Do you clean case lube off

[ExAgoradzo]

When you finally put your cartridges in the box to go to the range, do you remove the lube or just leave it?

Thanks,
Greg
The Newbee

 

[fotheringill]

I tumble after the lube is used so the case is clean. I have no empirical evidence but my gut tells me I don't want whatever goop is in the lube down my barrel or my lungs (besides the other crap I am breathing in at a range).

 

[1hobie]

I believe it's recommended as the lube reduces friction between the cartridge and chamber wall. I've heard of being able to tumble the finished rounds in clean media to clean them up. Tis might seem foolhardy but there isn't enough bumping the primers hard enough to set the rounds off. However, I also have read that tumbling might break the powder down changing the power formula. I would clean each cart. off just using a clean towel to wipe them off. Good shooting to you!

 

[Jim Watson]

I wipe rifle cartridges down with a shop towel.
The pistol ammo keeps its light spritz of spray lube right into the gun.

 

[stoky]

Another just wipe em, while I'm doing a final inspection.

 

[cfullgraf]

I clean my cases after resizing to remove case lube even when the cartridge is loaded on a progressive..

I have many reasons for this preference but near top of the list I do not want to handle greasy cases when handling primers, powder and bullets.

My preference, others will have other preferences which is just okey dokey by me.

 

[ilmonster]

For rifle rounds, tumble the lube off. For handgun cartridges which only get a light spritz of dry lube, just leave it on.

 

[badkarmamib]

I clean my cases after resizing to remove case lube even when the cartridge is loaded on a progressive..

I have many reasons for this preference but near top of the list I do not want to handle greasy cases when handling primers, powder and bullets.

My preference, others will have other preferences which is just okey dokey by me.

Same here. Tumble, lube/size/deprime, tumble again, and proceed.

 

[edwardware]

I tumble the lube off after depriming/sizing. I'm not interested in handling it during trimming, priming, etc, or wondering if it's impacting neck tension.

 

[Axis II]

If I'm loading a lot of rifle ammo i will size them all and then throw in the corn cob tumbler for an hour or so and then primer, powder, bullet.

Now last night i only loaded 20rds so they just get wiped off with a rag.

 

[hdwhit]

I dry tumble in walnut media after depriming/sizing to remove lubricant as well as impart a nice shine.

 

[ExAgoradzo]

Thanks,
I'm sure to have more questions for you.

A friend helped me 'get started'. He'd been sick his last year and we didn't do anything in that time. Now that he has passed I'm on my own. I know people I can call, but no one to stand here in my garage with me, now y'all may be called on to virtually do that.

Right now I'm doing some .44mag. Figured it was an easy one to restart/start on my own with.

Greg
The Newbee

 

[HOWARD J]

I tumble off the lube after resizing
I don't want it in my cartridge boxes or my gun chamber

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I use Imperial Sizing Wax on rifle ammo and a quick wipe with a terry cloth rag cleans them right up.

 

[ironworkerwill]

Drag a rag, shoot, repeat. I just worry about grit, a thin layer of lube won't hurt anything.

 

[mdi]

depends on how much is left on the ammo. If the cartridges feel "slimy" then yes, I wipe it off. If the cartridge just feels "smooth" then prolly not. For my rifle ammo, I very rarely have any noticeable amount of lube left because there are several operations done to the brass after lubing for sizing...

 

[Axis II]

Thanks,
I'm sure to have more questions for you.

A friend helped me 'get started'. He'd been sick his last year and we didn't do anything in that time. Now that he has passed I'm on my own. I know people I can call, but no one to stand here in my garage with me, now y'all may be called on to virtually do that.

Right now I'm doing some .44mag. Figured it was an easy one to restart/start on my own with.

Greg
The Newbee

If your loading 44 mag and have carbide dies you shouldn't have to lube.

 

[adcoch1]

44 mag is a great place to start! as ohihunter2014 pointed out, with cabide dies you don't need lube at all. Just tumble to knock off the range grit, size and deprime, reprime, fill with a charge of your powder and drop a bullet on top of it! Don't forget a good crimp if your not using a single shot. The bullets can "migrate" under recoil if the neck tension isn't strong, and a crimp solves the issue. But back to your question, for rifle brass I tumble the lube off for about 20 min or so before trimming, priming, and reloading them. A rag works for small batches, but wiping a couple hundred cases is rather monotonous...

 

[someguy2800]

I use carbide dies for all my pistol stuff so I never lube them. For thinner bottleneck cases I use hornady spray lube and with heavy bottleneck cases I use rcbs lube on a pad. I wipe them all with a paper towel when I am done. The hornady case lube actually seams to act like a cleaner and the fouling on the necks wipes right off after using it.

 

[ExAgoradzo]

How long do you tumble them initially, since we brought up the subject?

How long afterwards?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[9mmepiphany]

Not .44Mag, but using .38Spl as a guideline:

Back when I used to dry tumble I usually tumbled about 2 hours to clean the cases. When I wet tumble, I tumble about 1.5 hours

When I spray on lube (1:12 lanolin/alcohol), I'll throw them in a 50/50% corncob/walnut mixture for about 15-20 mins after I've loaded them to clean them off

 

[Louca]

The only cases that get any lube during hand loading are rifle cases and I clean the lube off by wet tumbling about half an hour with only a detergent solution. My process for taking a fired case to where it is ready to prime is:

Inspect, keep/toss
Decap
Pocket swage (if needed)
Wet tumble 1/2 hour with SS pins, detergent, and LemiShine
Toss dirty water and re-tumble an hour or longer with SS pins, detergent, and LemiShine
Rinse and dry
Lube (with Imperial sizing die wax)
Full-length size
Wipe cases off
Case gauge check (rework/toss if needed).
Length trim (if needed)
Neck chamfer/ream (if needed, but especially if length was trimmed)
Wet tumble 1/2 hour with detergent and LemiShine
Rinse and dry

 

[cfullgraf]

If your loading 44 mag and have carbide dies you shouldn't have to lube.

Of late, I have been lightly spritz lubing the larger diameter hand gun cases such as 44 Magnum, 45 Colt, etc. Even though I resize with a carbide die, the resizing effort is greatly reduced with a little lubricant on them.

I then run them in the tumbler. Out of convienience, I run the tumbler through the night with a timer to shut it off after about 6 hours. I separate the cases from the media sometime during the next day.

I resize and clean cases shortly after shooting them and store them away for a future loading session. Small batches do not take too long to resize so I do not allow fired cases to accumulate before resizing and cleaning. Once I wish to load some up, I have a nice quantity on hand ready to prime and load.

 

[Jack B.]

Clean in tumbler .Lube, resize decap, wipe clean, measure, chamfer and deburr, clean primer pocket, insert primer and flair case if necessary, charge with powder ,seat bullet , measure and crimp if necessary. also inspect case at every step. I know its a lot of work but I've never had any troubles and my loads and they are very accurate and consistent. When I pull the trigger I know where that bullet is going to impact if I do my part. I give the same amount of detail and attention to my guns. But I do wipe off the case lube.

 

[GBExpat]

Do you clean case lube off

Yes.