When do you use lube when reloading straight cases?

When do you use lube when reloading straight cases?

  • Never

    Votes: 34 64.2%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 12 22.6%

  • Always

    Votes: 7 13.2%
  • Total voters
    53
  • Poll closed .
No lube is needed for 45 acp, 380 acp, or 10mm if carbide dies are used. These are the only 3 pistol calibers I load for.
 
RCBS reccomends to lube 30 Carbine about 1 out of every 3 cases. Other than that I don't know of any that need it with carbide dies.
 
I always lube 10mm, 9mm, .30 Carb.

I will occasionally lube a handful of .38 Special/.357 Mag so that maybe 1 out of every 5 is lubed.

I never lube .380 or .45.

I use Imperial and it does a HELLUVA job at smoothing up the operation. Difference is like night and day. Yes, you can size till the cows come home without lube if you have carbide dies, but if you try a bit of lube (just the tiniest, minuscule amout) you may change the way you do things at your bench.
 
Me? never. My friend, sometimes.

All my pistol dies are Tungsten Carbide and I don't use lube. The only straight-walled cartridge I know of for which lube is recommended (even with T-C dies) is the 500 S&W.

Lost Sheep
 
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Sevens, I didn't believe it either, but someone told me about it and I tried it. Big improvement in smoothness. Now I lube all pistol, especially tapered stuff like 9mm. Lubed 9mm with Redding Pro Series dies on a 1050 is a wonderful thing.
 
I bought carbide dies for 9mm because I didn't want to lube cases any more. I still have to lube the 9mm cases because I about rip the press off the bench without it :mad: I use carbide dies with 357 and the work fine without lube.
 
I bought carbide dies for 9mm because I didn't want to lube cases any more. I still have to lube the 9mm cases because I about rip the press off the bench without it
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It shouldn't be that bad. Recheck your process and equipment. Even a properly lubed rifle case shouldn't make you feel like you're 'about to rip the press off the bench'.



I use a tiny amount of Imperial Sizing Wax every... 15-30 cases, for 9mm. I haven't found the need to use it for any other straight-wall cases (but might lube every 30, or so, anyway).
 
I usually lube every 5th case when re-sizing straight pistol cases. Even though I have carbide dies, I was shocked at how much less effort was required when lube was added to the equation.

Less force is a good thing in my book.
 
It shouldn't be that bad. Recheck your process and equipment. Even a properly lubed rifle case shouldn't make you feel like you're 'about to rip the press off the bench'
Click to expand...

Hi - I didn't think it should be like that either. I was thinking that maybe my Lee dies came on the tight end of spec. Here's what I have and what I do:
3 die Lyman non-carbide set
4 die Lee Carbide set
RCBS Rock Chucker
RCBS shell holder
Lee Shell holder

The press is firmly bolted down, I've used both shell holders interchangeably with no difference. If I use just a bit of one-shot on the cases and inside the die they run through smooth as silk, unless I run across a piece of brass that is crimped, which I generally just throw away.

I've sized about 1500 pieces between the two dies, I've run once-fired brass from my guns as well as mixed fired brass bought from the local range and cannot see a difference, which I think eliminates my chambers being out of spec. I have tried Blazer, Win, CBC, PMC, R-P, FC. etc and see no difference in any brass, other than nickel brass running through easier.

The only thing I've found to make it a little easier is to run the decapping pin out longer, it seems that popping the primer free takes away some pressure? I tear down the dies and clean them every couple hundred rounds. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to make them run smooth without lube, I'd love to know it because I hate the film that it leaves on the cases.

By the way, I tumble all of my cases in walnut shell media before sizing and after loading. I wipe them all down before tumbling so I don't foul up my media with that case lube.
 
I use a little lube on every 3rd case or so even though I'm using Lee carbide dies . Makes it so much easier and the cases come out looking alot better after the full length resizing stage .
 
AcridSaint said:
I bought carbide dies for 9mm because I didn't want to lube cases any more. I still have to lube the 9mm cases because I about rip the press off the bench without it I use carbide dies with 357 and the work fine without lube.
Click to expand...
The difference is because 9mm are tapered cases and aren't straight-wall cases like the .357.
 
Never. I use carbide/nitride dies for all my straight wall cases. Clean the dies evey so often, and use clean brass.......no worries.
 
Seems I've been lucky with my carbide pistol dies! I bought carbide dies from RCBS, Lee and Dillon to avoid having to use lube. I lube my .45-70 and .45 Colt cases because I don't have or need carbide dies for these cartridges. I guess if I ever have a problem with my carbide dies I'll use my handy can of Hornady One-Shot to solve it.
 
I will try it. No reason to be bull headed. Got the Lee sizing lube sitting right there. I only do straight wall - .45 Colt and .38/.357 but will check it out and report back.
 
I ultrasonically clean my cases after decapping and resizing, therefore, I resize dirty cases. I spray them with a bit of oneshot. I use carbide dies.

The ultrasonic removes EVERY trace of lube present from the cases, and if I don't lube them, (Yes, even already sized 9mm cases, or something that easy.) will stick in the die,. So I give them a tiny spritz of oneshot.
This way the round just fly through the dillon with no hint of a problem.) I process the brass on a loadmaster.

There IS lube present on your rounds, if you don't believe me, process your brass to remove EVERY trace of lube, and run it up into your resizing die.
 
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