Lubing inside neck?

[Mike Fontaine]

Hi Guys, I have a few questions about lubing inside the neck before resizing:

1) What do you use for lube?
2) What technique do you use to apply lube (especially wax)?
3) Do you remove lube before seating the bullet?

I have personally never lubed inside the neck but read on this forum that some of you do.

Thanks, Mike

 

[Ol` Joe]

There are a couple of ways to do it, but I do it with a RCBS nylon neck brush. You can use a bore brush or buy a neck brush either will work, The nylon is a better brush then copper IMO so if you get a bore brush get the nylon type.
I use Imperial wax on my brass and every so often I rub my fingers with a bit of wax on the brush. I run the brush in every other case neck or so to lube them. Others I`ve heard use a Q-tip and touch it to the wax or lube pad. Either works, just remember it only takes a little don`t over do it.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I rarely use an expander button on my sizing dies any more but when I did I used several different methods to lube the inside of the necks and they all worked fine.

1. When using a spray-on case lube, just spray down on the cases at a slight angle so that some of the spray hits the inside of the necks. You will need to spray from both sides of the tray which holds the cases.

2. I have also used a shallow cup of stainless balls that has had granulated moly added. You just push the case neck into the balls a couple of times and it picks up a light coat of moly on both sides of the neck. The moly can be substituted with mica or powdered graphite if you prefer.

3. If you like to use Imperial Sizing Wax, just roll a Q-tip in the wax and then apply a wipe to the inside of the neck. This is also a great lube for the outside of the case/neck.

I asked Sinclaire Internl. how they removed the wax from the inside of the necks when they used sizing wax i(which they recommended). They said they "Shoot it out". No removal is necessary.

Just my 2 cents

 

[dakotaelkslayer]

On necks, I like using the Lee case lube... A little bit on the finger and wipe it across the case's mouth. Works really well for me. The tube says "will not contaminate powder, but I still throw them in the tumbler after its resized.

Jim

 

[old #7]

I use rcbs case lube.
I roll my nylon neck brush across the case lube pad then brush the inside of the neck. Roll the case across the pad. Size the brass, then I tumble for a couple of hours until the brass is clean.
After the brass comes out of the tumbler I clean the primer pocket then I use a brass brush to further clean the inside of the neck.

 

[JD338]

I lube my cases with RCBS case lube. I put the case mouth on the pad to get a small amount on the inside of the case. After sizing, it tumble my cases and then wipe them off with a clean rag.

JD338

 

[rick smith]

For the inside/outside of the necks, I use a home made dry lube. Run a nylon brush through one pass. Size, load and shoot. If I were to purchase a dry lube, I would get the Imperial Dry Neck Lube.Rick.

 

[alpinecrick]

1) What do you use for lube?

Imperial Sizing Die Wax--I think it is still the best lube. Other stuff is good, but not as good as Imperial--in my semi-humble opinion :grin:

Lubing the inside of the neck goes a long way towards sizing straighter cases and reducing runout when using conventional dies with expander buttons.

2) What technique do you use to apply lube (especially wax)?

Here's where I'll get the forum equivalent of "What the...?"

I keep the tins of wax in the refridgerator. With cold wax I push the neck into the tin of wax, and dab a little wax on the body. As the wax in the tin begins to warm, I trade it for another cold tin (I have 3-4 tins on hand most of the time). The cold wax doesn't stick in globs, instead makes a nice film on the brass.

3) Do you remove lube before seating the bullet?

Absolutely!--And I don't use the vibratory case cleaner either.

I have a homemade parts bucket (the kind with a basket that fits into a bucket) with laquer thinner. As I size each case I drop the brass into the parts bucket.

Let the brass soak for a few minutes, pull the basket out, run a case neck brush through the necks, and drop the brass and basket back into the thinner and soak for another couple minutes. Pull out the basket and blow out the cases with compressed air.

I have sectioned other folks brass AFTER firing and found globs of lube (all different brands of lube) in the bottom of the case covered with a layer of carbon--but the lube was still moist!

This method makes the cases CLEAN--but I don't worry too much about making them shiny clean--but free from lube and carbon build-up inside.

I don't run lubed cases through my vibratory cleaners because I don't want to spread lube throughout the media.

This isn't as complicated as it sounds, and compressed air isn't necessary.


Casey

 

[FOTIS]

Imperial sizing wax


only thing I use.

 

[C.Smith]

If you are just neck sizing, do you really need lube inside the neck? If so why?

Corey

 

[alpinecrick]

If you are just neck sizing, do you really need lube inside the neck? If so why?

Corey

If we're using conventional resizing die with the expander, one of the biggest sources of runout is when the expander is pulled back through the neck (after the die has squeezed the neck down) to size the neck to proper demensions. The better the lube, the better the chance of having straight case necks (most runout occurs in the neck--which is where we want minimal runout).

Some guys don't use lube and don't have a problem.

For me, neck sizing hasn't produced straighter necks or better accuracy--in fact just the opposite. But some handloaders do fine with neck dies. The argument is that the neck isn't supported by the dies when it is sized down--increasing the chance it will be crooked.

Conventional dies are capable of producing straight cases, but some folks prefer the bushing dies (which don't use an expander), and some remove the expander from the conventional dies and use them that way (of course one still needs to de-prime the case using something different--like a decapping die).

I've come to the conclusion that so much depends on the chamber of our rifle, our reloading techniques, the loads we use, etc.

I have dies of most of the popular brands and styles--everything from 1950's RCBS dies to Redding Bushing dies, and it's hard to predict what's going to work for a particular rifle.

For all my hunting rifles I Partial Full Length Resize (PFLR is the usual acronym).

But if neck sizing works for you--then stick with it.

Casey

 

[C.Smith]

Thank you for the information. I'm going to have to make some changes to how resize my rifle brass.

Corey

 

[Leo M]

Oh how I love my Redding dies with the carbide sizing button. I have ordered them for all my Redding dies and only use the RCBS neck brush. Very smooth pulling that case back out of the die.

 

[C.Smith]

Oh how I love my Redding dies with the carbide sizing button. I have ordered them for all my Redding dies and only use the RCBS neck brush. Very smooth pulling that case back out of the die.

I bet those are expensive, but nice.

Corey

 

[Leo M]

I bet those are expensive, but nice.

Not really, you can buy the carbide button for around $20.00 for a standard Redding die.

 

[rigpig78]

I have tried powdered graphite for lubing the inside of case necks when resizing. Just dip a nylon bore brush in the graphite, shake off the excess and pass through the neck once or twice. Nice and smooth! The fact that it is a dry lube means there is also no chance of powder contamination.

The other thing I have seen (very inexpensive) is to use Vaseline. Sounds strange, but it really works, with only tiny amounts needed. The important thing to do here is to put the Vaseline in the sun and let it melt, then let it re-solidify. It doesn't seem to work too great unless this is done.

I wouldn't have believed it until my reloading guru (30+ years experience) showed me. Rub some very thinly on the palm of your hand and very lightly coat the cotton bud. This should be enough for lubing the necks of about 20 smaller size cases. He also uses a very light coating applied to both hands, then roll the cases back and forth through your hands as you would if you were rolling them across a case lube pad. Great, cheap resizing lube! The results have to been seen to be believed, I know the can definitely be felt on the press handle!