processing .308 win LC brass. What lube to use

[davester00]

I'm breaking my back resizing on my dillon 550b.

station #1 RCBS lube die #2 w/rcbs lube

#2 dillon resize die

#3 trimmer

#4 nothing.

I was wondering what you guys could recommend for lube. I'm gonna break my elbow and reloading bench.

I've tried Hornady One shot.

RCBS lube.

Dillon recommended theirs of course.

Anyone have any experiences what lube is good to resize .308 lake city military brass.

[Caspian_45]

I use Frankford Arsenal Spray lube. I put 40/50 pcs. in a cookie pan: spray roll around a bit spray again roll around a bit let set 5 minutes and go. Not too much or you will get lube dents. A case mouth brush and using the powder on the case mouth seems to help some too. I don't find it hard to work the press for hundreds of rounds at one time. Not sure why it's hard on your elbow and bench. If the brass is really grungy you may want to clean it before and after resizing.

I use my 550 like a single stage press. I deprime and resize all my brass then I tumble them to clean all the lube and crap off. Then I trim and prep the brass as needed. When I go to load the brass I have a seperate tool head with the powder and bullet seater.

[RH45]

I picked up a bunch of once-fired, LC .308 brass that also needed to have the primer pockets swaged. I didn't want to deal with it, so, I sent it to a fellow in Texas and he cleaned, resized, trimmed, and swaged the primer pockets for me for $30 per thousand.

[jaredr]

i've used dillon's lube for resizing .223 and .308 and been happy with it. haven't tried anything else except hornady one-shot, which works fine for straigh wall pistol cartridges, not so fine (my opinion) for bottleneck rifle...

-jared

[DougCarden]

I haven't done any .308, but I have processed over 7K of .223 brass this year...so far

I will not do it without Dillon lube. One shot guarantees that I will have a stuck case about every 20 minutes or so....I have to tumble the lube off and use a universal decap die to punch out the media in the flash hole.....Big deal.

Depending on your age and gumption, you may get by not using lube, but remember there is a reason they make it and sell it with their equipment. It makes the process easier on you and your equipment, period. The more you do, and the longer you do it, the more you will appreciate the lube.

I use an old pan. Lay 'em down. Couple of squirts. Roll them around , one more squirt, roll them around again. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Throw them into the casefeeder and go to town.

Good luck,

DougC

[briansea2]

I really dislike stuck cases so for me I like the Imperial sizing wax. That stuff is amazing and gives me a chance to really look over each piece of brass. Yes it is much slower but I don't shoot as much .223 as I do 9mm and Dillon spray works just fine for that.

B

[redmanfixit]

When I'm doing operations to any rifle cases, I prep most cases on a single stage press for decap and size. Lanolin is what the "OLD GUYS" say is the best lube for sizing. I think that's whats in Dillons spray sizing lube, it cleans off easily. The care you need to show in preping rifle brass over pistol is related to the pressure they work at. You won't be able to get the same number of reloads out of brass for a gas gun as you will for a bolt gun. You'll be better off to take your time on case prep so you are more likely to spot bad cases and thus avoid separations because of the way brass flows. Once you re-size, trim and ream or swage primer pockets, loading them up on a progressive is simple. Nuthin' like a separated case in your AR to really slow you down in the middle of a stage! (.308 OR .223) Or even an M1A1! You either pay time or you pay money.

[RiggerJJ]

do not try to size a 308 case without lube, you will be sorry...

Dillon lube is the only one I have on my bench for a reason. you have to almost get the 308 cases dripping, but not quite, but no stuck cases and the sizing/trimming on one head is not that much effort on my 650. afterwards tumble them to remove the lube, put in the loading head and turn em into ammo!

jj

[M ammo]

+1

on the Dillon lube.. I have tried others,,,, they are not as good.

I just went through a long ordeal getting my AR type .308 to run re-loads,,

I hope yours work well. I had to go to a full length SMALL BASE die. Now It runs!

Jim M ammo

[Hammar]

Dillon lube is the way to go IMHO. Haven't got one stuck yet. Knock on wood.

[blkbrd]

Dillon lube for rifle cases.

I have one 650 head for sizing, and another for reloading.

One big thing to check is many die setups over size the neck in both directions, makes sizing a bear.

I really like the Redding dies where you can Tailor your neck constriction and expansion.

[davester00]

Tried the Dillon Lube and it's like a whole different re-loading experience.

Now I can't live without the Dillon lube for resizing .308 cases.

[warpspeed]

I've never stuck a case with the Dillon pump but it is messy compared to the OneShot.

[BillL223]

I use Imperial sizing wax as mentioned above. Use very sparingly and you don't have to clean it off. I use One shot for higher volumn 223 cases and then tumble off when I'm through but you have to make sure no media is in the flash hole. Dillon lube is very messy but does work if used heavily enough.

[DCS44256]

I use Hornady One Shot all the time for 223 and 308 Military cases. Never had a problem. I tried Dillon's case lube and it worked fine, just harder to clean off the case after it served its purpose.

[sierra77mk]

2 things to remember with OFB .308.

Depriming as a separate operation with a universal decapping die saves stress and duress.

L.C. may have been fired in MG's which have a generous chamber. That means you are squeezing the brass a lot more than rifle fired brass. No matter what lube you use it will take more effort.

Read these:

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/oncefired.pdf

http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

Edited May 1, 2010 by sierra77mk

[sierra77mk]

Delete Dupe post.

Edited May 2, 2010 by sierra77mk

[sierra77mk]

why do these duplicate posts happen?

Edited May 3, 2010 by sierra77mk

[freakshow10mm]

Pretty sure the Dillon lube is lanolin and alcohol, just like the others in some form. I mixed mine from stuff at the hardware store.