Case lube - what am I doing wrong.

[dbledoc]

I am looking to tap into the collective wisdom hear on MDS in regards to sticking cases and case lube.
1) I have used Hornady One shot with no issue on 300 blk and 6.5 Creedmore cases. (I know, I know how much people hate it).

2) When I tried to do volume resizing for 223 and 30-06 with both Hornady and RCBS dies One Shot failed miserably. Since, I was resizing 100s of cases, I tried the spray one lanolin method. That worked a little bit better than the One Shot, I ended up resorting to using RCBS case lube on a lube pad and finished up the cases without more stuck cases, but it was a PITA to roll the cases out.

So, I now have a new toy/project with loading for a 6mm ARC. I have new Hornady dies that I degreesed, cleaned, and lubed. I decided since I was doing a relatively low volume of cases to use the old standard Imperial sizing wax. When forming new Starline 6.5 Grendel cases into 6mm ARC it was like butter with no issue. So, I move on to some once fired Hornady 6mm ARC brass and try to size them. The cases didn’t get stuck, however, they were hard to size and the friction was immense. So, I finished off the batch with the RCBS lube on the pad. Just to see what happens, I took a few case and sprayed them with One Shot, and they sized with slightly more resistance than the RCBS lube with no issues. Now, for the sake of science, I tried the sizing wax again. The cases started getting sticky again. I didn’t try the Lanolin (too much of a mess)…

So am I crazy or has someone else had similar issues.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Check your press linkage and determine where it cams over/ shell holder for starters.
The once fired brass is going to be different than the new cases because they are sized to just slightly smaller than your chamber diameter in the area withth the greatest taper and even radially to the case head.
Your die may be ground a touch smaller requireing more leverage while forming the fired brass if I read correctly.
Make a chamber cast of your die and check it against the once fired to determine the difference.

 

[Squaregrouper]

For rifle cases I have had good luck with the lanolin/alcohol method, but I have a specific method:
Gallon zip loc bag with brass
Spray brass 4-5 times with lanolin/alcohol and seal bag.
Massage the brass (from the bag's outside) for a few minutes to ensure good coverage.
Open bag and allow the alcohol to evaporate for an hour or so.

 

[dbledoc]

Check your press linkage and determine where it cams over/ shell holder for starters.
The once fired brass is going to be different than the new cases because they are sized to just slightly smaller than your chamber diameter in the area withth the greatest taper and even radially to the case head.
Your die may be ground a touch smaller requireing more leverage while forming the fired brass if I read correctly.
Make a chamber cast of your die and check it against the once fired to determine the difference.

I thought of that. It doesn’t explain why I am having so much difficulty with the different lubes.

 

[dbledoc]

For rifle cases I have had good luck with the lanolin/alcohol method, but I have a specific method:
Gallon zip loc bag with brass
Spray brass 4-5 times with lanolin/alcohol and seal bag.
Massage the brass (from the bag's outside) for a few minutes to ensure good coverage.
Open bag and allow the alcohol to evaporate for an hour or so.

I tried the same.

 

[Squaregrouper]

I tried the same.

I found the massage + evaporated alcohol with just a slight film of lanolin to be the game changer.
I use a 10-1 volume ratio with 91% rubbing alcohol.

 

[dbledoc]

I found the massage + evaporated alcohol with just a slight film of lanolin to be the game changer.
I use a 10-1 volume ratio with 91% rubbing alcohol.

Same but didn’t work for me. That is my confusion.
I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and do complex surgery, but can’t figure out how to lube rifle cases so they don’t get stuck.

 

[Trigger Time]

Are you letting the Hornady One shot dry before you load? Also need to hit the inside of the case on bottle neck cartridges.

 

[Speed3]

I use one shot in the case holders and spray 360 around. I let it dry for 15 mins and aren't experiencing issues like you are. I size 6.5x47 cases down to a 6x47 and don't have issues

 

[holesonpaper]

For rifle cases I have had good luck with the lanolin/alcohol method, but I have a specific method:
Gallon zip loc bag with brass
Spray brass 4-5 times with lanolin/alcohol and seal bag.
Massage the brass (from the bag's outside) for a few minutes to ensure good coverage.
Open bag and allow the alcohol to evaporate for an hour or so.

This is more or less what I do. Never had a problem. Only problem I did encounter is when I was a dumbass and forgot.

 

[dbledoc]

Are you letting the Hornady One shot dry before you load? Also need to hit the inside of the case on bottle neck cartridges.

I use one shot in the case holders and spray 360 around. I let it dry for 15 mins and aren't experiencing issues like you are. I size 6.5x47 cases down to a 6x47 and don't have issues

Yes and yes to both. You can see why I am confused.
No issues with one shot with 300 blk, 6.5 Creedmore and now 6mm ARC. Only with 223 and 30-06.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Same but didn’t work for me. That is my confusion.
I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and do complex surgery, but can’t figure out how to lube rifle cases so they don’t get stuck.

Im confident you should be able to figure this one out then.
Let us know how it goes when you have the right lube/physics applied to your once fired brass.

 

[4g64loser]

Same but didn’t work for me. That is my confusion.
I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and do complex surgery, but can’t figure out how to lube rifle cases so they don’t get stuck.

WRT the once fired ARC brass vs new grendel-->>>arc conversion, the new stuff is much softer. Especially starline (and federal, for that matter).

I'm pretty sure you have a scope; check the inside of your die bodies. Especially your 223 and 3006 dies. I have diagnosed some issues for guys in the last couple of years to REALLY unacceptable interior finish. Lee, hornady, and rcbs have all flunked lunch. All except rcbs blew smoke and excuses/stories when called out on it. Rcbs replaced the die body. But took their time. OLD lee and rcbs dies tended to be of better finish quality.

On the lube subject: there are a lot of variables in your experiment. One thing I learned (the hard way) was to clean dies a d bushings completely when switching lube type. I now ONLY use redding die wax in my bushing dies and (except for wildcat case forming) ONLY use Dillon lube (lanolin) in my full length dies. A lot of cussing and a lathe were involved in fixing my screwup so I could learn that lesson.

 

[dbledoc]

Im confident you should be able to figure this one out then.
Let us know how it goes when you have the right lube/physics applied to your once fired brass

Didn’t mean to offend you. Just frustrated!

 

[atblis]

I've found some quirkiness if you switch lubes. Basically you need to clean the die and pre coat the die with the new lube

 

[Doco Overboard]

Didn’t mean to offend you. Just frustrated!

No I get it, you have time to get stuff done and your hemmed up for what usually goes smoothly.
It happens.
Make sure sure you have enough lubricant/error free if your using proprietary lube recipe.
Just like the other poster I clean my dies every time, use a formula that works and double check my set up and then determine if results are consistent with expectations.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

The more I am on this forum, the more I not only learn, but I also see how many guys here know a ton of stuff about a ton of stuff.

It seems odd though that a process that should be simple, has to have variables that make a mess out of things. For those who may not know problems even exist it can really suck not knowing there are solutions to eliminate factors that result in troubles that cause extra work, headaches and frustrations from using products that should just work as advertised.

 

[Squaregrouper]

Same but didn’t work for me. That is my confusion.
I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and do complex surgery, but can’t figure out how to lube rifle cases so they don’t get stuck.

I have a new MDS signature line.

 

[BradMacc82]

For better or worse, 1 gallon ziploc bag, brief shot of Pam cooking spray, massage in, quick roll on a large plate - resize/deprime without any sticking.

Redneck as hell, but the past few years, it’s worked better than any other method I’ve used. ‍

 

[ItsGarand]

^^^^^ This, you have to lube the inside of the neck. Put your lube on a q-tip and swirl it around a couple of times.