Removing Case Lube Before Priming/charging Case

[308win]

When using a 'pad' type case lube what is the most effective method of cleaning cases? I assume the lube will load up tumbler media and reneder it useless? How about the 'one shot' type lube - does it need to be cleaned off before reloading?

When using the 'pad' type lube will a rinse in denatured alchohol remove it effecively?

 

[Dave R]

I use Hornaday One-Shot. And I do clean it off before priming. I have tried:

1. Throwing the brass is a bucket of hot water and drying by hand--took too much effort and wasn't as clean as I wanted.

2. Throwing the brass back in the tumbler. Have to wait for the tumbler (1-2 hours seems to be enough) but its a lot cleaner, and takes less of _my_ time. I haven't notived a problem with gunking up the media. I use a tsp of car polish to shine my brass--maybe that breaks down the lube?

 

[Smokey Joe]

Cleaning sized cases

Another poster answered this same question, saying that the sizing lube gunked up his walnut tumbling medium badly. Can't say from my own experience, although his reply makes me antsy about trying it myself.

I tumble all cases before sizing, decapping, or anything, to clean them. Keeps the firing residue out of my dies.

When I FL rifle cases I usually wipe them afterwards with a rag with some rubbing alcohol on it. That seems to get rid of the sizing lube, of course it doesn't clean the case at all. (I use RCBS water-soluble sizing lube.)

I'm leery of adding anything to the polishing medium that would leave any sort of residue on the cases. Therefore I use no car wax, no polish, nothing like that. Shiny clean brass is good enough.

 

[308win]

When I FL rifle cases I usually wipe them afterwards with a rag with some rubbing alcohol on it. That seems to get rid of the sizing lube, of course it doesn't clean the case at all. (I use RCBS water-soluble sizing lube.)

Is the pad type lube water soluable?

I was thinking of buying a gallon of denatured alcohol from Lowes and using some type of tighly sealed container to let the brass soak in for a few minutes after sizing. The alcohol would dry quickly.

I tumble before resizing only to clean, I don't care about shiny.

 

[JA]

I stopped using a lube pad over 15 years ago. It was just plain too messy and too much work wiping the lube off each case. I use spray lube in a pump bottle. Almost cover the bottom of a Tupperware 11"x7" by 2" deep plastic pan with brass. One pump and shake the pan side to side so the brass rolls around. Let it set for 5 minuites so the alcohol evaperates and resize them. A very thin coating is applied so the cases have a slight greasy feel to them but are not sticky like when using the lube pad. There is no need to clean the lube off untill the cases are loaded. I keep untreated corn cob in a 1 gallon wide mouth plastic jar that is used for removing lube only. I tumble loaded ammo for 30 mins to remove the lube. After many,many uses when the corn cob starts to look real dingey I then add Midway polish and use it to clean brass.

 

[HSMITH]

One Shot does NOT need to be cleaned off. It is all I use anymore. Mineral spirits on a rag is what I used to clean cases when I used to make a mess with the pad and the cases.

 

[P95Carry]

Using ''One Shot'' for my 45-70 stuff ... and will use on some bottlenecks soon too. Good stuff.

I do not clean off until end of sequence - which means after a pass thru my FCD. Then a wipe over assembled round with kitchen paper - which actually removes then most of the blackening - means not tumbling every time. cases clean up good.

Certainly don't worry about cleaning up any earlier - but always a bit of care handling primers so as not to risk any contamination.

 

[Smokey Joe]

H2O Soluble--You betcha!

308Win--The case lube I use is RCBS Case Lube-2. It says on the squeeze bottle that it is non-toxic and water-soluble, in plain English.

I wipe it off with denatured alcohol simply because (1) that is an even better solvent for most water-soluble things, and it works just fine for this lube, and (2) with the alcohol I don't have to sweat drying off each case, as it evaporates readily.

The lube kit with the Case Lube-2 was at a gun show a number of years ago, and I don't have any idea how much I paid for it but it must have been a bargain or I'd have left it there.

Before using this kit, I used a very similar RCBS kit with non-water-soluble lube. (RCBS Case Lube-1 perhaps??) That was before I had a brass tumbler. The alcohol got the old lube off, too, but with more of a struggle.

Question for the FL resizers who do not remove the sizing lube: Doesn't the lube then act as a lubricant when the case is fired in the chamber, reducing the case's ability to grip the chamber and seal it, and tremendously increasing the pressure on the bolt of the firearm?

 

[BluesBear]

Yeah I ruined two lots of walnut hulls learning that pad lube won't come off that way. I now tumble in walnut before sizing.

One Shot works great.
Corn cob after loading takes what doesn't evaporate right off.

If you don't tumble after loading then don't worry about it. The miniscule amount of One Shot that remains won't hurt a thing.

 

[BigBob3006]

308wim,

Being retired, I've lots of time to play. Even so I've used this method for a lot of years because it gets the job done. I run fired cases thrugh a universal decapping die and then clean the primer pockets. This gives me my first chance too inspect cases. the cases now go into my Dillon case cleaner. When the cases come out of the cleaner, they are wiped with a towel to remove dust, inspected, necks are lubed and then they get run through my Redding competition neck sizing die. cases are then trimmed for length and deburred and are returned to the case cleaner. At each step all cases are examined. When removed from the case cleaner they are ready for loading.
My case cleaner is cheap to run, so I use it often. Cases than haven't had the lube removed can pick up a lot of dirt. Dirty cases don't like too function in an action. Dirty cases fired in a rifle may result in a scratched chamber wall that could result in extraction of fired cases difficult in the future. I hope that this is of some help. Good luck and God bless.

 

[road.warrior]

I apply/remove differently....

I use a "shop rag" (I like the red/pink cotton ones from Wal-Mart) and spray
one corner with WD-40 so it is damp. Take a case and rub it with the wet
corner so lube is transfered from the rag to the case. After sizing, I remove
the lube by using another part of the same rag. I have to respray the corner
with WD-40 again after 50 cases.

You don't need much lube, just enough to take the shine off the brass.

 

[TooTaxed]

I run my fired cases through the tumbler before decapping...got tired of checking each case to clear primer flash holes jammed with tumbling compound.

I've never cleaned primer pockets...don't see the need.

I use carbide dies for pistol, so no case lube is necessary for the sizing operation.

For rifle, I just lay a handful of cases on a pad very lightly lubed with RCBS or Redding case lubricant...lanolin works just as well...and rotate the whole bunch a half turn with my palm. Too much lubricant would cause case shoulder dents (no real problem, but unsightly). Rolling the completed cartridges on a soft paper or cloth towel in the same manner removes the lubricant...and I'm not convinced that this is even necessary, except to minimize the possibility of the case collecting grit before firing. The case lubricant has always been dry at the range, even without cleaning.

The spray lubricant sounds fine...but I figure that's just one more impurity to breath.