Removing excess lube

[Capt. awesome]

Quick question for all the reloaders( not sure if it has been covered already) has anyone heard of tumbling live rounds that have been reloaded in rice to remove excess lube. Obviously not for hours on end but for 15 or 20 minutes?

[hillbillyreefer]

It's probably not the best practice but I've done it with success.

Usually I size, tumble, load.

[Nyksta]

I resize and then hypersonic cleaner everything off before repriming and loading.

You could paper towel each round. Dunno how many you did though.

[Akoch]

I de-prime, anneal, wet tumble, size, brass prep, tumble with corn, then prime and load. There is probably a better way but this it what I've been doing and it seems to work

[Nubuun]

I've tumbled live rounds for the purpose of removing exess lube and it worked fine, nothing bad happened. I have heard theory's that tumbling live rounds can/will cause the powder to " breakdown" into smaller pieces causing it to burn quicker whice means higher pressure. What lube are you using that there's so much exess? I switched from lee lube to imperial wax and you use so little it's not really a concern, just a quick wipe.

[Coyotebutcher]

I also vote for cleaning after all your prep is done. Gets rid of all the brass burrs and lube.

[Dean2]

Try neck sizing your loads. Better accuracy and case life plus no lube to remove.

[Salavee]

Imperial Sizing Wax is the way to go. Very simple to apply and remove. Rolling cases in sticky goo is a thing of the past.

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Try neck sizing your loads. Better accuracy and case life plus no lube to remove.

You bet, thus why I like to use collet dies whenever possible.

[Alephnaught]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Try neck sizing your loads. Better accuracy and case life plus no lube to remove.

+2

[Capt. awesome]

Theres definitely some new tricks I'm going to use after reading some of the messages . Neck sizer and wax for sure. The reason I asked about tumbling the loaded rounds is because it came up with a few buddies . I personally have no problem running a few shop towels over the cases to make sure they are clean. Just one of those curiousity questions I spose.

[Alephnaught]

Originally Posted by Salavee

Imperial Sizing Wax is the way to go. Very simple to apply and remove. Rolling cases in sticky goo is a thing of the past.

Also agree here. Not sure about other sources, but Joe Ponto at RPS in Spruce Grove is where I bought mine.

[fps plus]

Bullet run-out is key to accuracy , and I'm not sure how much run-out you would create by tumbling live rounds .

[Nubuun]

Or prophet river for imperal wax, it's $10 ish a tin and I've used mabey 1/10th of it on the 600 ish rounds I've loaded with it,

[lyallpeder]

I would want to remove the lube before the powder is put in because some will be inside the neck. I use Lee lube because I have a bunch and I wipe most of it off with a rag then put it in the vibrator.

So to answer your question, you can, but I wouldn't. If you have a bunch you loaded I would clean them with a rag.

[DaleJ]

Switch to lanolin based lube and wipe clean with paper towel. Lanolin is far superior to Imperial wax.

[YYC338]

Originally Posted by DaleJ

Switch to lanolin based lube and wipe clean with paper towel. Lanolin is far superior to Imperial wax.

I second the use of lanolin based lube. Lots of recipes of the internet to make your own. Cheap as dirt and very effective and easy to remove.

It's still hard to beat Imperial wax for those case forming jobs though.

[lclund1946]

Originally Posted by DaleJ

Switch to lanolin based lube and wipe clean with paper towel. Lanolin is far superior to Imperial wax.

Totally agree. I gave away a tin that was nearly full when I discovered Dillon Case Lube. Now I can lube my cases one at a time or 50-100 at a time. I apply lube to the necks with a Q-Tip, squirt about three shots into a baggie, dump in the brass, roll them around in the Lube, dump them into a container, let the alcohol evaporate for a minute or so and size. They can be just wiped off but I like to tumble in corn cob.

Since doing this I have never had a dimple in the neck of a brass when forming and I do 223 down to 222 in one pass and then down to 20 EXTREME in another single pass. I have also formed 6.5X 47 and 308/708 brass down to 25 and 22 caliber with no problem.

I now make my own lube with 99% isopropyl alcohol and pure liquid lanolin at a 12-1 ratio by just mixing in a spray bottle (Dillon) and giving a shake.

[260 Rem]

I FL size most of my Wildcats and NK size most of my standard "calibers". Since I have removed the expander button/ball in almost all my sizer dies, no lube is required inside the case neck. If lubing inside the neck, I would follow up with some Kleenex to remove as much as possible.
To soften/remove the burned powder/carbon from the neck, I use a dab of RCBS Case Lube-2 on a piece of Kleenex. To FL size, I then apply a thin coat of wax lube with my fingers to every 3rd piece of brass. After resizing, I wipe the cases with Kleenex to remove excess lube. After cleaning the primer pocket... they are ready to prime, charge, seat and shoot.
Depending on the rig and the shooter on a given day, I can generally count on groups between 0.3 - 0.5moa to 300M ...which suggests that the level of cleaning with the simple wipe of Kleenex is sufficient for that level of consistency.

[sikwhiskey]

I tumble all my ammo that comes of my progressive press. 223,308,3006, 38spl, 45apc. Never an issue. Takes way too long to wipe 1000's of rnds by hand. Walnut or corn cob media, never tried rice. 20min to an hour in the tumbler.
I did forget a batch of 223 in the tumbler overnight once, all looked fine and fired fine, zero difference in accuracy or velocity.
How long to you think factory ammo is tumbled for when it comes off the assembly line?

[222rem]

Loaded ammo should never be tumbled .
It changes integrity of the powder
You don't have to like it but it is a fact .

[sikwhiskey]

Originally Posted by 222rem

Loaded ammo should never be tumbled .
It changes integrity of the powder
You don't have to like it but it is a fact .

Fact or lawyer speak? How do you think powder is made? How do you think factory ammo gets cleaned? What happens to ammo when transported over vast distances for years on end? Soft riding boats, planes,and trucks? This topic gets beaten to death and there is a whole lot of research done on it. Look it up. An hour in a tumbler does nothing to powder integrity. Big, colorful font doesn't change that.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by sikwhiskey

Fact or lawyer speak? How do you think powder is made? How do you think factory ammo gets cleaned? What happens to ammo when transported over vast distances for years on end? Soft riding boats, planes,and trucks? This topic gets beaten to death and there is a whole lot of research done on it. Look it up. An hour in a tumbler does nothing to powder integrity. Big, colorful font doesn't change that.

Agree completely. If you ever saw what military ammo is put through, an hour in a tumbler wouldn't even register. If you don't believe this check it out for your self. Take a 308 case loaded with 4895, Varget or a similar stick powder. Tumble it for one day, inspect, one more day inspect and so on. Post back to this thread at the end of the year or when you see some change in the powder.

[tchardy1972]

Where are you guys buying your liquid lanolin from?

[bat119]

Originally Posted by tchardy1972

Where are you guys buying your liquid lanolin from?

Ebay or Amazon

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by sikwhiskey

Fact or lawyer speak? How do you think powder is made? How do you think factory ammo gets cleaned? What happens to ammo when transported over vast distances for years on end? Soft riding boats, planes,and trucks? This topic gets beaten to death and there is a whole lot of research done on it. Look it up. An hour in a tumbler does nothing to powder integrity. Big, colorful font doesn't change that.

I would tend to agree that you are likely corr
ect on this.
One could experiment by tumbling for one hour then pull the bullet and examine the powder.
Or compare the speed of tumbled vs non-tumbled.

[lclund1946]

Originally Posted by tchardy1972

Where are you guys buying your liquid lanolin from?

I ordered this Now product online and found it to mix very well with 99% Iso Propyl Alcohol which I buy in most any store in the 500 ml bottles. Well.ca has been a very reliable site to shop on.
https://well.ca/products/now-solutio...in_125339.html
Lanolin is actually a wax found on sheep wool and is totally non toxic. The only side effect is softer hands. I believe that lanolin is used to lube brass in the Lake City manufacturing plant.

[amosfella]

Originally Posted by tchardy1972

Where are you guys buying your liquid lanolin from?

Just use Fluid Film which is commonly found in auto parts stores, Greggs, Acklands, Princess auto, etc.

I'm personally partial to Lithium grease, and I don't bother taking the light film off. Cleaning brass is much easier, and case life is a lot longer...