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Two Questions About New Brass

876 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
I spent the evening resizing 200 new .30-06 cases, and two questions came to mind:

1. Given that sampling 100% of the first 50, then 20% of the rest turned up not one case over the maximum length, is there any good reason to trim them the first time out?

2. Since the RCBS case lube is water soluble, is there any risk that it might also be hygroscopic (attracting water) and pose a risk of corrosion if these are stored a long time?

On the first question, I did some further checks on 10% of them and found all but 2 cases to be 2.490" long, and those two were 2.488" in length. With a maximum of 2.494", and a trim-to length of 2.484", I don't see any value in turning them the first time. I will be using a Lee FCD to crimp them for the BAR, so the actual case length shouldn't be critical for that operation.

On the second, I've wiped each case thoroughly with a soft paper shop towel, but I don't know if there's a need to remove all of the lube. I figured I'd better ask now, since I'll be doing the exact same thing tomorrow night with 200 new .243 Win cases.

Any thoughts?
 
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#2 ·
You will want to remove the lube from the cases, because part of the "safety factor" in the round is the "grip" the brass case has on the steel chamber. If you brass is greasy, it will not grip the walls, thereby slamming back into the bolt too hard.

I used to have two tumbler setups. I would tumble my fired brass, to clean it. Then after resizing, I would tumble it in the second tumbler, to get all the lube off.

I know - I'm kinda anal about some things, but I want my brass to be both clean and dry when it goes into the gun.

As to question one - it depends on whether you intend to crimp it or not. If you are going to crimp, you need to have it all the same length. If you aren't, "same length" is not that critical.
 
#3 ·
I agree with Alpo except on the trimming. Since you're using a Lee FCD, the rim length doesn't need to be he same. So as long as you're jot ver max lengh, you don't need to trim.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I missed the "FCD" part of that post. With one of them, same length is not that important.
 
#5 ·
Good points... Alpo, is a good wiping sufficient, or should I tumble these in corncob, which I find more absorbent than walnut? Or just give them a water rinse and air dry them?
 
#6 ·
I don't know if wiping is sufficient. As I said, I tumble to remove lube. Most everything I load these days is with carbide, but the few bottlenecks I do get tumbled.

As to washing - back when I used the RCBS lube I was unaware of it being water soluble, so never tried. No idea.
 
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