jtrump Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 So I had my once fired .38 super comp brass cleaned and ready to reload again today. Very very tight in the re-sizing die; not particularly sure why as the cases/primers etc showed no signs of over pressure. There was no visible bulge etc, I ended up having to run each of them one by one through the station " talk about wasting a ton of time" threw them back in the media for 30 minutes and then it ran smoothly like new brass. Anyone else have this issue with .38 super? I'm really wary of using case lube.... but If anyone has some suggestions I would much rather not resize them one by one for 1,000 rounds again...... torture Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 No matter what you read or hear, run case lube on your pistol brass. Why are you wary of case lube? 95% of us use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Sarge said: No matter what you read or hear, run case lube on your pistol brass. Why are you wary of case lube? 95% of us use it. Well see what had happened was..... When I first started shooting uspsa "Single Stack" and I started reloading .45acp; the press didn't run very smooth "dillion 550" . Needless to say I applied a generous amount of case lube to my .45acp brass and it ran better. My first Match ever "I'm SUPER NERVOUS", shooter ready..... BEEP turn draw, POOF. I watched a 200 grain SWC fly through the air at about 30fps, hit a card board target in the A zone and bounce off of it. Everyone thought it was a squib but I saw the bullet, Inside the chamber was a whole bunch of shiny gold colored win231. Leading me to believe, I had gotten the powder wet with the case lube. Ever since I've never used it, not for .40, or 9mm my press has always ran really smooth without any lube. This is my first time reloading once fired .38 super comp brass, and as mentioned there is a great deal of resistance. I know it's probably me not knowing how to properly use case lube or what lube to ever use. But since that day I stayed away from it. If there is a right way to do it then by all means someone please tell me so I don't have to resize brass one at a time, it's just as bad as loading .40 and running it through a stationary redding Grex die to take out glock bulge with the wax lube on my fingers. I am using the Dillion Carbide dies, same as all my other calibers. Edited October 16, 2017 by jtrump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 I have always used one shot or Dillon lube. spray it on lightly and let it set a few minutes before loading. I dump about 200 pieces in a plastic box or even a zip lock bag. Spray in some lube and shake to spread the wealth. Dump it in the case feeder and wait a few minutes then go back to loading. I have never had a squib. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 5 minutes ago, Sarge said: I have always used one shot or Dillon lube. spray it on lightly and let it set a few minutes before loading. I dump about 200 pieces in a plastic box or even a zip lock bag. Spray in some lube and shake to spread the wealth. Dump it in the case feeder and wait a few minutes then go back to loading. I have never had a squib. Thanks for the info, I still have the bottle of 1 shot from long ago. I will be giving this a try, way to much friction with the .38 super. Can't seemed to figure that out, maybe because of the high pressure for an open round? My brass is polished so nicely, that it's slick to begin with coming out of the fine grain walnut media that I've never felt resistance before until today. It was enough to know that I could not run the press effectively. Thanks again for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HI5-O Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 +1 on One Shot Case lube. Are you using an undersized sizing die? The combination of no case lube and undersized sizing die would make sizing a chore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 8 hours ago, jtrump said: I've never felt resistance before until today. It was enough to know that I could not run the press effectively. If you've been reloading .38 super for a while, and all of a sudden it is impossible to run the press, sounds like you might have a problem with the press. I started using lube only a few years ago - loaded tens of thousands 9mm without lube before that - and it is much nicer to use lube, but I could always "run the press effectively" without lube. But, you said that once you sized the brass individually, they all ran perfectly through the press? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 4 hours ago, HI5-O said: +1 on One Shot Case lube. Are you using an undersized sizing die? The combination of no case lube and undersized sizing die would make sizing a chore. Standard size die from Dillion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said: If you've been reloading .38 super for a while, and all of a sudden it is impossible to run the press, sounds like you might have a problem with the press. I started using lube only a few years ago - loaded tens of thousands 9mm without lube before that - and it is much nicer to use lube, but I could always "run the press effectively" without lube. But, you said that once you sized the brass individually, they all ran perfectly through the press? Yea Jack once I sized them all individually, and put them back in the polishing media for 30 mins or so they ran through like new brass, My press seems to be running fine, I tried to plunk test one of the cleaned un-resized pieces of brass and hah, it would go in but only with force. After the re-size it plunked. I've never used lube but the depriming/resize station has always had the greatest resistance, to where it would make reloading not smooth and silky, but I could reload different stations with it. With the .38 super after 1,000 rounds I feel like Quagmire in the Family guy episode, my right arm is like 4x the size of my left arm. Significantly more resistance and you can see where the brass was really getting smashed up against the sizing die, "little black streaks" and it was slightly warm coming out. Gonna break out the lube! Edited October 16, 2017 by jtrump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Why people want to run brass dry is beyond me. Oh I've got carbide dies. Yes my car has ball joints to,but keep a little lub on them. Thare work so much better. it makes all the difference in press operation , so easy to pull the handle.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Service Desk Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Just put a 1 second blast into an open ziplock bag, add a couple of hundred brass, close bag and massage the cases in the bag for 1 minute. Drop the cases into the case feeder and start crankin' on that handle. You will notice the difference immediately and be amazed how little lube is needed to make a big reduction in effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 9 hours ago, EEH said: Why people want to run brass dry is beyond me. Oh I've got carbide dies. Yes my car has ball joints to,but keep a little lub on them. Thare work so much better. it makes all the difference in press operation , so easy to pull the handle.. I've reloaded over a quarter million rounds with no issues until now; Ever seen ball joints come without a grease fitting? Some do, ask yourself why. ANYWAY.... As mentioned I will be trying case lube now since I am having issues with the .38 super not going into the resizing station smoothly. That's it.. , kaput, the end. Thanks for all of the constructive feedback to those of you who contributed I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickd1 Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 +1 on One Shot Case lube. always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 So do you think I should use case lube? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I realize by now you got the message but FWIW, If you try one shot and it gets better, do yourself a favor and try some Dillon. It makes my brass feel like it has already been sized when I run it through the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenstone Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) Before 1 shot/and still... I rub some "made for a lube pad" case lube into a 30cal cotton patch until it's moist/not wet, put that into a plastic container along with some brass and shake/turn it for 30-45 seconds. That creates a very thin film of lube on the cases. Although many use spray lube without any problems, I never liked that any spray lube could get into the case and end up in the powder. The patch cannot get into the case, so no lube in there either. I started using the lubed patch/Tupper ware lube method on both rifle and pistol cases, but no longer do pistol as I have found adding NuFinish to the walnut tumbler media "waxes" pistol cases enough to reduce the re-sizing effort needed. I have used other lubes like motor oil, etc. massaged unto the patch and it worked as good as case lube. You'll know when the patch needs more lube when the sizing effort increases, and I have lubed more that 1000 cases before adding more lube to the patch. just the way I do it, Edited October 17, 2017 by Kenstone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 17, 2017 Author Share Posted October 17, 2017 36 minutes ago, Sarge said: I realize by now you got the message but FWIW, If you try one shot and it gets better, do yourself a favor and try some Dillon. It makes my brass feel like it has already been sized when I run it through the press. Damn it Sarge lol... I'm going to try it I swear!!!!!!!!! I think a shop up the street has the Dillion case lube. Gonna pick it up tomorrow, just tried some Lee crap I had laying around in my drawer for years, I don't like the white residue; but it was much smoother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 39 minutes ago, jtrump said: Damn it Sarge lol... I'm going to try it I swear!!!!!!!!! I think a shop up the street has the Dillion case lube. Gonna pick it up tomorrow, just tried some Lee crap I had laying around in my drawer for years, I don't like the white residue; but it was much smoother. He said he got it..so back off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 14 hours ago, EEH said: He said he got it..so back off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrump Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 It works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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