Overlubing?

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Blindstitch

New member
I made up 3 dozen 30-30 rounds and until I was done I didn't notice a problem. Under fine investigation I have wrinkles/dimples on the shoulder of 1/3 of the cases.

Do you think this is from overlubing? I didn't think I put a lot of lube on but since i'm new to thing again I may be wrong. With a small dab of lee's lube I did 2 shells with each little bit I took from the tube. Of course that doesn't show how much I used.

Lubewrinkle_zps1bd29b47.jpg


When depriming and using the full length die after cleaning I ended up having to trim about 1/3rd of the brass. I'm not sure if this is any relation to the wrinkles or not. I was also talking to my neighbor today and he said he can't seem to do his 30-30 shells without wrinkles either. May just be coincidence.

If you use the paste style lube on a shouldered piece of brass is there a specific way you should lube? Do you just lube a small section or the whole length? Would it be smart to wipe the brass with a cloth after lubing to remove excessive lube or would that remove to much or all?

As always any help is appreciated.
 
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overthere

New member
Do not lube the neck or shoulder. After you apply the lube to the case, wipe off the neck and shoulder with a clean cloth (leaving lube on the body) before resizing.

Also, put a small amount of lube inside the case mouth on the first case in the batch to prevent stuck case.

If you leave lube on the neck and shoulder you can get the 'hydraulic dents' you are seeing.

Not sure what you mean by having to trim 1/3 of the brass, that sounds like an awful lot of trimming :)
 
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Blindstitch

New member
The 1/3rd I was talking about was that I had to trim about 12 pieces out of 36.

Ok so what you're saying is to only lube the body.
 
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m&p45acp10+1

New member
The dents will pop out when you shoot them. I get dents when reforming brass for other calibers. They come out when I fire form them.
 
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Bart B.

New member
It's myth number 482 on the list of them regarding reloading that one should never lube the case neck or shoulder. Thousands of people have done it "properly" for decades.

A thin coat's all that's needed. Of course, if you use too much or the wrong lube, then shame on you.
 
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NoSecondBest

New member
I've reloaded a LOT over the last forty years. I lube the neck and shoulder every time and I've NEVER had a problem. Just don't over-lube. It requires very, very little lubricant to size cases. Very little.
 
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mikld

New member
I too have reloaded a bunch of bottle necked cases and lubed them all over. But, I only apply a light (very light) film of lube. Mebbe because I use my fingers and not a pad or spray I have no problems...

BTW, and no offence intended; you need to pay more attention to what you're doing when reloading. Loaded 36 rounds before you noticed? Those dents could/should have been caught on the first round, not when you were done for the day.
 
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Blindstitch

New member
No offense taken. It's not that I wasn't paying attention. I had 3 that have deeper dents and those were removed after inspection. The remaining 12 or so that passed through quality control I couldn't see the dents. It wasn't till I polished them up that I noticed the dents. The one in the picture was the worst of those and it was a real trick getting a picture of it to show.

I don't have a tumbler so I used a cheap mixture of vinegar and water that I found online and agitated off and on for 30 minutes and rinsed multiple times. This was after depriming. I should have probably did it before.
 
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dahermit

New member
When I hand loaded for the .444 Marlin, a long, strait walled case, I had frequent lube dents as your photograph. I found that I had less of a problem when I switched to a spray-on dry-to-a-powder type of lube. I believe that it is One Shot by Hornady.
 
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rajbcpa

New member
I have done this. It is caused by too much lube.

You probably need to take the die apart and clean out the die pieces and use much less lube going forward.

I just bought some Imperial Sizing Wax and it works well. At this point, I think it would be impossible to put too much wax on a case that would cause shoulder dents like yours.
 
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oldpapps

New member
Yes to your question, too much lube is the most likely culprit.

There are many, many types of lubes. The crap ones don't last long. The good ones do.

I use the old fashion gooey grease stuff, got some RCBS and some Lee. If I'm processing several rifle cases (bottle necked) I will use a lube pad. If not, my fingers do very well. As stated above, the place the lube is needed is on the long flat sides of the case body. A quick and very light swipe from a lubed finger across the case mouth from time to time will ease the expander balls transit in and out of the case. The case shoulder does not require any lube. It is being shoved in, not pushed by (does that make since?).

Excess lube does cause dimples on the necks. This only reduces the maximum powder volume possible in the case. Unless you are running compressed powder charges, it matters not. The brass will fire form back and you will not know which case/s had the dimples.

Load with care,

OSOK
 
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Blindstitch

New member
The sizing die has been taken apart and cleaned. It didn't look that bad or caked besides the depriming pin. After cleaning I took a few pieces of brass and lubed them sparingly and everything worked just fine.

I know it's hard to explain the volume of lube i was using and doing the neck and shoulder but the few I did I used maybe the same amount to do 3 as I was using for 1 in the beginning.

Now if only I had more brass to get more practice.
 
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Shootest

New member
You can NOT safely fire those bullets in a tubular magazine. A 30/30 bullet should be flat nosed, thus eliminating the possibility of an accidental discharge in the magazine.
 
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Grizz12

New member
You can NOT safely fire those bullets in a tubular magazine. A 30/30 bullet should be flat nosed, thus eliminating the possibility of an accidental discharge in the magazine.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing
 
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AllenJ

New member
NoSecondBest wrote:

I've reloaded a LOT over the last forty years. I lube the neck and shoulder every time and I've NEVER had a problem. Just don't over-lube. It requires very, very little lubricant to size cases. Very little.
Click to expand...

+1 for that, very, very little lubricant.......VERY LITTLE!
 
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Blindstitch

New member
You can NOT safely fire those bullets in a tubular magazine. A 30/30 bullet should be flat nosed, thus eliminating the possibility of an accidental discharge in the magazine.
Click to expand...

Shootest and Grizz12

These rounds will not be loaded in a tubular magazine.
 
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