Hunting Forum

I have sized several rifle case,  what is the best way to remove the lube from the shell cases and what would you use to do this? I have resized them and the next stept is to clean them.

I'm lazy, so I put them back into my tumbler and let them go until clean or overnight. Double check your flash holes and primer pockets to make sure all media is gone from the cases.

Other wipe them with a cloth or wash them in a soapy water and then dry them. I am with Spinone and toss them in the tumbler.

Just dry with a towel, I am not lazy just cheap. Have not bought a tumbler yet.
Joe

I used to wipe with a rag (old T-shirts work well) and still do if I've got less than half a dozen. But I hate wiping cases, so I mostly toss them in the tumbler. Another option is Hornady's One Shot. It's a spray on, I don't think you need to wipe them afterwards.

And I've seen recommendations for Imperial Sizing wax, I think that's another that doesn't need to be removed.

Dale

I use one shot and i run all brass thru the tumbler before reloading. Even one shot needs wiped off. Tumbler is easyer.

Both methods work.  I have a friend that puts the brass into the tumbler to clean the lube off after resizing.  I wipe  them off with a rag.  I use an old tee shirt or some old piece of clothing that is worn out for a rag.  For me, putting the brass back in the tumbler is too time consuming.  I guess that I'm lazy in that regard.  I wipe them off as soon as they are resized and and primed.

Thanks for the information, I don''t have a tumbler, will try to wash them and wipe off and let dry.

I have found that only if I need to resize brass (1st load and if I use in an auto loader) I size them first and then run them thru the sonic cleaner then I prime and load them and if I am reloading in my custom bolt action rifle I only neck size and I don't full body resize.

bigrig , by 'back in the tumbler' I gather you tumble, size and would then be tumbling again? I don't tumble first, just size and into the tumbler.

BTW, to the OP, I only tumble bottleneck rifle cases. Since my pistol dies are carbide and don't need lubed, there's no lube to wipe off so they rarely get tumbled.

Dale

Putting them back in the tumbler only works well if there is no polishing liquid or other substance in the media other wise you will still need to wipe or sonic clean them, and if you have never used a sonic cleaner look into it as the brass is cleaner and ready faster than using a tumbler, I have a tumbler and since I have bought a sonic cleaner I will never use a tumbler again except form letting my kids polish rocks

Dale: I clean all my brass before I put them thru the resizing die. It keeps the die cleaner.
aaronvan: I'll have to look into that sonic cleaner thing if it works faster. How's it work? I have a few carbide pistol die sets. I still clean my brass before I run them thru the dies. The only thing I do different is not use lube on the brass.I just don't want to take the chance of a case sticking in the die. Brass is getting expensive to buy. And Its so time consuming to extract the brass when its stuck. I've had to unstick a few of my rifle cases.  As far as loading new brass.  I load them the same as you do.  They should already be at the correct tolerances if they are new.  Although, I have run into a few that were not.  And, I had to run them thru to get the neck tight enough to grip the bullet.  I've tried to adjust my full length  dies to size only the neck.  It will take some time.  I've got a few there.  The neck sizing dies are really expensive.  Whats nice is once you get there. The brass seems to last a little longer.

I have a Lee universal deprimeing Die that i run all my brass through first then clean in the tumbler unless thay need triming . Then resize just my why of doing it

The sonic cleaner is great I started using one when I got my custom long range gun built so everything can be as consistant as possible. We put some of the dirtiest brass possible you know the stuff you pick up at the range that's been there for a season or two three cycles thru the cleaning solution and they looked almost new, and on brass that has had 5 or 6 reloads thru it without cleaning of anything and just a quick spin of the primer pocket brush and it was clean. The only thing you need to do is not skimp on the cleaner its self and get the industrial size one mine is the big one from hornady, and like I said previuosly the only time I will use my tumbler is when the kids want to clean rocks

bigrig check out the hornady site to see how it works or search youtube

I remove the lube with a slightly damp t-shirt. Yes, it is tedious, but I do it slowly, one case at a time as my case-inspection stage. I believe that case inspection, like priming, is the place to really slow down and do it right.

I'm with finepoint. RCBS makes a water soluble case lube that I finally started using - a lot easier than the old greasy stuff. Through the years I've come to the conclusion that I spend way too much time (& money) making ammunition that's more accurate than my ability to shoot it. But hey, there are a lot worse habits to have....

I use a Dillon progressive press to reload when I am done I have a loaded round with lube on it. If you put the rounds in a smooth bottom pan with a little rubbing alcohol roll them around then wipe with a rag they clean up nice.

I use a dillon 550B for the stuff that uses ball powder or smaller grained powder. For the loong grained powder. I use an RCBS single stage.