Do you lube pistol brass when resizing?

AFAIK, the process was invented by two-time U.S. Palma champion and board member Hummer70 about thirty years ago and was gradually spread among other top-class long-range shooters who were interested. So it was geared toward reloading for precision long-range rifles, in which removing primer residue to improve ignition consistency is considered useful. He also says he did a study of barrel wear that detected earlier throat wear from shooting the age-hardened carbon residue from primer pockets down a barrel and that removing it improved throat life. In a lot of other ammunition, like pistol ammo, those functional differences are probably impossible to tell either from the standpoint of accuracy or of throat wear at the lower pressures and powder quantities they run. It is helpful to have the bright shine when you have to find your brass in the grass after ejection has flung it out of view. That's the only other functional purpose I am aware of that it makes, and vibratory tumbling will accomplish that, too.
 
I tried Lyman's corn cob based vibratory cleaning stuff in the past couple days. Vast improvement over crushed pecan shells that I had been using previously. Cases are really shiny after about 4 hours. The pecan media took 12 - 15 hours by comparison.
 
I have carbide dies and one set of steel dies. I lube every thing I load pistol and rifle. A little spritz, and everything runs smoothly.
 
I lube necked cases, but the only straight-walled case that's lubed is .30 Carbine.
Some friends lube straight-walls when doing marathon loading sessions, so they don't wear-out their arm, but I rarely load more than 200 rounds at a time, so it has never been an issue for me.
 
95% of my reloading is pistol, with 80% of that 9mm. 10,000 plus
per year in that caliber. I give it all a little spritz of Hornady One Shot.
40 and 45 it doesn't make a huge difference, they are straight wall
cases. On the tapered 9mm case the difference is VERY noticeable.
For practice/local match ammo I don't do anything to remove any
residual lube. For major match ammo I give it 10 minutes in some
fine walnut (Lizard Litter) because SHINY!
 
Pistols with carbide dies, never have but I might give it a try.
I know it’ll make it easier but to be honest I’ve never had a problem in the last 30 plus years.
 
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I found a little case lube made sizing , even with a carbide sizer, so much easier !
I like it when things slip into and out of a hole nice and easy ... I don't have a problem with a little lube ...easy in - easy out , what's not to like .
I use Lee Case Lube , thinned with alcohol and applied with a spray bottle ...
Spray on a light film , let dry and carry on ...not messy .
Gary
 
Shadow9mm said:
Do you lube your pistol brass before sizing?
Click to expand...
Yes -- not with the liquid stuff used to lube bottleneck rifle cases, but with Hornady's One-Shot aerosol case lube. It dries almost instantly, but it leaves a wax (?? I guess) coating that makes resizing effort significantly less. I also use carbide dies, but I lube anyway.
 
All straight walled cases use the carbide resizing die, so no lubing required. All other cases I do. Nor do I clean the brass every session either (nothing hits the ground). Not necessary.
 
I lube about every other case when sizing my .460 brass even tho I use carbide dies. Makes so I don't have to stand on the press handle.
 
Never lubed a single straight wall pistol case in over 30 years of using carbide dies. I have loaded many thousands of rounds in 9mm, .38sp, .357mag, and .41mag and have never had any issues with decreased case life. I have some.38sp brass that I bought from an old target shooter about ten years ago and I wouldn’t be surprised if these things are 40 years or more old and been loaded so many times it’s hard to count, so far I haven’t lost a one. Some of my .41 brass is the very first stuff I bought back in the 80’s and the only ones I’ve lost were crappy Remington brass after a couple dozen reloads.
 
It's too bad. From what I read, Remington once made great brass, while Peters made a lot of thinner wall stuff that work-hardened fast. Looks like when the two combined, Remington picked up the Peters designs rather than sticking with their own.
 
I found this thread very interesting because of how many folks lube brass even when they use carbide dies. I've loaded 380, 357/38, 9 mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 45 LC brass for years with carbide dies and never had any issues with sticking or otherwise. I don't really understand why it's ever necessary but to each his own!
 
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