Can inside necks be TO clean?

[baldhunter]

I used to lube the inside of my necks with RCBS case lube.I quit doing that because I saw the negative affects of doing that,mainly it was causing neck weld in ammo that was stored over time.This can cause ammo to become less accurate and is one reason I don't like to have a bunch of stored ammo.The only way I could easily pull bullets on some older ammo,was seating the bullets in .010 or .020 first,then pulling the bullets was much easier.I recently pulled down a bunch of old ammne in particular got my attention.It was a round that was loaded in the early 90's.The base of the bullet had turned green and when I poured the powder out,I could see the powder that was near the bullet had began to deteriorate.This may have been caused by case lube or even handling of bullets with dirty or sweaty hands,I don't know.I've been looking at different options lately.Tried the Bonanza mica applicator.Works OK,but I really don't like it too much.Tried adding the dry mica to lead shot for a dip.Don't really like that too much either.Went on Ebay and found some 44 micron military grade graphite lubricant,2oz for $6.99,plus free shipping.Installed a bore mop on my RCBS brush handle,added some of the graphite powder to the bottom of a tall medicine bottle and walla,I think I might be on to something.The bore mop worked great as an applicator,.Attached to the handle,it keeps the graphite off your hands.The whole unit is a little long,so I had to cut a hole in the lid so I could store everything as one unit.So here is some pictures to show you what I came up with.

 

[tbrice23]

Baldhunter, do you think graphite will stop bullet/case bonding (cold welding) ???

 

[baldhunter]

I haven't used it long enough to tell,but I think any dry type lube should help prevent neck weld.

 

[tbrice23]

I hope so. I wasn't really happy with mica but it's obvious that graphite reduces bullet seating pressure variance . This tells me that it coates the surfaces better than mica.

 

[baldhunter]

I know it really seems to work well to lubricate the inside of the neck when full length resizing the brass.I guess time will tell.

 

[bigedp51]

Wetting your brass, and left with replacing the perfect carbon layer in necks.
It seems a goal meant for no meaning..

Mikecr

I'm 67 and have been reloading for over 47 years and in the last 10 years went to wet tumbling with SS media. This is because my sons talked dad into getting "modern" and buying firearms that throw perfectly good brass away that lands on the ground. I sill prefer bolt actions and revolvers and inspecting my cases after firing them.

"BUT" I now wet tumble to get the embedded dirt and grit off the cases before sizing and not scratch my dies and brass. And dipping the case necks in powdered graphite (carbon) reapplies the missing carbon inside the case necks.

Also wet tumbling cleans the inside the case and allows you to inspect the inside of the case much better and visually check for stretching and thinning.

And when I see so many shooters at accurateshooter.com reloading forum that wet tumble I do not think clean brass is the end of the world.

And the best part of reloading is the person pulling the press handle decides how to reload his brass and no one forced me to start wet tumbling.....................my scratched dies did.

And you also have OCD competitive shooters who will not use treated walnut tumbling media and get the red polishing compound inside their custom made barrels.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

I bought small tin 30 years ago and am still using it..... A dip, a tap and your done, never had a stuck case or issue other than black and I've cleaned a case either..

 

[Mikecr]

In no way could wet tumbling be credited as providing benefit over dry tumbling.
And I just think this should be reminded once in a while by someone from the far majority who do not wet tumble, including most BR shooters.

 

[rcoody]

In no way could wet tumbling be credited as providing benefit over dry tumbling.
And I just think this should be reminded once in a while by someone from the far majority who do not wet tumble, including most BR shooters.

Well i do ultrasonic periodically. I anneal every 3 to 5 firings and around that 5th firing mark i will ultrasonic. If i don't then i get big flakes coming out.of.the cases in the tumbler. I then lube the necks with the imperial dry neck lube. Freshly annealed and lubed necks feel good seating bullets. I use an arbor press and wilson straight line seater.

Lube that new lapua brass too after running an expander mandrel through it and running it through the resizing die.

 

[Engineering101]

DartonJager

I use SS tumbling media and love the cases that look like new when they come out of the cleaner including the primer pockets. From my experience you need do nothing special but inside neck chamfer to remove a slight bit of "shot peaning" that you get from cases banging into each other. To be clear I do nothing but resize and anneal. I don't put lube or anything else in the case necks. I load for 15 rifles and they all shoot 0.4 to 0.7 MOA. So my recommendation is go ahead with the stainless media cleaning.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I don't know if the inside of the case neck can be too clean to affect anything, but I have found that I get excellent accuracy from virgin brass (Norma) in my .340 Wby. In fact, the accuracy seems to be a bit better from the virgin brass than with the once fired.

 

[jsthntn247]

You can take 100 cases and ultrasonic or stainless tumble them. Then anneal all of them and throw half of them in a tumbler for a couple hours. Take 5 cases that havnt been tumbled, 5 tumbled cases, 5 tumbled cases with necks dipped in graphite powder, 5 tumbled cases with slick lube applied to the neck. Resize all cases and load on a Hydro Press with seating force indicator. The ultra sonic only without tumbling or neck lube will seat up to 100 lbs and have a range of 30lbs. The tumbled cases seat at 60 lbs with a range of 15 lbs. Powder graphite in the neck cases 40lbs with a range of 10 lbs. Slick lube cases 30lbs with a range of 4lbs. How did cases ran through the same sizing due show such a large variance? The hydro press shows total seating force, which is a combination of squeeze tension (neck tension from the neck squeezing the bullet) and friction tension (grip/stickyness between the bullet jack and the neck). What testing this multiple times showed me was that you want the slickest thing possible applied to the inside of your necks so that any variation in seating force is actual squeeze tension. When nothing is applied to the neck you have no idea whether it squeeze or friction tension variances making the differences in seating force. I can load for a 2 day match and might have a 10lb variance in seating force with slick lube cases and separate those into 2lb groups for each string and minimize vertical because the I know the differences I'm seeing is actual differences in neck tension.

 

[rcoody]

You can take 100 cases and ultrasonic or stainless tumble them. Then anneal all of them and throw half of them in a tumbler for a couple hours. Take 5 cases that havnt been tumbled, 5 tumbled cases, 5 tumbled cases with necks dipped in graphite powder, 5 tumbled cases with slick lube applied to the neck. Resize all cases and load on a Hydro Press with seating force indicator. The ultra sonic only without tumbling or neck lube will seat up to 100 lbs and have a range of 30lbs. The tumbled cases seat at 60 lbs with a range of 15 lbs. Powder graphite in the neck cases 40lbs with a range of 10 lbs. Slick lube cases 30lbs with a range of 4lbs. How did cases ran through the same sizing due show such a large variance? The hydro press shows total seating force, which is a combination of squeeze tension (neck tension from the neck squeezing the bullet) and friction tension (grip/stickyness between the bullet jack and the neck). What testing this multiple times showed me was that you want the slickest thing possible applied to the inside of your necks so that any variation in seating force is actual squeeze tension. When nothing is applied to the neck you have no idea whether it squeeze or friction tension variances making the differences in seating force. I can load for a 2 day match and might have a 10lb variance in seating force with slick lube cases and separate those into 2lb groups for each string and minimize vertical because the I know the differences I'm seeing is actual differences in neck tension.

I am curious i don't have a force indicator on my arbor press. What is the range of.seating.force for.fired.brass that is dry tumbled and neck brushed.

 

[Pdvdh]

What testing this multiple times showed me was that you want the slickest thing possible applied to the inside of your necks so that any variation in seating force is actual squeeze tension. When nothing is applied to the neck you have no idea whether it squeeze or friction tension variances making the differences in seating force. I can load for a 2 day match and might have a 10lb variance in seating force with slick lube cases and separate those into 2lb groups for each string and minimize vertical because the I know the differences I'm seeing is actual differences in neck tension.

Exactly correct.
Hornady Unique.
I don't know what slicklube is, but Hornady Unique is better than all the graphite powders being branded and promoted. Better than HBN coated bullets for reducing bullet seating friction on the case necks. I HBN coat bullets, but for different purposes.

There's a reason the case resizing waxes are popular. They do a wonderful job reducing surface to surface friction.