Lubricating carbide dies

[meles meles]

'ungry ikkle buggers isn't 'em ?

[dromia]

It wasn't their rapacious diet but its captious menu.

[Oddbod]

Do any of you oomans find it necessary to lubricate carbide dies?

We reload 9mm Luger and .45 ACP pistol cases and find that unlubricated carbide dies (Lee) don't work smoothly - to the extent that a case will occasionally get stuck in the die and can be a real faff to remove. (Big hammers, lots of uncouth language). The instuctions accompanying the dies say they need no lubrication but we begs to differ and so occasionally coat a case in a drop of water based lubricant to smooth the process. We find that a single drop of lubricant on about every 20th case eliminates all problems.

I've loaded multiple thousands of .38spl/.357mag using Lee carbide dies with never a drop of lube & no stuck cases.
The same goes for much more .45ACP using both RCBS & Lyman carbide dies.

I buy 9mm, as it's so damn' cheap in the US that reloading isn't worth it - $150/1,000 for Tula & $170/1,000 for Winchester.

[pbrazendale]

Only load .357 with carbide dies and never lubed them, my steel 45/70 dies are however another story....


Sent from my boing using "An application"

[WelshShooter]

Little bit late to the party... RCBS carbide dies have served me well for over 3,800 357mag/38spl without the use of lubricant. I have to use lube on 30carbine even though I use Lee carbide dies but that's because the case is tapered and it requires a small amount of lube. It also makes sizing much smoother.

Perhaps your Lee dies are faulty?

[TomH]

Little bit late to the party... RCBS carbide dies have served me well for over 3,800 357mag/38spl without the use of lubricant. I have to use lube on 30carbine even though I use Lee carbide dies but that's because the case is tapered and it requires a small amount of lube. It also makes sizing much smoother.

Perhaps your Lee dies are faulty?

Or dirty.

[meles meles]

Dirty ? They are fresh out of the packet....

[dromia]

They will definitely need cleaning then.

[22short]

Although not essential, I give cases a quick p**f of Lyman Case Lube Spray while in a tub, it dries almost immediately and resizing takes less effort, they slide in and out much easier.

[TomH]

I've just hit stuck cases with 44 magnum using a NOE Expander Plug. It's Norma cases doing it, they are 0.018 thick compared to most of my others that are 0.012 or thereabouts. They are taking up the clearance in the die body (44 Lee Expander). Time to break out the Universal Expander with a wider bore methinks.