Lube clean up after loading

[Daryl]

I use a Lyman 4500 to lube & size. I just had the Lee molds with the bevel milled down to delete the bevel. They lube well now without the mess around the bevel.

I load with the Dillon RL550B.

I use LBT Blue lube - I like it because it is not very messy and has good lube properties.

I had not been cleaning off the rounds after loading. Did not seem to cause a problem until my Glock 21 (with Lone Wolf barrel). The bits of left over lube did seem to be a problem. I belled the case a little more and that helped considerably. But, there still is some lube here and there on the rounds and especially some minimal squeeze out around the case mouth.

Does everyone generally wiped down & clean up the rounds from lube after loading? Is it usually necessary? Preventative ideas?

Thanks

[catmasher]

wipe them down with a rag sprayed with WD40 the extra lube just wipes off, and the wd40 won't hurt anything.

flint

[Freischütz]

If they need cleaning, I just wipe the bullet and case mouth with a paper towel.

I'd also check the inside of the seating die. Excess lube can build up and make finished rounds messy. A large build up could increase seating depth too.

[870TC]

I use a harder lube, to avoid the excess lube. If you want to stick with LBT, try the commercial version its the hardest he makes, yet is still fairly soft.

[geargnasher]

Here's a copy/paste of something I posted on another thread recently, plus additions:

First, clean brass with citric acid solution per the sticky.

After completing loading, do the following with a hundred or so at a time:
Get an old, worn-out hand towel or dish towel with no holes in it.
Get a plastic spray bottle, label it properly and fill with mineral sprits.
Spritz the towel lightly until just barely damp.
Place loaded ammunition in a pile in the middle of the towel, up to two hundred rounds or so.
Fold the towel in half lengthwise over the ammo, like you would a taco.
Grab the towel by pinching the corners together, two in your left hand and two in your right to make a "hammock" with the shells inside, and see-saw the ammo back and forth inside the towel slowly to keep it tumbling and rolling over itself. Do this for a minute or two until all the lube is dissolved and absorbed by the towel.
Pour the cleaned ammo onto one end of a clean towel layed out flat on a table, spread out one layer thick, fold the other half of the towel over the ammo, and shuffle the ammo in between with both hands flat like you would dominoes.
The ammo is now clean of lube and degreased. It is possible to do 1,000 rounds of .45 ACP or .357 Magnum in less than 15 minutes this way, and if you do it right, is 100% effective at cleaning off all traces of boolit lube.

If you want to add a preservative, you can take your finished ammo and tumble it for five or ten minutes with some plain corncob pet betting that has previously been treated with liquid car wax and run by itself until dry.

This is how I do it, there are a thousand different ways.

Gear

[Recluse]

If they need cleaning, I just wipe the bullet and case mouth with a paper towel.

I'd also check the inside of the seating die. Excess lube can build up and make finished rounds messy. A large build up could increase seating depth too.

+1, but it's not very often I have to clean up loaded rounds--even when I load up my 200SWC in .45, and they have a bevel base.

But every once in a while I do, and I just take a shop paper towel (those that come in the square box you pull out) and clean 'em off.

:coffee:

[geargnasher]

You neat reloaders disgust me, :razz: I'm just a slob with lube! Gets all over everything, including doorknobs and faucet handles, makes the wife real happy with me.

Gear

[David2011]

I use a mix of catmasher's and geargansher's techniques with charcoal lighter fluid as the solvent. I use a heated lube and when all is perfect I get very little where it doesn't belong. With life being less than perfect most of the time I put a little charcoal starter on a rag and wipe the loaded rounds down. I usually only do this for larger matches because realistically, it causes little if any trouble.

At large matches where we might shoot 250 or more rounds in one day I do everything I can to keep the action clean. In autoloaders with cast boolits I find the action gunks up way more than the barrel. Cleaning the loaded rounds keeps my hands much cleaner during extended match or practice sesions, a nice benefit when it's sometime hard to get to a place where you can wash your hands. I hate having a lunch break and no opportunity to wash the lead off before eating an have started carrying a small bottle of Fast Orange and some paper towels in my range bag.

David

[Recluse]

You neat reloaders disgust me, :razz: I'm just a slob with lube! Gets all over everything, including doorknobs and faucet handles, makes the wife real happy with me.

Gear

Two things:

1. One, you're a mechanic. You're supposed to be a slob. :)

2. That's how I make lube--not apply it. . . Making it and pouring it in the molds and then pushing it out, friggin' lube goes everywhere.

:coffee:

[mroliver77]

I used to tumble in corn cob treated with mineral spirits. I have been using gears method and it works well but towels are at a premium around here. I washed some dirty ones and fouled the clothes washer. Some nice clothes went in next and stained them. Oh well, it is hard for me to not look unkempt anyhow. I would get a stain in a sterile environment in less than 5 minutes. Must be the mechanic in me ;) I either need to find more cheap towels at garage sales or get a washer/dryer in the barn. That is a plan anyhow.
J