Imperial siding wax and vibratory tumbler

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I think I'll start with Mrawsome's idea. If that doesn't work, I'll move to either the graphite lube or carbide expander.

I have polished expanders, but find I still need lube.

I use a lot of OneShot. It dries smooth and non-stick. It works for my case mouth lube too. I lay them in two foot rows and spray them inside and out, let them flash for a second, then roll them to the other side and spray again.

I also don't clean it off, saving that entire step.


I have lubed necks with graphite, too.

Buy a small bottle of Loc-eze graphite lock lubricant, NOT a one pound container of powdered black graphite for seed spreaders and planting equipment! Unless you are lubing necks for a small army of precision shooters...

Put a throwaway towel down when opening the silvery blackened container, and a small one under its place on the bench.

Vacuum any black spills, full well knowing that any attempt to touch or wipe the black spill will result in a HUGE, black, shiny, and very slick, smeary black stain on the floor forever and ever.
Despite scrubbing the black abyss with soap and water, it will blacken the sole of your right house shoe when standing at your press and will result in getting a bamboo vinyl flooring remnant to "sweep it under the rug" with.
All while, impossibly, it keeps getting bigger.
Ask me how I know this...:)

Further, not that it is a huge amount, but that graphite is blown out into the firearm.(More mess.)

Frankford has a nylon brush-in-a-box for dry lubing necks, I like that better than getting it on the outside of the case too, as with the bbs.

I like Mica instead of graphite as well.

It isn't any cleaner, just replace "black" with "sparkly white" in the product description above...

It's a little less easy to see when you spill some, so wash your hands before touching your face or clothes, or someone will ask why you have make-up on you.
It does seem to clean up better, a little. Don't spill it.;)

I think the Motor Mica is a bit finer than the graphite I have. I would think the Lock-eze would be very pure too, but prefer "white graphite".

If you needed any I have 15.9999 ounces of a sixteen ounce container I could send you.
A little goes a long way!:D
 
I understand that you fellows do this and I trust that you know your stuff (here is the "but") but I wonder how likely it is that a case shoulder will get pulled forward. If it is pulled, how much so? Will it show in a Wilson case length gauge? I am gonna hafta experiment with this.....maybe size 10 X .30-06 cases with inside lubed necks and ten dry. run them through a gauge. If the shoulder has moved, it should show up as a change in length....as long as I start with 20 cases the same OAL.
Why do this? Curiosity is part of it. Eliminating steps/unnecessary case handling in the reloading process is another (or adding a step). Passing on anything that I learn is a third. Maybe changing my own process is yet another.
i used to clean and uniform primer pockets. No more....have seen no observable difference in accuracy in my guns for my kind of shooting (HP service rifle and hunting rifles)
 
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Not the shoulder, but the neck. If the neck is crooked then a longer bullet held crooked can keep the whole cartridge from chambering easily.

You won’t necessarily find the difference in the shoulder sizing, but rather the bullet runout. Though I think the shoulders can be pulled up enough that the neck comes to the end of the chamber. I guess it depends where you measure.


I just got tired of the squeaks on the way out...:)
 
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When I shot Benchrest I would use Imperial and just wipe if off with a small towel. But that was only a few cases. I use RCBS Case Lube II for big batches of cases, fast, easy, tumbles off well, don't slather it on. You can also rinse it off with hot water and let the cases dry. My Redding .223 sizer has a carbide expander, and I have retrofitted a couple of RCBS sizers to accept the Redding carbide expander. These days the new RCBS Matchmaster dies come with a nitrided expander. Bushng style sizers, and not cheap, but very good.

When processing a large batch of 7.62 LC (MG) brass from Wideners, I discovered how danged important lubing necks....lubing everything was. Adding to the problem was the brass was first deprimed and blinged with wet s.s. pins.....and to make matters worse, I was sizing the stuff with small-based dies. (Remember this was MG brass so I was creating the perfect storm.;)) Only the fact I was careful kept me from sticking a case in the die.....knew enough to stop before the point of no return.

I was using Imperial, and found out that that stuff, great on pistol brass, was not cutting it on this brass.

I tried lanolin spray too.....no joy. It was only when I went back to RCBS case lube and the lube pad, that I was able to size it without a problem.....but the expander on the small-base die was not carbide, or nitride. and it stretched the hell out of the shoulder and neck. I assure you it was measurable and run-out was affected too. I had to break down the sizer and clean the expander of all traces of wax. It was better with the RCBS lube, but still was fairly hard pulling the expander out of the cases. I decided to try dipping the necks in powdered mica, and that was the fix....no more stretched necks after that. (I only ruined 10 or so cases before the joy, run-out then stayed within .003.) :)

These issues were worked through using regular RCBS SB dies. The competition dies I hadn't bought yet, but I sure like the idea of nitride or carbide expanders! I do have the RCBS Gold Medal Dies for .223, and .308 now, and they are awesome. But again I cheaped out and got the polished steel bushings for them. They also offer Tungsten Disulfide coated bushings that have extremely low coefficient of friction (0.03, titanium nitride is 0.6). They only cost twice as much as the steel, $26. Where was my brain....that isn't a big deal.....ordering the tungsten ones. Now if they will offer Tungsten coats on the expanders some day......

I think I'll attempt to order the new expanders separately for my Gold Medal sizers....can't hurt to try.....I already found out that beyond cosmetics, that nitride expander is the only difference between, Gold Medal dies and the new Matchmasters.
 
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run out then stayed within .003.

I posted that and then realized that I didn't tell the whole story.....to get .000 to .003 on that MG brass, I sized thrice, rotating the brass a third each time. (coating with mica each time...yes a pia) Wondering now if a nitride or carbide expander might have lessened the required steps not to mention a bushing sizer like the Matchmaster. Everybody ought to try MG brass....once.:evil:

They are nice, I use them in my Redding bushing style FL .308 sizer.

Also nice is the fact that bushings have been standardized. Redding, RCBS, Forster, they all fit.
 
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I understand that you fellows do this and I trust that you know your stuff (here is the "but") but I wonder how likely it is that a case shoulder will get pulled forward. If it is pulled, how much so? Will it show in a Wilson case length gauge? I am gonna hafta experiment with this.....maybe size 10 X .30-06 cases with inside lubed necks and ten dry. run them through a gauge. If the shoulder has moved, it should show up as a change in length....as long as I start with 20 cases the same OAL.
Why do this? Curiosity is part of it. Eliminating steps/unnecessary case handling in the reloading process is another (or adding a step). Passing on anything that I learn is a third. Maybe changing my own process is yet another.
i used to clean and uniform primer pockets. No more....have seen no observable difference in accuracy in my guns for my kind of shooting (HP service rifle and hunting rifles)
Testing in 30-06 will only tell us what happens with 30-06.
That would be like someone having an issue with a Ford Ranger and someone saying their Super Duty doesn't have that issue.
The issue is, there is a considerable amount of drag that is causing distortion of the case if I don't lube it.
Using sizing wax leaves a coating that attracts the walnut shells.
I used a brush to get this out, but it's tedious.
A few good suggestions were given, so I'm going to try them.
 
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