Case lube...

[SCXDm9]

I've just finished shooting my first 1000 rds of 9mm's that I reloaded. I only had one failure and that was because of a bad primer.

My questions, I've not used case lube, mostly because I don't know what its for or how/where to use it. I'm using a Hornady lock n load. Also, I don't clean my brass before I reuse it.

Should I be using case lube and or cleaning my brass before reloading them?

Thanks
Hal

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mlr1m]

Do the dies you are using require lube? If not I wouldn't use it. I only clean my cases if they are gritty. Brass I find at the range or my cases that I load with black powder. Other than that I see no reason for cleaning. But them I think tarnished brass looks cool.

Michael

[dukalmighty]

Case lube is used for rifle dies,or non carbide handgun dies,clean brass chambers easier than dirty brass,one problem with dirty brass is if the hole in the primer pocket is fowled the primer may not detonate the powder charge resulting in a squib

[gasmitty]

Yep - most (not all) of the dies sold for resizing straight-wall cartridges these days are carbide, and need no lubrication. Cleaning the cases before reloading is preferred but not essential. A tumbler works well, but if you don't have one, you can put your pistol cartridge cases in a lingerie bag and run them in the dishwasher. The cleaning is near as good as tumbling (but don't do this for rifle cartridges).

[Fisher10]

As long as you're using carbide dies and loading a caliber that does not have a bottleneck, you shouldn't need lube. I sometimes smear maybe 1 out of 20 9mm cases just to slick the operation up a bit, but it isn't required.

Hornady Unique lube is the best I have used though. I love it. The only thing I don't love is how it now smells like rancid grease... When it was new, it smelled wonderful.

[dukalmighty]

you can put your pistol cartridge cases in a lingerie bag and run them in the dishwasher

Exactly where am I gonna put my lingerie while washing brass,not only that but how you gonna explains a lingerie bag to your buddies if your single

[SCXDm9]

Thanks!

[OldVet]

I tumble my fired cases before sizing. I'm not concerned with bright, shiny brass, but I want the grit off before it works its way into the dies, and cases collect a lot of grit here in FL. The likihood of damaging the die is slight, but a piece of grit embeded in it could scratch the brass and weaken it. I run a Q-tip swap around the inside of my dies prior to each loading session to clear out any residue.

Straight-walled cases don't need lube with carbide dies. They cost more but are a sound investment. Lubing cases is just a pain. I used to be facetious about cleaning primer holes, and still would if I were loading carry ammo, but my experience has proven to me that for practice and range ammo it's a waste of time. Each firing burns out the residue from the previous primer. Nor have I found it necessary to have cases spotless in the inside.

They're your reloads, and if you feel your cases need to be spotless inside and out and gleeming, do so. No one will criticize you for the extra effort.

As for the dud primer, it happens. I've had two since I started in '75. That's a pretty low percentage overall.

[Springer99]

Even though I use carbide dies for pistol, I prefer to lube about 1 of every 5-7 of them. This is especially true fo 9mm, as those cases do have a small taper to them. I find that it makes the sizing effort go much easier and at the same time, puts some lube into the dies to act as a long-term rust preventer.