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Posted: 7/9/2013 9:49:31 AM EDT
| I have 9mm and 45acp lee carbide dies. Now i Understand no lube is necessary for resizing, now I'm reading lee's reloading data manual and it states if cases are too clean you may need a little lube, the dirt,soot,oxides and oil on cases keep them from galling the carbide. So I guess my question is do you guy clean your pistol brass before or after sizing. |
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Quoted:
I have 9mm and 45acp lee carbide dies. Now i Understand no lube is necessary for resizing, now I'm reading lee's reloading data manual and it states if cases are too clean you may need a little lube, the dirt,soot,oxides and oil on cases keep them from galling the carbide. So I guess my question is do you guy clean your pistol brass before or after sizing. Depends. If I am going to dry tumble, I tumble first and decap/resize second. If I am going to wet tumble, I will deprime using a Lee Universal Decapping Die, wet tumble, then resize. Not once have I ever had to lube for pistol brass. |
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Before. Clean 9mm cases and they seem to take almost no effort to resize with the 9mm carbide dillon dies.
A walk in the park compared to doing 223, much much faster, only need to do one round on the 550 from clean spent brass to loaded ready to go ammo, no trimming needed. |
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Quoted: I have 9mm and 45acp lee carbide dies. Now i Understand no lube is necessary for resizing, now I'm reading lee's reloading data manual and it states if cases are too clean you may need a little lube, the dirt,soot,oxides and oil on cases keep them from galling the carbide. So I guess my question is do you guy clean your pistol brass before or after sizing. You should clean cases before sizing. Lee may be talking about wet tumbled cases. I am having no problems with mine. If you dry tumble, no problem. |
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1. You should always tumble/clean your brass before resizing. It insures the longest possible service life for your dies.
2. Although carbide dies require no lubrication at all, I always "lightly spray lube" pistol brass just to smooth the reloading effort needed. 3. Loaded ammo can be tumbled safely for short periods of time in corn cob to remove any residual lube. |
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Quoted: for the past couple of years iv wet tumbled brass straight off the range without taking out the primer. once dry sprayed just a couple squirts of oneshot or dcl and loaded with no problems. I use rcbs carbide dies. anyone have input if im doing it wrong? You should start your own thread and ask this, instead of hyjacking this thread. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
for the past couple of years iv wet tumbled brass straight off the range without taking out the primer. once dry sprayed just a couple squirts of oneshot or dcl and loaded with no problems. I use rcbs carbide dies. anyone have input if im doing it wrong? You should start your own thread and ask this, instead of hyjacking this thread. Wasn't trying to hijack his thread.....I answered his question with how I loaded....figured id get input that was in relevance to both of us....my bad |
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Quoted:
I have 9mm and 45acp lee carbide dies. Now i Understand no lube is necessary for resizing, now I'm reading lee's reloading data manual and it states if cases are too clean you may need a little lube, the dirt,soot,oxides and oil on cases keep them from galling the carbide. So I guess my question is do you guy clean your pistol brass before or after sizing. i clean mine before sizing. now on lube, i think it depends on if you are using a progressive or single stage. i loaded tons of 9mm before i recently discovered the joys of putting a little lube on the cases. what used to make my table move when resizing some 9mm cases, no longer happens when they are lubed. Oal and stuff are more consistant for me. |
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Thanks for all the replies. I was kind of taken back by lee's comment in the data book. I use a sonic cleaner so I guess all your advise is well taken. I will clean than resize! I just started reloading so I always have questions but as many books I read there is nothing like asking experienced reloaders |
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Here's the response I got from Lee
Benny: That is correct, we do not recommend cleaning the brass before resizing it. The dirt and soot act as a lubricant when sizing the cases so will make it easier to size. Also, clean brass tends to gall or leave deposits behind on the carbide, which will build up and scratch your cases. While the scratching and scoring doesn't look pretty, it will not effect how your reloads perform at all. Thank You, Laine Customer Service |
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That is an "uncoventional" response at best. Nowhere have I ever heard or read that dirt and soot on the case acts like a lubricant. All my reloading life, clean shiny cases have gone in and out of carbide sizer dies real smooth. My need to clean the dies is minimal. Never had a problem.
That doesn't mean it wouldn't work that way, so I am hesitant to crticize Lee. But like the others, I see no compelling need to follow that advice. |
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Quoted:
I'm just curious as to what sort of debris sticks to a fired case that will scratch carbide. You can't hardly scratch carbide with a file. What if my casing popped out into a pile of crushed industrial diamonds? 
I'm gonna call RCBS tomorrow and ask what they think. I've loaded quite a many 38spl/357mag, cleaned, with no galling... |
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The Lee response might be true for the "soot" on a fired case. Too bad cases are rarely covered with just soot.
<rant mode on> It sure as hell is totally wrong for the sand component of dirt and mud that get on cases on an outdoor range. This is misinformation bordering on disinformation. Are they trying to sell more dies? This kind of bad info is everywhere in the world of reloading. It drives be NUTZ! <rant mode off> You have to be very careful. This forum is great! |
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Lee's response surprised me too. The soot on fired cases is carbon, which is one of the hardest substances we know of. I would think after thousands of carbon covered cases rubbing on a carbide die something has to give. Even diamonds wear out.
Don't forget that the belling insert inside the belling die is just plain ole steel. THAT for sure is going to wear out if you don't make some kind of attempt to clean your cases. Wet tumbling helps with that. Clean your cases before sizing. You won't regret it. |
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No way am I resizing dirty brass. Something is wrong here. Regardless, I do lube my pistol brass
with the Dillon lube. Here are two things I have discovered, the resizing is smooth and resistant free and I tumble my loaded rounds for about 5 minutes and I swear the lube seems to polish the brass and bullets. I love the looks of them there reloads. BTW, with the Dillon lube you can put a few hundred cases in a flat card board box, lube them, let the lube dry and they are still good to go 3 days later. |
I don't know about you all but I have come home with pistol brass caked in mud on more than one occasion. When those things eject into some nice texas black sludgy mud they go pretty deep and the mud just STICKS... I wouldn't size them in my nice clean carbide dies. I tumble that sh*t 
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Quoted:
I don't care what Lee says on this subject. I will keep tumbling my cases clean before resizing. No kidding. I've resized many tens of thousands of pistol cases (as have most here) and have certainly never galled my carbide inserts. Of course, I don't use the crappy Lee dies with their not-well-polished interiors. 
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Quoted:
That is an "uncoventional" response at best. Nowhere have I ever heard or read that dirt and soot on the case acts like a lubricant. All my reloading life, clean shiny cases have gone in and out of carbide sizer dies real smooth. My need to clean the dies is minimal. Never had a problem. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work that way, so I am hesitant to crticize Lee. But like the others, I see no compelling need to follow that advice. When I began loading .44 magnum I followed the advice of many and bought a set of Lee dies. The effort required to resize the cases was great. I set them aside, bought another brand, and noticed it only took half the effort to do the job. Lee makes some good stuff--dies are not among them, save the Factory Crimp, Universal Decapper, etc. Any die with carbide will not be purchased by me again. Of course YMMV, as I know many use Lee die sets with satisfaction. |
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I grab a handful of brass at the start of a sizing session and ut Dillon spray lube on them.
I have an old 'bolt sack' (small cloth bag) that I toss them in, give a couple squirts, then roll them around in the sack. i keep the bolt sack in a larger zip-lock bag so it does not gather any crud up sitting exposed. I then run one of the lubricated cases through about every 10 plain cases. It greatly reduces the effort to size in carbide dies. |
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