Lubing pistol brass even for carbide dies

[Helocat]

Here is how I lube pistol brass before processing. This is 9mm going into carbide dies.

I have a dedicated plastic "lube bin".
1. Brass goes in and is tossed around to get most mouths facing up. I want the lube inside and out.
2. Two small quick bursts.
3. Lid on and tossed about to spread the lube around.


Lube is homemade 1:10 ratio of Peg-75 Lanolin and 99% isopropyl Alcohol.

I do this for brass processing, then send back to the tumbler for cleaning. I then do lube them again when loading so the powder drop/expansion dies does not stick to the case.

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[ron]

You wet tumble your brass? I know that does a great job cleaning brass but it does seem to be a lot more work.
I use a dry tumbler with walnut or corn cob to clean my brass. I have never lubed my pistol brass. Just clean and load
on the Dillon. Same way I have been loading since 1978. I shoot thousands of my pistol reloads annually. No issues.

 

[mortar maggot]

I do like Ron, tumble, reload, shoot, tumble, reload, shoot. On and on.

The method in the video maybe great but a lot more work.

 

[tac]

I've been reloading .38 Spec-level loads in .nickel-plated .357 cases since the early 1980's. With the same Lee carbide dies. At one time I was shooting around 600 - 800 a week - same dies, but in a Dillon press that four of us shared...happy days, eh?

Not one of those tens of thousands of cases was ever cleaned before loading.

Guess I be's doing it wrong all this time.

 

[RVTECH]

You wet tumble your brass? I know that does a great job cleaning brass but it does seem to be a lot more work.

Personally I found it to be LESS work than dry tumbling.

 

[robertvarner]

I started out out dry-tumbling my brass with crushed walnut shell media and then I saw several YouTube videos by FortuneCookie45LC where he pointed out how lead dust from dry-tumbling spent brass is potentially released into the air and mixed into the dry-tumbling media. This has the potential of getting into your lungs and can be handled with your bare hands.

I know the chances may be low that this could effect me, but since then I wet-tumbled with Dawn dish soap, Lemi-Shine, and steel pins using plastic gloves. Any dust is now in the water, where it is more easily and safely disposed of.

I don't mind the extra time for drying, since I use it as another step for inspecting and sorting my brass before it gets to my press.

 

[sidneyconn]

I stopped using my tumbler years ago. I noticed little clouds of dust floating around every time I loaded and unloaded it. I had discovered Kleen Strip, Concrete and Metal Prep at Home Depot for $13 per gallon. It's highly concentrated so dilution is necessary. A gallon last me about 2 years and I reload a lot. After a preliminary wash in mild soapy water, I dip the brass in the solution for about 30 seconds. It comes out shiny clean! I air dry on an old bath towel.

 

[DizzyJ]

I've never lubed pistol brass since I started reloading over 30 years ago. Seems like a lot of work to lube then clean.

A capful or two of mineral spirits in your dry tumbling media eliminates the dust.

Rifle brass I've got to the wet method, but I HAVE to lubricate those cases in order to size them.

 

[Ringo]

a lot of work ??? please

 

[Throckmorton]

i do mostly 45 colt brass and a thin smear on my fingertips makes it fly thru the sizer die on my Dillon 550. My 75 year old arms and such appreciate it.
If you have never tried it, you should not make comments that it's not necessary, because the difference is amazing.
I use a paste lube in a tub..Hornady, and by the time the ammo is looked over and boxed there is no need to clean the lube off in a separate step, the thin smear on fingertip has never been a problem for me, but then I don't do this for my much smaller and easier to size 45 acp's

 

[Helocat]

You wet tumble your brass? I know that does a great job cleaning brass but it does seem to be a lot more work.
I use a dry tumbler with walnut or corn cob to clean my brass. I have never lubed my pistol brass. Just clean and load
on the Dillon. Same way I have been loading since 1978. I shoot thousands of my pistol reloads annually. No issues.

I do like Ron, tumble, reload, shoot, tumble, reload, shoot. On and on.

The method in the video maybe great but a lot more work.

I've been reloading .38 Spec-level loads in .nickel-plated .357 cases since the early 1980's. With the same Lee carbide dies. At one time I was shooting around 600 - 800 a week - same dies, but in a Dillon press that four of us shared...happy days, eh?

Not one of those tens of thousands of cases was ever cleaned before loading.

Guess I be's doing it wrong all this time.

@ron @mortar maggot @tac I too ran my pistol brass dry for yrs though my carbide dies when loading on my RCBS Rock Chucker II then eventually a D550B. Its not a matter of right way or wrong way. I am loading now on D1050's with auto drives (you can hear one running the background of the video, punching out 9mm at 1300 round per hr). With the speed of the auto drives its recommended to lube all pistol brass and use carbide dies. There was a different thread on the board where the discussion of lubing for carbide pistol was good/bad, so I made this post to show how easy it is to lube.

This actual video is pre-processed brass. So this brass is 100% done* ready to load. The wet polishing makes the brass so clean they will stick slightly on the powder drop/flaring die causing the shell plate to get a shock. So right before loading, they get another short blast of lube, and they load beautifully. I used to drop the loaded rounds in the old vibratory cleaner with corncob to take the lube off but it's so light and has no ill effects on function. Also very hard to even see it on them so I load and run them.

*I pre-process brass before loading. (de-prime, resize, rollsize etc.) All with lube too, then get a final wash when done and are ready for loading.

 

[Helocat]

I've been reloading .38 Spec-level loads in .nickel-plated .357 cases since the early 1980's. With the same Lee carbide dies. At one time I was shooting around 600 - 800 a week - same dies, but in a Dillon press that four of us shared...happy days, eh?

Not one of those tens of thousands of cases was ever cleaned before loading.

Guess I be's doing it wrong all this time.

I have heard of a number of people never cleaning wheel gun brass. Makes since when you manually load each round into the gun, the loaded cartridge is not part of the mechanical operation of the firearm. Also one can choose to unload and not drop a single piece of brass on the ground so range rocks, dirt, water etc. never has to touch the brass. I am amazed at the number of little rocks I bring home from the range in my brass! I have never owned a wheel gun (working on changing that) so all my brass is always randomly being shot off into the surrounding environment.

 

[ron]

@ron @mortar maggot @tac I too ran my pistol brass dry for yrs though my carbide dies when loading on my RCBS Rock Chucker II then eventually a D550B. Its not a matter of right way or wrong way. I am loading now on D1050's with auto drives (you can hear one running the background of the video, punching out 9mm at 1300 round per hr). With the speed of the auto drives its recommended to lube all pistol brass and use carbide dies. There was a different thread on the board where the discussion of lubing for carbide pistol was good/bad, so I made this post to show how easy it is to lube.

This actual video is pre-processed brass. So this brass is 100% done* ready to load. The wet polishing makes the brass so clean they will stick slightly on the powder drop/flaring die causing the shell plate to get a shock. So right before loading, they get another short blast of lube, and they load beautifully. I used to drop the loaded rounds in the old vibratory cleaner with corncob to take the lube off but it's so light and has no ill effects on function. Also very hard to even see it on them so I load and run them.

*I pre-process brass before loading. (de-prime, resize, rollsize etc.) All with lube too, then get a final wash when done and are ready for loading.

Wow you are cranking out some serious amount of ammo. You must be feeding a couple SMGs? You are the reloading Master my friend. Love to go shooting with you sometime. Do they still do the Kroc run in Dundee?

 

[Helocat]

Wow you are cranking out some serious amount of ammo. You must be feeding a couple SMGs? You are the reloading Master my friend. Love to go shooting with you sometime. Do they still do the Kroc run in Dundee?

Ron, no SMG's next best thing = 3 Teenage boys w/ me as a distant 4th. They are due for a rude awakening in a few yrs when out on their own and they are buying their own rounds. They will suddenly realize why Dad built a small ammo factory. I also started shooting USPSA for a bit and was mowing through the rounds each week training for it.

Yes, CVSC still runs the Kroc run. They also have USPSA once a month too, well not lately of course.

Ron I am down for hitting the range anytime.

 

[benchmark]

Hi, I would love somebody to give me the process of reloading 357 Sig. That brass I do know you need to lube due to bottle neck brass. If it is carbide die do you still need to do this? What about if I am using a Dillon 357 Sig die? Video on that one too? Gratzi.

 

[fxdc]

Got rid of my steel pistol dies and went to carbide and never lubed again...

That was back in 89/90 .

 

[Tilos]

I de-prime, wet tumble.
I have 4 buckets from the dollar store setup as a separate brass/pins and LUBE "line".

1.- 1st bucket, no water, paint strainer mesh bag, wire waste basket from dollar store.
Dump tumbler contains into it, agitate/shake wire basket to get pins out.

2.- 2nd bucket, 1/2 full with water, paint strainer bag to catch any remaining pins.
Transfer wire basket, agitate/shake basket to rinse brass and remove any remaining pins.

3.- 3rd bucket, 1/2 full with water...
Transfer wire basket, agitate/shake wire basket to final rinse brass.

4.- 4th bucket, 1/2 full of water and a fat amount of Auto Wash and Wax mix that I save and use over and over.
Transfer wire basket, agitate/shake wire basket to LUBE cases, inside and out, with the W/W product.

5.- Shake out excess water/W+W over 4th bucket and spread out brass to dry.

It took me longer to type that than it does to do it
I pull the strainer bags out of the buckets and put them thru all the buckets, then spread them out to dry, STILL in the BAGS.
Once dry I put the open end of the bags into the tumbler and shake out the pins...done.
I seldom have any pins "escape" doing it this way.

Whew, the amount of lubrication from this process has proven to be enough for my loading of handgun calibers.
Your lube requirement may be different from mine.
Paint strainer bags from Home Depot $2 each.
Sorry for the bloviation,

 

[ageingstudent]

You wet tumble your brass? I know that does a great job cleaning brass but it does seem to be a lot more work.
I use a dry tumbler with walnut or corn cob to clean my brass. I have never lubed my pistol brass. Just clean and load
on the Dillon. Same way I have been loading since 1978. I shoot thousands of my pistol reloads annually. No issues.

I usually don't lube pistol or revolver except 9mm. I get a lot better feel on that tapered case with a dash of lube. The rest I just polish well.