Several years ago When I started reloading I wanted to do everything in case prep that I could. I trimmed, reamed turned and deburred but had one problem that took a while to determine and eliminate. When I would size cases, it took much effort on press ram to pull the case over the button. It would screech something awful. Asked a gunsmith and a benchrest shooter and they told me to lube the necks. I lubed them. Mica and other lube to no avail. Found out that the problem was the necks needed annealed. After learning what the problem was, necks size very smooth with little effort on the press. I dont even lube any more
Using powdered graphite on case necks
- Thread starter david g ranes
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oneeyejohn
Well-Known Member
Kmccord
Well-Known Member
I have used graphite in a small container with BB's, just dip the necks and run it through the die. I have now switched to using Lyman's neck lube, it comes with a small enclosed case you mount to your bench, it has three nylon brushes that screw into the case and a small well for Mica. I clean the neck with the brush, then dip the neck in the Mica. This seems to work great for me.
baldhunter
Well-Known Member
Brass usually starts getting hard after about four or five times after being fired and resized.I really started to notice this more after I got my electric trimmer.Newer brass was easy to trim,but after four or five times it was getting harder and I was getting chatter when I was trimming.Another thing I noticed,my runout would also start to get higher too.I think the hardened brass makes seating a little more difficult and may cause runout to be higher.If I'm working on hunting loads,I like to use once fired brass.If I'm working on a new test load,I like to use once or twice fired brass.I don't want brass hardness to be a factor in neck tension and I also check the runout.It has really brought to my attention the importance of keeping your brass separated not only by the brand but also by the number of times it's been fired.It takes a little more time,but every case I load,with a Sharpie I write on the case,bullet weight,type and powder charge,and number of times fired.Later if I'm going through four or five ammo boxes that have fired cases in them,I can segregate them out by the number of times fired when I get ready to do some case prep.
I had a rifle chambered in an Ackley Improved cartridge and had new brass from a well known manufacturer. When fireforming 50% of the cases split from th shoulder to the base of the neck. When I notified the company that did the chambering they had me send barrelled action back. When they notified me they said the chamber was in specs and my problem was bad (hard) brass. I informed him it couldnt be that because it was it was brand new brass. Do not try to disagree with a very experienced gun smith. So I purchased new Lapua brass and not one split. The cheap brass I anneal after every other loading but the Lapua every four or five loadings. It seems you get what you pay for.
40 years ago I got this neck graphiter from an older gent that was in 80's and not reloading any more. It is OLD! Still does great job and does so with the charm of being as old as I am. Dirt. It is a Wilkins & Schultz graphiter in a very old tin setup. Crazy thing is there is one for sale on Ebay right now!
whirlwindjml
Well-Known Member
I use an old musket cap can filled with h1000 and graphite mixed. Dip dip and done. 50 micron I believe from Amazon. 90% less money for a lifetime supply vs the little can sold elswhere.
xsn10s
Well-Known Member
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I have one like this with mica. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012714134
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shinbone
Well-Known Member
I graphite the inside of the case neck with an appropriate sized bore mop dipped in graphite. Then, I also lube the shank of the bullet with graphite by dipping the bullet into the ceramic balls/graphite mixture from Redding.
whirlwindjml
Well-Known Member
Bore mops a good
