To lube or not to lube - 308 / any bootleneck neck resizing

[pinne65]

I read / got some tips on extending brass life on bottlenecks. One was neck resize only for same chamber brass. I read lube inside only - very lightly and then resize. And I did, as well as measuring the length before and after - about .004 longer after resize. Today I forgot to lube some cases and the feel on the pull was about the same as with lube. So I did an experiment - 10 with and 10 without lube. The result was that they stretched the same. About .004".

Do I even need to care about lube on neck resize only?

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[Roop]

My experience has indicated that you can get away with only lubing one out of every five when doing this kind of thing. The expander ball retains enough lube that I haven't noticed any real problems until I get to about the eighth shell or so. When I started reloading, I was full length sizing everything without lubing inside the necks. Depending on the caliber, you may not even get enough reloads out of your cases to worry about a few thousandths neck stretch. On the other hand, I did an experiment a few years ago where I attempted to figure out how many times I could reload a single .308 case. I gave up after the 25th loading, firing it through 3 different rifles, both full length and neck resized, as well as reloaded using a lee loader.

Remember that alot of what you read in the internets and gun magazines is based on superstition and anal retentiveness. Do your own experiments, make observations, and do what works for you.

 

[Steve M]

Redding makes a carbide expander that doesn't require inside neck lubing.

 

[pinne65]

Thanks for the info. Dengit wish I'd known about the carbide die. I'm surprised rcbs doesn't make one. I wasn't even looking at other brands when I got mine wanting to keep it all the same - guess I have to stop being so ocd about stuff like that

 

[Steve M]

The Redding boxes are also green, does that help?

 

[pinne65]

Lol - that'll do it. I have to talk to my shrink. And he would probably say "sometimes a box is just a box"

 

[AMProducts]

I generally lube with motor mica when neck sizing, I don't think it improves the end-state quality, but it gives a difference in feel during resizing.