To dry lube or not? That’s the question!

[338 dude]

After I tumble, I resize the brass, and the use an ultrasonic cleaner to get any residual lube or other debris off. That usually takes care of the deprimed flash hole as well. But I do check the primer pocket to ensure cleanliness, and clean if I feel it needs it. I also use Imperial dry neck lube and leave it went seating the bullet. So far, works for me.

I also use imperial dry lube it works great

 

[okie man]

one thing I'm doing now is using a full length bushing die . No more over working my brass. My rcbs die would take a fired hornday 6.5 creedmoor case from .297" down to .278, then expand it back up to .290. Compare that with my Wilson full length bushing die, .297 down to .291 with zero expanding. I'm hoping for longer case life. Premium brass isn't cheap, don't shorten its life by over working it.

 

[Philward]

So I have gone through the process in this order of reloading my 7 mag
1)Deprime brass
2)Clean brass in tumbler with turbo tumbler media
3)inspect brass/wipe off with a rag by hand
4)measure OA of brass

-Question-
Which leads me to a question my Barnes handbook says 2.50 case length then below that says trim length 2.49. So I would go to imagine if I am understanding this correctly if I have my brass between 2.49 and 2.50 I am fine and to not trim my brass. Is that a correct understanding of the manual? My 60 pieces of brass I'm reloading was from 2.482 up to 2.492 so I decided that I didn't have the need to trim at this point.

5)resize without expander ball
6) mandrel resize the neck
7)remove case lube
8)chamfer and deburr
9)clean primer pockets
10) prime brass

-Question-
And then I stopped because I wanted to ask this other question should I dry lube the necks or not dry lube the necks at all before charging and seating the bullet?

You need to resize cases before measuring for trim to length. Step 4 and 5 should be swapped. I like to always run them through the trimmer to square up the necks and all cases are the same length, then chamfer and deburr.

 

[Baboltin]

You need to resize cases before measuring for trim to length. Step 4 and 5 should be swapped. I like to always run them through the trimmer to square up the necks and all cases are the same length, then chamfer and deburr.

Oh I made a mistake then because I went ahead and measured after I resized

 

[Baboltin]

You need to resize cases before measuring for trim to length. Step 4 and 5 should be swapped. I like to always run them through the trimmer to square up the necks and all cases are the same length, then chamfer and deburr.

They are one shot brass and like I mentioned the overall length after resizing and neck sizing the brass was in between 2.482 and 2.492 with the manual saying case length 2.50 and trim length 2.49 which I don't understand? Does that mean if they are between that range don't trim it ? Also I have primed them so would you suggest with a primed case sitting on the bench ready to charge and load should I still run trim them? Or am I pass the point of being able to do so since I primed them ?

 

[Philward]

They are one shot brass and like I mentioned the overall length after resizing and neck sizing the brass was in between 2.482 and 2.492 with the manual saying case length 2.50 and trim length 2.49 which I don't understand? Does that mean if they are between that range don't trim it ? Also I have primed them so would you suggest with a primed case sitting on the bench ready to charge and load should I still run trim them? Or am I pass the point of being able to do so since I primed them ?

You should be able to trim them but dump any shavings it of case when done. Max length is 2.500 so don't go over that but 2.499 probably should be trimmed. If they are no longer than 2.492 you shouldn't need to trim. If you leave them longer and the case stretches, when fired, to the max length of chamber allowing the case mouth to impact the front of chamber... Don't know what the consequences may be. May just be poor accuracy.

 

[338 dude]

High pressure

SsuresYou should be able to trim them but dump any shavings it of case when done. Max length is 2.500 so don't go over that but 2.499 probably should be trimmed. If they are no longer than 2.492 you shouldn't need to trim. If you leave them longer and the case stretches, when fired, to the max length of chamber allowing the case mouth to impact the front of chamber... Don't know what the consequences may be. May just be poor accuracy.

 

[Baboltin]

You should be able to trim them but dump any shavings it of case when done. Max length is 2.500 so don't go over that but 2.499 probably should be trimmed. If they are no longer than 2.492 you shouldn't need to trim. If you leave them longer and the case stretches, when fired, to the max length of chamber allowing the case mouth to impact the front of chamber... Don't know what the consequences may be. May just be poor accuracy.

Yeah out of 60 pieces of brass I had three that were the max length of 2.492 and the rest were shorter down to 2.482. I suppose going off of your advice I won't trim them but in the future plan on trimming all of them down to the shortest one in the bunch so in this group down to 2.482. Thank you for asking my question.

 

[Prairie]

One other thing that I have read about, and makes pretty good sense is, after seating the bullet, if bullet weld is a concern, you can leave the bullet seated "Long" by a couple thousanths and then before using the ammunition, you can seat the bullet to your original desired depth, therefore breaking any "Weld" that might be incountered when having ammo loaded for an extended period of time.

 

[Baboltin]

One other thing that I have read about, and makes pretty good sense is, after seating the bullet, if bullet weld is a concern, you can leave the bullet seated "Long" by a couple thousanths and then before using the ammunition, you can seat the bullet to your original desired depth, therefore breaking any "Weld" that might be incountered when having ammo loaded for an extended period of time.

Hmm makes sense thanks for sharing that tip

 

[misterc01]

Actually, our prep is very similar. I simplified it down to get to eh neck lube question. I use mix of lanolin and alcohol for case lube, and at preset am not annealing - more out of finances than anything, but to date it has not an issue with my brass. Guess I need to "bite the bullet" and start...............

 

[Seabeeken]

I did some testing with and without neck lube and found more consistent numbers with lube than without. It also seems to prevent bullet weld if ammo is sitting for a time. I tested this by pulling bullets after 6 months and there was a noticeable difference in the force required with unlubed bullets. Lubed bullets were all exactly the same when pulled, no noticeable difference. I use a small amount of Lee case lube on a q tip swiped in the neck and let it dry for a minute before adding powder. Consistent bullet release means more consistent start pressure.

 

[338 dude]

I did some testing with and without neck lube and found more consistent numbers with lube than without. It also seems to prevent bullet weld if ammo is sitting for a time. I tested this by pulling bullets after 6 months and there was a noticeable difference in the force required with unlubed bullets. Lubed bullets were all exactly the same when pulled, no noticeable difference. I use a small amount of Lee case lube on a q tip swiped in the neck and let it dry for a minute before adding powder. Consistent bullet release means more consistent start pressure.