Case Lube on progressive press

[gnappi]

The only cartridges I've ever lubricated are those that carbide is not available for or carbide dies are silly expensive.

 

[teletech]

I resize on the progressive, but I do it as a separate operation. Then I remove the lube and run the resized cases through the rest of the steps progressively.

Regarding 9mm and carbide, back when I had a 9 I used RCBS carbide dies with no lube and never had a problem. That said, I need to lube .30 carbine brass, even though I have a carbide die. Others have said they don't, but I do. Go figure!

Despite the carbide die, if I don't lube my 30-carbine cases, I start tearing off rims. It's not a good thing when you consider the lost time and how hard it is to come by good carbine brass!

Like you, no lube on the 9mm.
Carbide dies and no lube on 32ACP,32SWL,.380ACP,45ACP...
I don't lube my .44 brass, but feel like I should start.
Lube weather carbide or not on .38SPL/.357 and all rifle cases.

 

[AAAPAUL]

My lube removal technique. First, with handgun cases, I normally don't. Second, with rifle cases, I wipe each resized case with paper towels dampened with mineral spirits while watching TV. But I seldom resize more than 100 rifle cases at a time.

Yep! If you don’t get the lubricant off any rifle case you will put more pressure on the bolt because the case won’t seal into the chamber. If you want to test this all you have to do is take a round with no lube and fire it from a automatic gun then fire one with lube on the case and watch how far the lubed case exits the gun. A bolt gun won’t show this but you’ll be putting more pressure on your bolt lugs.

For 45 years at the factory we lube all cases new or reman with a thin coat of 50 weight racing oil. This oil eliminates any lube dents on bottle neck cases. At home just take a towel and put some oil on it ( don’t cover the towel with oil) Just use a little oil in spots on the towel and roll the cases over the spots to lube. Lay the loaded ammunition out on a towel and spray with NON FLAMMABLE brake cleaner and you’re done. You can then wipe each round or just roll the sprayed ammunition on the towel….whatever works for you.

If you use only carbide dies with no lube you are overworking the brass ( that’s why the brass gets worm and has a shine when sized using only the carbide die with no lube) and you will get scratched cases from brass & dirt residue getting between the case and carbide die….the lube prevents this.

 

[Patrick L]

Teletech, that's exactly what happens to me. Not much to a .30 carbine rim, it will tear off easily.

I don't lube 38/357, 44 spl/mag, or 45 ACP. These are the only rounds I load that come in carbide. Like we said, when I did load 9mm no need to lube.

s an aside, I do load the .38-45 Clerke. Its a wildcat, a .45ACP necked down to .38 caliber. Even though the dies are bottleneck ( and hence not carbide ) I have successfully loaded them progressively without lube. As a matter of course I do lube them, but I tried it without and darned if I can see any evidence of scratching, sticking, anything. Possibly because of the extremely short lengths of the two vertical sections? Or possibly because my super mild loads barely expand the cases to begin with? It was sort of just an experiment, like I say I typically do lube them just because.

 

[Skeet 028]

s an aside, I do load the .38-45 Clerke. Its a wildcat, a .45ACP necked down to .38 caliber. Even though the dies are bottleneck ( and hence not carbide ) I have successfully loaded them progressively without lube.

...
Wow a seldom seen or even heard of round these days...Been years since I tried it out.

 

[Patrick L]

Skeet,

I was given a barrel and bushing, plus case forming and reloading dies by a guy whose step-dad was an avid Bullseye shooter back in the 60s/70s, which was the .38-45s heyday. Both parents had passed, and he was in the process of emptying out the house. I explained what it was and more importantly what it was worth, but he insisted he wanted nothing for it. He was just excited to pass it on to someone who would appreciate it and use it.

 

[Skeet 028]

I bought mine al those years ago gun extra bbl etc. dies blah blah. I actually tried it out. It shot fine but for my uses too much work. I did have another setup to load crimped 45 auto shot loads...like Remington used to sell. Like the Clerke it was a lot of work when you could buy the few you needed. Sold the die setup for that too. Wish I still had it. It was fun to shoot. I even had a smoothbore bbl...mostly

 

[Patrick L]

Truth be told, I enjoy the work involved.

I've used it as it was intended ie a mild, soft shooting .38 caliber 1911 for NRA Bullseye. Back in the 80s guys like Dean Grennel started hot rodding it, trying to get super high velocity using JHP bullets. Not my interest at all. Don't get me wrong, DG was my all time favorite gun writer. Just not what I wanted to do.

 

[Ethang]

Rifle cases get lubed in a separate step, now using homemade Dillon lube in a box or ziplock bag.. pistol cases, even with carbide dies, get a squirty squirt of case lube in the case hopper...makes the whole process much smoother even though they don't need it.