Brass sticking on my expander

R

Real Gun

New member
I have new Starline brass in 32 H&R Magnum that can get stuck on my expander. I polished the expander, now covered in brass particles, and sprayed it with One Shot. That helped a lot but you could feel it wearing off. I will try running the brass in my tumbler with some polish mixed in to dry first. The finish of the brass seems to be so pure that I think the term is galling. BTW the expander is a brand new RCBS plug from my Cowboy set, so far only used for 327 Federal Magnum with the alternate length plug.

I thought about spraying the cases but was concerned about powder clumping or degrading. Am open to suggestions and comments.
 
Unusual to have expander problem with handgun brass but not so unusual with rifle cases. If the expander situation really needs something to be done, use One-Shot and lightly spray partially inside the cases at the neck, spraying at an angle to try to avoid using an excessive amount. Let dry per instructions before sizing and see how it works. The dry spray is not to have any adverse effects on primers and powder. With rifle cases I use One-Shot just to lubricate the inside of the case necks to facilitate withdrawing over the expander, but continue by using roll-on lube for the outside lubing.
 
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Expander problem

The problem is not purity of the brass, but that it is dry and probably has no lubricant of any kind on it. It may have been solvent cleaned to remove all drawing lubricants. The new stainless steel pin cleaning method gets all contamination off both the outside and inside of the cases. I had the same problem with galling after switching from corncob/vibratory method.

By soaking the cleaned cases in a solution of 1 oz. Armorall car wash per gallon of water, draining, and then drying by laying flat on a towel it leaves a very thin coating of (probably a wax or polymer) on the brass. The easiest way to drain the cases is using the "squirrel cage" media separator that came with the vibratory setup. After doing this, the problem of galling was solved.
 
You are parsing the word "pure", but what I said was that the finish was pure, not the brass. Sorry if the machining trade uses some other term. I will try that Armor All car wash method, but I believe that means I will want to tumble off the water marks. I have a dehydrator, so that should be useful.
 
I had the same problem with galling after switching from corncob/vibratory method.
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Me too.

That is one of the reasons why I vibra-tumble first - to remove the range crud - but still leaves the inside mouth with spent powder. The spent powder acts as a lubricant. So I then resize/decap; flair; THEN ss pin tumble as the last step in the brass reconditioning process.
 
I had this same issue with new Starline brass, but not with new Winchester. I did a little poking around, and found comments from several people who said that it had happened to them too, but only once. After the first firing, no more problem. That's been my experience, too.
 
You can't rely on fired brass as a solution until you can load it the first time. I did expect that the problem was only with new brass, because the brass would not be that bare in finish again, and the sizer would yield a larger diameter than the new brass (Cowboy die set).

I picked up that Armor-All car wash this afternoon, but noted there were other brands that had labels that talked of leaving a waxed finish.
 
That is one of the reasons why I vibra-tumble first - to remove the range crud - but still leaves the inside mouth with spent powder. The spent powder acts as a lubricant. So I then resize/decap; flair; THEN ss pin tumble as the last step in the brass reconditioning process.
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That would be a deal breaker for me. I want the progressive press or turret to do what it was designed to do, including decapping brass that is already polished and then installing a primer. If I reloaded rifle, I expect I might do it a little differently.
 
Okay, I may have misunderstood. In my case, the brass was hanging up pretty badly when expanding, but it wasn't stuck completely. It just took a lot more force than I was used to, so it was alarming. I was able to successfully load the ammo the first time. I am using a single stage, though.
 
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Lube the brass or throw it in corncob/walnut with some polish for a few min.

Even if it wasn't new or cleaned wet with SS media, the lube will still reduce effort, just makes a larger difference on really clean brass.
 
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