6. Dry Lubing Your Brass: Graphite/Dry Lube

[@burrco3086]

I use a neck brush on my machine , I just use pb blaster dry graphite spray . I've seen a small difference in neck tension. When seating .

[@ArtisOutdoors]

I’ve looked into how abrasive graphite is. In machining graphite wears tooling down quickly and diamond tools are recommended, Knowing that what effect does this have on the barrel ? Increased wear and to what extent ?

[@KOK678770]

Graphite lube rifle works great in extreme cold.

[@EddieBlueHalen]

I use mica powder.

[@Mooseracks]

I dry lube necks only... haven't quite got the annealing down to a science yet... one day... I have 4 7mm mag rifles... the one Sauer S80 (older 70s) is chambered in a Wby Mag... Super tricky to do hand loads...

[@carfvallrightsreservedwith6649]

You should watch the YT tutorial on constructing an induction annealer. It's controllable to .01 of a second. Build is under $250. I currently have the ANNEALEEZ II and it works well but the setup/adjustment time can be consuming. The induction method does .223 in 1.5-2 seconds per case vs ANNEALEEZ's 5-8 seconds.

[@deerphoria4314]

I have a jar of graphite powder. Do you know where I can buy ceramic balls?

[@sniggyflu]

I just used number 8 shot from a couple shotgun shells I took apart.

[@wadepederson8457]

@@deerphoria4314 Midway USA made by Redding.

[@everythingphil9376]

I'm curious of my next test on my 223 Rem rounds for my AR. I loaded the rounds a couple of weeks ago with dry lube. Without the lube my SD and ES were horrible. When I seat bullets the day before they improved greatly. Cold Welding effects?

[@precisionmatchtimer]

cold welding can certainly come into play. I rarely load my precision rounds ahead that far. And always with dry lube. I have plenty of AR rounds, but those are not precision.

[@johnlowell8421]

I have found sizing with this in the neck takes a lot more work compared to using a bore mop coated in sizing wax.

[@precisionmatchtimer]

Hmm. Do you have the decap pin/expander ball on your sizing die? I am not using that since I use a Mandrel later. I don't really like expander balls.

[@johnlowell8421]

@@precisionmatchtimer yes, RCBS sizing die. Any graphite left on the outside of the shell gets compressed into a black bunch of carbon where the shoulder meets the neck. And the action of the resizing ball isn’t nearly as easy compared to wax

[@pevelyhomeowner327]

@@johnlowell8421 Redding makes a floating carbide ball that’s supposed to reduce interior friction as it expands the case.

[@ddn79]

Just use NeoLube #2. Have the cases in the tray and wipe it with a Qtip.

[@njgrplr2007]

Been using neolube for some time with great results.

[@wadepederson8457]

I have tried this dry lube, but I lube the bullet but not the brass, and it works well for me, I wonder if you have tried this yourself ? Aim small shoot straight. GOD bless.

[@ef2967]

Hes using a mandrel, so your technique wouldn't work if you are lubing the bullet.

[@13bibby13]

I also lube the bullet (no mandrel) have seen a measurable decrease in group sizes

[@Rico11b]

Why use the bore brush at all??? Couldn't you just dip it in the dry lube and then give a quick tap on the board to knock off the excess and call it done? It just seems that the bore brush would wipe away to much of the dry lube defeating the purpose.

[@precisionmatchtimer]

I tried knocking off the excess but it still would clump some and never be consistent. Accuracy is consistency!

[@Rico11b]

@@precisionmatchtimer hmmm..... I wonder if some of the over spray from the one shot is getting inside the neck.

[@precisionmatchtimer]

@@Rico11b It does, but I dry tumble again between those steps, so it is removed. Plenty of graphite is still getting on the brass even with the brush. You can feel the difference on a Mandrel die between brass that IS and brass that ISN'T.

[@DanielReyes-hz1qk]

I'm curious, in the test you mentioned early in the video comparing with and without dry lube, did you simply use an expander mandrel without dry lube on the control group? Or how did that work? And have you had any issues charging the cases with powder with dry lube in the neck? I currently lube my necks with a moly suspension liquid on a cotton swab AFTER charging the cases, to avoid possible problems with contamination. I've also thought about dipping bullets in my Redding dry lube before seating. Just curious on your thoughts. I'm currently considering adding the mandrel step to my reloading process, but am not sure if I'm going to do it or how I'll go about doing so if I choose to. Got a new rifle I need to get some rounds through them I'm going to test a few things. I wet tumble with stainless steel media so my brass is squeaky clean inside and out before I reload. I use spray on case lube and Redding FL size dies with carbide size buttons to resize. I'm going to load up 20 rounds with no neck lube (control), 20 with the moly suspension neck lube I currently use, and have considering getting dies and mandrels and loading another 20 that were dry lubed and expanded. I want to see the ES and SD variance. I know there will be significant variance between the control and the neck lubed (which is why I neck lube before seating bullets) but may want to compare that to dry lube and mandrel expanded

[@csh8856]

Have you seen any increase in barrel wear doing this ? As a moldmaker (tool & die / machinist) over the past 40 years I must have machined close to a ton of graphite for electrodes for mold cavities using EDM machines ( electro discharge machining). We always used solid carbide end mills to cut it due to the abrasive nature of graphite. Currently most mold makers are going to PCD coated solid carbide (poly crystalline diamond). Just wondering…

[@joeloehlephotography]

No. I expect the barrel is worn out and gone before it could ever be a problem.

[@dirklabuschagne473]

Just dip the bullets..way easier/faster and cleaner!! Same result.

[@precisionmatchtimer]

The dry lube is used with the Mandrel Die before seating. So that would not help me. Glad to hear it works for you.

[@davidgreer9567]

just so i understand you pour some powder into the balls? I have this stuff and probably used it wrong. Thanks for the videos.

[@precisionmatchtimer]

Yes. You pour some of the powder into the ceramic balls. Mix it up well (just something jabbed into it a few dozen times). Then the ceramic balls are the media that transport the powder to the brass more evenly than if you went straight into the powder. I should have explained that better.

[@davidgreer9567]

@@precisionmatchtimer thank you

[@kyley808]

What sd are you getting after you used the dry neck lube pls

[@precisionmatchtimer]

single digits. Usually around 5-6

[@goochi5544]

Has anyone tried using a small amount of Vaseline instead of gunpowder? Just asking.