Lubricant for carbide dies?

[Soonerpesek]

My problem is hard pull off the Dillon expander ("powder funnel") when using new, once fired, or heavily cleaned brass, OR when using an undersize sizing die to hold short slick bullets. Lubing the inside "necks" of bulk pistol cases is tedious. My next batch I will try getting most of them mouth up in the pan to spray lube. One Shot is not supposed to hurt the powder or primer, maybe it won't reduce bullet pull.

If you are using an undersize sizing die, don’t you need to use an undersize expander…??
I guess my question is what advantage is an undersized size die if a normal expander is used ?
Wouldn’t tension be the same no matter what size die is used…?

EDIT:
@Jim Watson
My post isn’t really topic related, if you would like to send an answer via PM if you’d care to… Thanks…

 

[Jim Watson]

You would think so, but it doesn't work that way with 9mm. It looks like what is happening is that even though the standard expander brings the mouth of the case back the same, the bullet is sitting on that "coke bottle" constriction left by the "U" die. It sure isn't setting back with heavy hand pressure or chambering in a gun.

 

[longdayjake]

My problem is hard pull off the Dillon expander ("powder funnel") when using new, once fired, or heavily cleaned brass, OR when using an undersize sizing die to hold short slick bullets. Lubing the inside "necks" of bulk pistol cases is tedious. My next batch I will try getting most of them mouth up in the pan to spray lube. One Shot is not supposed to hurt the powder or primer, maybe it won't reduce bullet pull.

The cure for this is to put a bunch of cases in a ziploc bag and spray a bunch of one shot in the bag. Then shake the cases up a bunch and then do it again. You'll get enough lube inside enough cases that you won't have that issue anymore. You don't have to get all the cases inside. Just enough to get some lube on the expander.

 

[Jim Watson]

I will try the bag trick, I have been spraying cases in a broiler pan.

 

[Soonerpesek]

Why not just put some lube on the expander funnel…?

 

[Jim Watson]

It rubs off pretty quick.

 

[Crosshair]

I use tumble lubed bullets and some rubs off onto my hand, so I just rub my finger on the case.

 

[Jim Watson]

My actual solution is to use up those light, short, slick 115 gr plated bullets and get back to 124 and then 147 gr coated bullets that do not call for the undersize carbide.

 

[Kp321]

In my 60+ years of reloading I have tried most of the lubes, both commercial and home made. IMO, there is nothing better than the waxes. Hornady and Imperial both work very well and are very economical. When sizing with a carbide die, I dab my finger tip in the wax tin every four or five rounds which transfers enough wax to the cartridge case to slick things up. With steel dies, I dip my finger in the tin every round.

 

[Rodfac]

For straight wall hand gun cases, no lube is necessary, but with the big fat magnums and .45 Colt brass, a squirt of lube will ease sizing effort. For slight tapered cases, in particular, the 9mm it really helps. Rod

 

[ballman6711]

With steel dies, I dip my finger in the tin every round.

With steel dies, I lube the first few, maybe five. Then about every third to fifth case after.

For carbide dies on straightwall cartridges I lube every thing with One Shot. I've done my own testing of lubed vs. unlubed and although it may not be necessary it makes a big difference in ease of sizing.

chris

 

[ReloaderNoob]

Link please, I'd much prefer non-aerosol.

I looked at MidwayUSA.com, there are only four Hornady case lubricants currently listed; One Shot Case Lube Aerosol, Unique Case Lube, One Shot Case Sizing Wax, and Hornady Case Sizing Lube.

Case Lubrication & Case Lube Pads for Sale | MidwayUSA

Shop Case Lubrication at MidwayUSA! We carry a wide selection of Case Lubrication at the best prices!

www.midwayusa.com

The only one that's five dollars is the Unique, which isn't supposed to be liquid, they say it's a paste. I've never used it.

The One Shot Pump and refills have been discontinued and were more than $5

Hornady One Shot Case Lube Refill 32oz Liquid

Hornady One-Shot Case Lube is one of the most popular case and tool lubes on the market. One-Shot Case Lube is clean, non-sticky, quick, easy to use...

www.midwayusa.com

FWIW, the MSDS for the Hornady Case Sizing Lube, product #05009, says it's 100% castor oil. At $7.32 (MidwayUSA price) for 2 ounces or $3.66 per oz, I'd get it elsewhere. I did a quick look on Amazon and found 16 ounces for $7.34 or 46 cents per ounce.

I bought 6 of the 2 oz bottles at Midway a year ago when they were $4.99 each. 2 years ago or so, I bought a case of the discontinued Hornady One Shot case lube spray on eBay as seen in your picture. When received, every one of the 12 bottles was empty (evaporated). Of course the seller refunded the payment and said keep the bottles. I then researched the One Shot aerosol contents via MSDS and discovered the same liquid lube formula name (patented of course so actual chemical contents proprietary). The spray bottle formula from years past used hexane as the vehicle as does the present aerosol plus some "petroleum gases".

 

[nettlle]

I started out over 5 decades ago with RCBS lube on a pad. This worked but it is nasty stuff. Like lubing with raw honey. Dirt magnet.
Stopped reloading rifle and only reloaded straight walled pistol for a few years. One Shot worked great.
Got back into bottle necked rifle reloading but One Shot didn't cut the mustard resizing bottle necked rifle.
Tried Imperial sizing wax. Much better than RCBS lube/pad and One Shot for bottle necked rifle.
Tried lanolin based lube. Dillon Case Lube (DCL).

Of all the lanolin lube reduced my reloading effort the most. By a considerable margin. It's not that expensive to try for yourself.

 

[JohnMc]

I bought 6 of the 2 oz bottles at Midway a year ago when they were $4.99 each. 2 years ago or so, I bought a case of the discontinued Hornady One Shot case lube spray on eBay as seen in your picture. When received, every one of the 12 bottles was empty (evaporated). Of course the seller refunded the payment and said keep the bottles. I then researched the One Shot aerosol contents via MSDS and discovered the same liquid lube formula name (patented of course so actual chemical contents proprietary). The spray bottle formula from years past used hexane as the vehicle as does the present aerosol plus some "petroleum gases".

I'm OK with proprietary, as One Shot protects against rust superbly and is a good lube for the right purposes. I would like it in straight liquid format as I agree with your premise that aerosols are wasteful. Not that I don't use them in the right conditions, but liquid would tend to give more bang for the buck.
Hexane evaporates quickly, so that's OK, but even mineral spirits would be fine, I don't mind a solvent evaporation time that's in minutes as opposed to seconds.