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Post by dovehunter on Feb 12, 2011 18:38:47 GMT -5
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Post by Jack on Feb 12, 2011 18:58:01 GMT -5
I like that stuff, too! Any time I'm reloading in any kind of quantity, I use the spray stuff. Hornady's works great, and I think Midway's house brand is the same thing. I would point out that the directions say to give your sizing die a squirt of lube before you start resizing - I do that, and I've never had a problem. After sizing the cases I sometimes throw them in the tumbler and take the lube off that way, but, often, I just wipe them with an old towel.
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Post by twomoons on Feb 13, 2011 0:30:44 GMT -5
I have been using Imperial Die Sizing wax for years as it sizes the biggest cases the easiest f=of anything I ever tried. I did try spray on lube when i was doing a lot of pistol rounds that I couldn't find a carbide die for and it seemed to work all right. I also had a lot of Lee water soluable lube for a while too.
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Post by Jack on Feb 13, 2011 8:58:21 GMT -5
I use the Imperial Sizing Die Wax when I'm doing a small batch of something. I also use it for those rare times I'm doing case forming, or anything else really heavy duty. For doing a big batch of cases, the spray stuff is really easy, and it works.
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Post by Bill on Feb 13, 2011 8:58:41 GMT -5
One thing it will not work worth a crap on and that is .308 and .223 military brass that has run through a machine gun. ;D Almost destroyed 3 sets of dies trying to resize that crap. I finally tried a mix of mink oil and bee's wax that I had made up for some patch lube for my Muzzle loader and about fell over as that stuff works absolutely awesome. Nothing else I could get my hands on worked. I will say this though. Once it was all resized and loaded and fired I never had any trouble with the One shot not working. That military brass is so over sized it is had to get it into the die even. If you ever find any of it buy it super cheap as its going to be a huge amount of work.
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Post by jmarriott on Feb 13, 2011 11:04:18 GMT -5
556 verses 223 not exactly the same stuff no matter what the crowds might say.
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Post by Jack on Feb 13, 2011 11:34:11 GMT -5
Bill, sizing military stuff the first time is almost like reforming a case- a good application for Imperial. Actually, I try to avoid the machine gun brass altogether.
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Post by dovehunter on Feb 13, 2011 17:33:57 GMT -5
I've never used any military .223 stuff as there's so much commercial R-P, W-W, FC, etc. brass laying on the ground at the range. If I pick it up and it's either military brass with crimped-in primers and/or some offbeat stuff I've never heard of, I just chuck it back on the ground. I guess that's one plus from all these folks blasting away with their AR-style guns (and that's by far and away the majority of the rifles being shot at my club range these days).
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Post by Jack on Feb 13, 2011 19:43:46 GMT -5
The typical range scrounged 308, 30-06, or 223 isn't bad, although you may have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket. The stuff that's been fired through a machine gun, however- different story! That stuff is expanded far beyond what any civilian rifle does.
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Post by Bill on Feb 14, 2011 9:26:02 GMT -5
Thats a fact Jack. ;D My thinking when I got it was "But its Free" ;D One thing I did that was smart on the whole thing was I didn't use my Reddington Micrometer Competition die set to try to resize it with so I didn't destroy that set. I only used the Cheapest set of Lee dies I could get and I destroyed the decaping rods on two sets of those dies when I could not get the decapping rod out and ended up drilling the case's primer pocket out to thread the hole for my stuck case remover. The decaping pin would not move up high enough for the drill bit to go in as it was also jammed into the neck. I think that was on my 3 or 4 type of case lube that did not work. The mink oil mix never stuck a single case.
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Post by dovehunter on Feb 14, 2011 10:46:57 GMT -5
...I only used the Cheapest set of Lee dies I could get and I destroyed the decaping rods on two sets of those dies when I could not get the decapping rod out and ended up drilling the case's primer pocket out to thread the hole for my stuck case remover. The decaping pin would not move up high enough for the drill bit to go in as it was also jammed into the neck... I am surprised you broke the Lee decapping rods because (if your Lee dies are like mine) the die is designed so that if the decapping rod meets any significant resistance it just slides up and you have to reposition it. Actually this is about the only thing I don't like about their dies (probably because I am lazy and don't want to have to reposition the decapping rod and pin after I encounter a stuborn primer). I guess I may be lucky in that I can probably pick up (at least) 2-3 boxes of commercial .223 brass every time we go to the range. Sometimes it's so thick on the concrete slabs that you have to kick it out of the way or use the provided push broom to avoid slipping on it. 9mm Luger and 45 ACP brass are about the same way. I wish getting other stuff was as easy.
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Post by Jack on Feb 14, 2011 12:16:36 GMT -5
I'm a range scrounger, too. Usually, when I go to the range, I come home with more 45 cases than I brought. There's always 223 and 7.62x39 brass all over, too, but I don't bother with that, since I have neither caliber.
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Post by jmarriott on Feb 14, 2011 15:26:26 GMT -5
Most of my ranges now keep all brass cases to cover repairs if left on the ground after shooting. I guess any money coming in is good money even at scrap brass prices. I often gather brass and yes the majority is 556 and 45 or 9. Come around deer season I do find lots of 357 44 mag and 45 long colt because of the pistol cal rifle deer season. Those days have been rather cool. I bet one day i got about 200 357 mag brass about 200 38 special 50 44 mag and 100 long colt. That was last october on a nice windless day off one bench where i saw lots of lever rifles.
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Post by Bill on Feb 15, 2011 8:10:59 GMT -5
I kind of quit scrounging. It got to the point I had some much brass of the WRONG calibers that I had cleaned and prepped lying around that I started giving it away. Two of the guys I work with and had taught to reload won't come over anymore unless I promise not to load them up with brass. ;D One in particular has gone home with over a 5 gallon bucket of brass. Now I for the most part only have brass in calibers of the guns I own and I don't get rid of that. Dove Hunter, the sets of Lee dies I destroyed were the cheapest set that Lee makes. The rod didn't slide up.
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Post by jmarriott on Feb 15, 2011 15:09:13 GMT -5
Scrap yellow brass is 1.50 to 1.75 a pound, I have a scrap yard about 2 miles away.
50 pounds of brass to get a better price than that.
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