Dry lube on 45acp

C

cw308

New member
Does anyone use dry graphite lube when seating 45acp 230 gr. FMJ's . The reason I ask , I tumbling wet with SS Pins , cases are squeaky clean . I do like starting out that way .
 
I SS tumble 45 acp as well. No need for graphite as 230 grain projectiles insert very smoothly and evenly...
 
I used lube when resizing media tumbled or dirty 45ACP, once I started wet tumbling with stainless...and appropriate solution...I didn’t bother with lube anymore. Cases are bright and shiny, and all loading operations are easy.
 
I read that on clean cases a bonding effect happens between the case an the bullet without a dry lube , carbon left on the inside of he cases when dry tumbling is used in cleaning you won't have as much bonding .. Works well on rifle cases with dry lube , wanted to see if anyone used dry lube on pistol cases.
 
The bonding effect takes quite a while from what I have seen.

I have loaded rounds back in the 70s and shot some last year. No problems detected.

The inside of the cases were squeaky clean.

But, some folks like to use a dry lube before seating. Mica used to be the thing.

If you wanna use graphite, then do it. It will not create any problems at all.
 
The only thing I use dry graphite lube is to cut static in my Hornady LNL powder drop...and help powder flow easier. Seems to work really well...especially when emptying the powder back into the container.
 
The only bonding issue I've ever heard of causing a firing problem was with the tin-plated bullets used in 1924 (IIRC) National Match ammunition becoming "cold soldered" in place. That caused case necks to be torn off the brass and to go through the bore, and a number of bullets were recovered beyond the target pits with the necks still on then. I am unaware of bonds between jackets and necks every getting that bad. Board member Hummer70, who was an Aberdeen Provings Grounds test director and firearm failure incident investigator, said they used a bullet pull force gauge to determine that some old ammunition that had 60 lbs pull when new got as high as 600 lb pull when aged to near end of stockpile life. He said they still fired just fine, though.

Bottom line, if the high polish is affecting your reloading steps then you want to address that with dry case lube or by other means. But worrying about how it shoots should not be an issue. You should always be watching for pressure signs regardless of how you load, so if you spot any, then you can consider the issue again, but its pretty unlikely. Even at 600 lbs, that military ammo was not approaching the normal start pressure of a jacketed bullet into the throat of a barrel, which is several thousand lbs.

If it gives you loading problems with seating jacketed bullets, using hBN or moly coated bullets would be another way to solve it, but I've not heard of anyone needing to do that.
 
Unclenick
Didn't have any problems seating , only after reading on bonding between brass case necks and jacketed bullets on wet tumbled cases . I gave dry lube a try , all made sense to me and something new to experiment with .By using the Imperial dry neck lube , as expected , the bullets seated with very little resistance . Groups were no different , one hole 10 shot group . Believe that , I have a bridge for sale.
 
Extra clean, aka nakkid brass will have a tendency to grab/gall when seating bullets. Bare metal against bare metal often galls...
 
I have never used SS pins but always tumbled/vibrated with the primer still in the case and then ran them thru a progressive press. I'd squirt them down with Hornady One Shot before loading. Yeah, I know, if you you use carbide dies you don't need to, but it sure does make things go smoother and easier. I'm sure some of the the One Shot went in to the case mouth. Always worked for me and never had any problem with bullets galling.
 
cw308 said:
I have both standard and carbide dies , cases are cleaned first before sizing .
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My initial action in reloading - I attempted to resize dirty 9mm during decapping using a Lee Hand Held Press. It was nearly impossible. I moved through a variety of handheld and on the press methods of decapping only, then media tumbling, followed by resizing on the press. Even that proved too much effort for me, and so my Hornady One Shot came into play making life so grand. Once I settled onto SS pins and wet tumbling I quit lubing altogether. In fact, I’ve just completed resizing wet tumbled 1,500 rounds of 380ACP and 1,000 rounds of 40 S&W by hand using the Lee Hand Held Press, just because I can. Again, no lube required, and except for 40s suffering the infamous bulge, it require little effort. Clean brass and shiny brass is quite easy to work with.
Lube makes a huge difference in the amount of effort required to do just about anything, but I’ve decided that it isn’t worth the extra time and expense to do so on wet tumbled brass. My tune may change as I continue aging, but for now no.
 
1MoreFord said:
I have never used SS pins but always tumbled/vibrated with the primer still in the case and then ran them thru a progressive press. I'd squirt them down with Hornady One Shot before loading. Yeah, I know, if you you use carbide dies you don't need to, but it sure does make things go smoother and easier. I'm sure some of the the One Shot went in to the case mouth. Always worked for me and never had any problem with bullets galling.
Click to expand...
That's what I do, as well. I assume you mean the aerosol variety of One Shot. I stand the cases on the heads, so the mouths are up. I spray a very light mist from each of four sides. Lubing the inside of the case mouths isn't the intent (never tought about it), but some of the spray must get in there, as you said.

The aerosol One Shot dries very quickly -- like about a minute, maybe two minutes at most. It's not at all like the liquid version, which never dries.
 
It may not be necessary, but the difference when sizing a tumbled case to a case tumbled and then lubed with a light shot of aerosol One Shot is instantly perceptible when pulling the handle on the press.
 
I wet tumble brass with stainless steel pins in a blue dishwashing liquid and lemonshine solution. Haven't used any type of lube on straight-walled pistol cases, and have never had a problem loading or firing.
 
mgulino
I clean with a wet tumbler SS Pins using Sun detergent , wife said it worked better then Dawn , she was right . Im not having a problem in seating , only reason is I read there is a reaction with very clean brass between the brass an the copper jacketed bullet , will bond to the case . When there is some carbon left on the case in dry tumbling that acts as a lube to prevent bonding . With the dry lube inside the case it does seat smoother understandably so . That wasn't my concern , I do use the dry lube inside the case neck on my 308 cases . Started using it on my 45acp's now . Takes alittle longer reloading , but Im only doing 50 maybe sometimes 100 max. at a time . No big deal .
 
It may not be necessary, but the difference when sizing a tumbled case to a case tumbled and then lubed with a light shot of aerosol One Shot is instantly perceptible when pulling the handle on the press.

I am not being a smart-alec when I ask: why should I care if there is a perceptible difference?
 
Kevin
My post has nothing to do with sizing only the galling effect between the two different metals , bonding the two . Seating is not a problem with or without the dry lube.
 
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