removing lube after reloading ??

ripper007 · Member Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 199 Location: Colorado

what is the best and easiest way of removing lube from brass after reloading.

I know if the lube is left on, it turns the brass dark and all ugly looking.
I have been taking a rag and cleaning each bullet one by one to remove the stuff.
its time consuming and not very fun.

would appreciate any comments on how to get this stuff off the fastest and easiest way.

Thanks.

chambered221

I do all my prep work then wash/rinse with hot water.
This will remove any dust inside the case the tumbler may have left behind. Remove any debris from trimming. And wash the lube off.
Some guys will add a mild detergent/dishsoap. I never saw a need for it.

Let sit a day or two before loading.

Pumpkinslinger

I remove the lube after sizing and any necessary trimming with a case tumbler. Then proceed to priming, etc.

gelandangan

The look of the brass is the last reason you would remove the lube after reloading.

If you have lube on your cartridge, it would lose grip on the camber wall, thus a lot more pressure to your breech.
What that means is your action will loosen up much quicker than it should.

I use a rag with warm water rinses AFTER loading to remove stray bullet lube that got onto the case.

shrpshtrjoe

I wipe them off with a rag and throw them in the tumbler Very Happy

Joe

ripper007 · Member Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 199 Location: Colorado

thanks guys.

maybe I have been doing this wrong.
I usually lube 50 casings , de-prime , size, trim, debur, re-prime, pure powder, then set bullits.

I have always left the lube on till I was done. the lube is so thin , you really can not see that there is any on the casings.

ended up reloading 200 9mm today.
I usually put all the bullets in a towel , fold it over and roll it back and forth. I thought that would be good enough but after a while the casings was turning dark. so I figured that method did not get all the case lube off.
now I have been just wiping every bullet off , one by one .

I was not sure about washing the bullets in warm soapy water. afraid of moister getting in some where that might cause damage to the primer or something ?

gelandangan

If your load is made correctly,
ie.
case sized properly
projectile diameter is correctly stated for the load
primer size correctly
primer pocket is not loose,

Then right after loading, your cartridge would have POSITIVE pressure in it.
You are squeezing air from the top of the neck down to the final resting place of the cartridge.
This pressure will slowly bleed out after some time.

While you have the positive pressure, I cant see water/moisture leak into the cartridge.
Sometime I shoot and reload in the rain (wet) - It goes bang like any other , just a tad louder due to echo from the rain I reckon.

I may be wrong.. but so far, I have not get the moisture problem.

Vince

Ripper, I ALWAYS wash my cases off in a few teaspoons of CRC Brakleen in a wide mouth soft drink (pop) bottle.

Drop the sized case into the bottle, shake them about for about 30 seconds, dump it all into a plastic container, take the cases out and pour the Brakleen back into the bottle and seal it up.

About 4 or 5 teaspoons of Brakleen is enough to wash about 20 rifle or 50 pistol cases a number of times.

I takes all the lube off the case, then I throw them into the tumbler. Its not all that expensive, and the best part is it will not damage the cases in any way.

A word of warning...BRAKLEEN is pretty volatile, so use it in a well ventilated area and away from naked flames.

Oh yeah...and the missus will complain something chronic about the smell if you do it in the Lounge Room.

Cheers, Vince

K.W.

I use LEE Resizing Lubricant. And take it a way with toilet paper.
This LEE thotpast is water ..... soluable? You can to use dishwater. Mayby you wife will to dish them for you Laughing

..

Handloader

Straight walled handgun brass can be resized with tungsten carbide dies which will totally eliminate the need for resizing lubricant. If you shoot a high enough quantity of handgun ammo, it may be an investment of convenience.

With cases where I use case lube, immediately after sizing is when I roll them on a terry towel, back and forth several times. Job done.

Pumpkinslinger

I guess I should mention that I tumble the cases clean before I resize them, straight or bottle-necked.

1895ss

I tumble all cases before resizing and after resizing I throw them back into the tumbler to remove the lube. That said, I use older media that does clean real good any more to remove the resizing lube not the media I use to clean cases in the first place.

RePete

I just wipe off the Lee Case Lube for 30/30, 223/5.56, .308 and 30/06.

The 1 exception to this, is the .338LM. I retumble for 1 hr after sizing, just due to the physical size of the case.

SingleShotLover

Ripper...Any of the above methods will work just fine, but notice that the majority of them involve removing the lube after sizing and before taking the next step. This is a good practice and may save you accidentally contaminating either your primers or powder with lube.

lesterg3

A couple questions? Embarassed

It seems that somewhere I read that folks were adding a small amount of liquid car wax to their tumbling media, to make it really shine and add protection from oxidization.

What do you think? Argue

Also, when resizing the neck or a straight walled cartridge wouldn't you want a little lube inside to assist the resizing?

One other question, which is the correct scenario.
Tumble, lube, re-size.

Or,

Lube, re-size, tumble? scared