Neck Lube Experience

[DoneNOut]

I've been experimenting with different neck lube for seating depth/CBTO consistency in annealed brass. Graphite and case lube. Not impressed and don't see any benefit on the target. In fact I found disaster with groups using graphite. I find myself having to play with the seating stem too much too. I was getting .005" seating depth variance. Last night I went clean and dry necks. After mandrel expanding the necks, I brushed out the necks with caliber size bore brush, swabbed out with alcohol, and cleaned the bullets with alcohol. The seating depth variance dropped to .002". (.001 above or below target depth, and on par with my shoulder bump variance)

I have never experienced cold weld. I shoot my ammo soon enough I don't think it has time to take hold.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Wow - that sounds like a lot of work. I try to keep things simple. I simply run a dry brush in the necks of fired cases to remove anything that is loose. The carbon all remains in the neck. I use FL bushing dies and that's it. The only time I see seating inconsistencies is when the bushing is too tight for the brass being used or when the load is compressed. Even a little compression causes seating inconsistencies IME.

 

[DoneNOut]

Wow - that sounds like a lot of work. I try to keep things simple. I simply run a dry brush in the necks of fired cases to remove anything that is loose. The carbon all remains in the neck. I use FL bushing dies and that's it. The only time I see seating inconsistencies is when the bushing is too tight for the brass being used or when the load is compressed. Even a little compression causes seating inconsistencies IME.

Sounds like more work than it is really:

Bullets rolled around on cloth doused with alcohol for 15 seconds, let dry
Brush hits inside of case necks on Frankfurt Arsenal brass machine a 3 second step
Swabbing the necks prior to bullet seating, 2 minutes
Not having to readjust the seater die depth - priceless! LOL

I bought my first pair of reader glasses...WOW, its like God gave me Swarovski eyes! Bad thing is I can see the carbon in the primer pockets now and using a dental pic and Q-tip to clean them...

 

[Reelamin]

I do not use nor ever tried specific lubricants for neck tension. No way could that be consistent. I will intentionally vibratory clean in dirty media before I seat bullets. Otherwise my neck tension is all over the place with the tumbler cleaning method.

 

[DoneNOut]

I do not use nor ever tried specific lubricants for neck tension. No way could that be consistent. I will intentionally vibratory clean in dirty media before I seat bullets. Otherwise my neck tension is all over the place with the tumbler cleaning method.

It isn't consistent at all and I don't know how people who use lube are having success over the rawdog method.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I'm playing around with using Neolube in the necks and even on the base of bullets.

It's not uncommon for me to load up 50 rounds just before hunting season to use throughout our 4 month season with a couple range trips in between so cold weld is a real possibility.

Using my arbor press with a force gauge I can see a noticeable drop in seating pressure required compared to raw bullets and burnished carbon in the necks.

 

[26Reload]

Well..I shoot mine prior to decapping(with a universal decapper) with One Shot after being shaken vigorously for a few seconds.....then go to town resizing and case lenght trimming when in need....I don'tgo crazy wiping off the case lube..it usually gets all over my hands and then I wipe my hands with papertowels.....
Seldom do i brush out my necks....

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I do not use nor ever tried specific lubricants for neck tension. No way could that be consistent. I will intentionally vibratory clean in dirty media before I seat bullets. Otherwise my neck tension is all over the place with the tumbler cleaning method.

Another potential problem with lubing necks:

My buddy was hunting grizzlys with a Blaser rifle in 375HH. He had factory ammo that was loaded with moly coated bullets, which were popular at the time. He told me that the recoil of the rifle caused the bullets to move in the cases of all the rounds in the magazine. He swore off moly after that. Good neck tension is important in a hunting round.

Just a thought.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I'm using the carbon layer on the inside of the neck as a lube.

 

[haisardao]

Looks like i just wasted $30 in neolube,

 

[DoneNOut]

Looks like i just wasted $30 in neolube,

Maybe not. You could use it in the bore after cleaning. I'd just keep it out of the necks.

 

[DoneNOut]

I'm using the carbon layer on the 8nside of the neck as a lube.

I hear this a lot, but what is the measure here? Is there the same amount of carbon deposit each neck? I highly doubt there is. I see more consistency with a clean canvas and mandrel diameter choice. Rather than using lube I will increase or decrease the mandrel size.

 

[DoneNOut]

I'm playing around with using Neolube in the necks and even on the base of bullets.

It's not uncommon for me to load up 50 rounds just before hunting season to use throughout our 4 month season with a couple range trips in between so cold weld is a real possibility.

Using my arbor press with a force gauge I can see a noticeable drop in seating pressure required compared to raw bullets and burnished carbon in the necks.

How am I escaping the cold weld problem? I've pulled 10yr old loads and even 70-80s military surplus and nothing has been welded. I don't disbelieve you or others when I ask this. I just wonder if a certain process, or brass cleaning is more prevalent to cause the issue.

 

[C-130 Dude]

I'm playing around with using Neolube in the necks and even on the base of bullets.

It's not uncommon for me to load up 50 rounds just before hunting season to use throughout our 4 month season with a couple range trips in between so cold weld is a real possibility.

Using my arbor press with a force gauge I can see a noticeable drop in seating pressure required compared to raw bullets and burnished carbon in the necks.

Insertion force is one thing. But what is your experience with shooting them?