of the steel die is fractionally larger than the ID of the ring, so the shell never touches the steel die body.
It is only in contact with the much harder and smoother (carbide is ground to final size) for a short distance.

Carbide dies for bottle necked rifle cases require lubrication since they are tapered (like the brass) and the contact area is very large.
They are more wear resistant.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Carbide Dies vs non-Carbide Dies

A question--would you drive your vehicle with out oil in the crankcase???

Some folks, who don't tumble, also lube their cases.

 

[buck460XVR]

RCBS recommends lubing every 4th or 5th case when reloading .460 even with carbide dies. I find myself lubing every third case very lightly. Altho I tumble, I don't tumble to a high shine.

 

[Corner Pocket]

I appreciate the education provided me by each of you good men on this one. What a place to learn about such things!

CP

 

[icebones]

i use light silicon even with my carbide dies, only when resizing though. A light spray on every 4th or 5th case makes things go a lot easier.

i know from the machine shop that carbide is A LOT harder than steel, truth be told, i dont even own a set of regular steel dies...