Do you clean the case lube off?

Jay Cummings

New member
Been a bolt guy for 25yrs, and still am. Neck sizing I never have to bother with case lube. With my AR, obviously i FL size each time. Do you guys clean your case lube off after you have loaded your rounds? I notice if i don't, my spent cases are really black and sticky. I know its all the gases and and such sticking to the lube. Is it best to clean it off and does it affect accuracy if you dont and things get sticky?
 
After FL sizing/depriming all my brass gets the SS cleaning treatment. I wait until I have 200+ empties before I even get to that point.
 
15-20 min in treated corn media gets all the lube off and leaves a nice finish. That's just enough time to go in and make a sammich.
 
I drop them on a rag and wipe them off after I get about 5 in the rag. I clean my brass before I size so that I am not putting dirty brass in my dies.
 
When the cartridge is fired the case expands and grips the chamber walls tightly then shrinks back a bit so it is easily extracted. With lube still on the case the cartridge case will not grip as tightly and could slip back into the bolt with enough force to cause some false over pressure signs like flattened primers, and ejector smears or marks, and possibly a sticky bolt opening. That's why I toss the resized and trimmed cases back in the tumbler for an hour afterward.
 
well, lemme back up a second & think about this.

I do use one shot & as it works by allowing it to dry on the case, the cases don't feel lubed. I generally tumble them, lube/resize/decap & then do the rest of my brass ops. Check for case head separation, clean primer pock4ets & trim as needed. And then they usually get tossed back in the cleaner for a bit, so I'd have to say that yes, I am actually cleaning it off, though that wasn't the reason for the 2nd cleaning. I just wanted to clean them a bit after all that handling.

but I think that if I didn't do it that way I likely wouldn't be worried about cleaning one shot off after using.
 
I use one-shot and full length resize.
Then clean the brass with a paper towel before primer pocket shaping then trim if needed.
Used to use a shop rag but it loaded up bad, now I just toss the dirty paper towel & get a fresh one.
 
I follow much the same as others..

I run the brass in the tumbler, with walnuts (adding a used dryer sheet soaks up the carbon really well)
Then case lube with one shot, and full length size. Trim, bevel, anneal when appropriate, and clean the primer pocket.

Then drop in the Hornady ultra sonic cleaner, and that takes off the lube and cleans them really well. Then store and load as needed.

When loading I don't need lube, everything works well.
 
I tumble my cases prior to resizing to get the range crud off.....shoot with some HOS and never look back.

Doing it that way hasn't presented any problems as of yet.



Here Kitty Kitty
 
have a qt. mason jar that I fill with alcohol and shake for a bit with as many carts as fit drain off and let dry there clean and ready to load so simple
 
using lee collet dies. i dont lube so dont need to clean lube off. and i like that.
smile.gif
 
I just have my wife wipe them down with a rag moistened with mineral spirits as she drops them in the box. I use Dillon spray so its a little greasy. She grumps a little when she has a pile of 5 or 600 to do but not if she only has a couple hundred or less.
 
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