Resistance when resizing.

[grfox92]

I've been reloading for a few months now and have done a bunch of .308 and now am doing 7mm08. I am setting up my dies with the instructions (lawyer version).

I lube my brass and set it in the shell holder. On the upstroke I get the expected resistance expected when pushing the brass up into the die. However on the down stroke the brass starts coming out of the die and I then hit a wall of resistance where I have to push down hard on the lever and "pop" the brass out of the die.

This doesn't seem right to me. It's happening with both 308 and 7mm08. I've reset the dies multiple times and it always happens during resizing.

Is this normal? I'm completely self taught from you tube and reading here and other places. I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

Press is a Rock Chucker and dies are also RCBS. Using RCBS kine on a lube mat.

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[JF_Idaho]

You should be sure to get a little lube inside the case neck. It's probably too dry and dragging on the expander ball.

 

[Wrench]

Press the case mouth onto your lube pad to get a hint of lube on the inside. Too much on the outside will cause wrinkles in the shoulder.

 

[grfox92]

Press the case mouth onto your lube pad to get a hint of lube on the inside. Too much on the outside will cause wrinkles in the shoulder.

Yes I learned that lesson early on with dimpled brass and have reduced the amount. It shot out of the ones it happened to any way. Didn't know about lubing inside the neck. I'll try it when I get home. Thanks.

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[sdupontjr]

I had this happen just recently on my RCBS 308 die. Same as above, inside the neck was a little dry. I make my own lube with 99% alcohol and liquid lanolin. I pulled the die, shot a little lube on the expander ball and inside the die. Let it dry, Started running them again. After the second brass, it was slick again.

 

[wapitibob]

I'd switch to imperial sizing wax for the body and graphite for the occasional neck.

 

[grfox92]

I had this happen just recently on my RCBS 308 die. Same as above, inside the neck was a little dry. I make my own lube with 99% alcohol and liquid lanolin. I pulled the die, shot a little lube on the expander ball and inside the die. Let it dry, Started running them again. After the second brass, it was slick again.

Thank you. I was cautious about getting lube inside the case due to the risk of primer issues but I guess it's not an amount that's ever going to make its way that far down the case anyway

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[JFK]

Hornady one shot is nice because you can spray the brass case mouth up and it naturally gets inside the neck. Let it dry for a minute and you are good to go.

 

[grfox92]

Are you guys cleaning your brass after resizing? I've been wiping it all down with alcohol to remove all case lube before proceeding to seating bullets.

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[SDHNTR]

Are you guys cleaning your brass after resizing? I've been wiping it all down with alcohol to remove all case lube before proceeding to seating bullets.

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Sometimes. If I have a lot of 50+ rounds I’m putting together, yes, I’ll probably just toss em all in the tumbler after resizing to get all the lube off. I don’t want to manually wipe off that many cases.

 

[peaches]

Leaving lube in the neck can actually be a benefit if you subscribe to to theory of cold weld of the bullet to the neck if loaded ammo sits a while. Leaving carbon in the neck accomplishes the same thing supposedly.

 

[wapitibob]

Are you guys cleaning your brass after resizing? I've been wiping it all down with alcohol to remove all case lube before proceeding to seating bullets.

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I clean with acetone before seating, fired brass comes out of the gun cleaner. I might dry tumble every 4-5 firings. I use a nylon brush on a drill for neck id, graphite on bullet base as I seat them. I've seen bullet weld but those had been sitting for a cpl years at least.

 

[Wrench]

I have never cleaned post lubing. I have been loading since 94 and just opened my 3rd bottle of rcbs case lube last year. I load for better than 20 cartridges and have stuck a couple cases and all were self inflicted errors and me trying lanolin spray.

I put 3 or 4 drops on the rcbs pad and smear it around....flip the pad and repeat.

If you can see the lube...it's too much.

I do the powdered graphite on the neck when seating.

 

[wind gypsy]

Agree with others, sounds like the neck is getting stuck on your expander ball.

I've used hornady one-shot almost exclusively for thousands of rounds and never stuck a case. Set them neck up in a plastic case holder so they get lube in the necks, and spray em down.

I always dry tumble after sizing. I don't always tumble before sizing depending on how dirty things are.

 

[hiker270]

Hornady One Shot for neck and full length resizing. I use Imperial sizing wax when expanding 30-06 cases to 35 whelen.

 

[grfox92]

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate it.

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[Harvey_NW]

You're possibly smashing your brass and inducing work hardening by setting your dies up like that, Hornady sells a relatively inexpensive headspace gauge kit that allows you to measure shoulder bump on sizing. Usually bolt guns only .002" bump is necessary. It will help extend the life of your brass, and you'll probably notice a little better ES/SD if you're checking loads with a chrono.

As far as lube, I have exclusively switched to alcohol/lanolin homemade stuff. It's just the easiest and fastest way for me to get things done, but I resize brass in lots of 100 pcs. I put them in a gallon ziplock, spray once, shake and mix, spray twice, shake and mix, open the bag and toss it to the side to let the alcohol flash off while I get setup, and go to resizing. Immediately toss brass in a tumbler filled with white rice, and tumble for a half hour or so after to remove all lube and polish the case. Take a few minutes to tumble in a media separator to clean the cases out, and onto loading.

 

[EdP]

I'd switch to imperial sizing wax for the body and graphite for the occasional neck.

This is what I do except that I lube the neck of every case using powdered graphite and some lead shot in a small container. The container lid sits upside down next to the container. Stick the case neck in the graphite then tap it on the container lid to knock out any extra. The lead shot keeps it from just clogging with graphite.

There are a lot of things you can use to lube cases. STP is a fine case lube but any petroleum product needs to be kept out of the case. A quart will probably last a person a lifetime but there are products on the market now that are much easier to use as others have described above.

 

[FLS]

A carbide expander button will help.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I resized over 200 once fired .30-06 cases to .25-06 with one pass through my Redding FL sizing die. I lined them up in a case holder and hit them at around a 45 degree angle with One Shot. Turned the case holder 180 degrees and hit the other side to ensure adequate lube outsdie and inside the case neck. Waited about a minute and a half and got to work. Zero issues with sticky cases or extra effort to run through the sizer.