.223 Small Base Die Issues

[DirtySteve]

I used to be the "King" of getting stuck cases. I once forgot to lube my cases and naturally stuck the case. I thought to myself how stupid. Proceeded to get the darn thing out put it back in the press..... and forgot to lube the cases prior to starting again and promptly stuck another one.

When resizing range brass or Lake City brass for the first time always use Imperial. It is the best thing going period! Others have already mentioned it.

Secondly Hornady One Shot works great but if you have used another product in those dies you must clean the die prior to using One Shot, or YOU WILL GET A STUCK CASE!

 

[David Milisock]

I've been using Unique Case lube FOREVER, (in fact I have a container that's well over 25 years old) yes you can discuss pros and cons but you can't blame the product if the idiot did something wrong!

 

[jonbearman]

I have found when resizing with a small base die especially to use the old rcbs on the body for sure.

 

[Old Navy]

There is several types of range brass. Good, bad, terrible and leaveitright.

 

[Webster]

I have stuck yet another case in my 223 small base dies. I do range brass and long time ago just decapped with the sizing die now I deprime with a die and tumble before it goes in the full length sizer. Cleaning with a shotgun mop and carb cleaner has not helped. If I was to ultra sonic clean it, what would be the right chemicals to use and how long to run? Daughter gave me the cleaner and I have never used it, it was in the house she moved into and came with no instructions.

Petroleum oils have the most film strength. Everything else works fine if your not doing a big shape change.

 

[ebb]

After i got aggressive with the valve grinding compound and gave up on the JB paste I have had no problems. I have been vocal about Hornaday one shot not working well, seems like it was the die the whole time. Sorry Hornaday, just ordered a 10oz can of one shot. I just went back to the loading bench and there are 20 green boxes of RCBS dies. I have stuck more cases in this one set of 223 dies than all the others combined. Maybe the mystery has been solved. I sized almost 200 cases last night without a problem. I had one come close, and i had lubed all with one shot and i backed it out before it stuck and covered it with imperial sizing die wax and it still tried to stick. I eventually got it to go and I think it was just a case that was shot in a very big chamber.

 

[searcher]

I have reloaded for 52 years and many tens of thousands of rounds sized without issue (including at least 20,000 once-fired Military case) till I tried One Shot. After sticking the third case, I tossed the remaining cans of it I had bought. While it might have reacted with other substances in my dies or whatever, I never had such issues with RCBS product. For the spray lubes, I had good success with the Dillon product on a few huge batches of mil brass. My standard lube is the "old school" RCBS pad lube, as I always tumble lightly after sizing. If I were loading on-site, I'd use Imperial product. I use a small-base .223 die to do the first sizing on my military brass and never encountered ANY sizing problems except with that One Shot. As I know many of the spray on lubes are alcohol-based lanolin products, I'm thinking they are incompatible with anything other than dies free of other chemicals. As some get stuck dies with those products and some don't, I'd further guess it depends on the type of foreign substance on the dies, be it WD40 rust protection or whatever folks use to keep their dies rust-free. I used "Rust Prevent"

 

[drop_point]

I have reloaded for 52 years and many tens of thousands of rounds sized without issue (including at least 20,000 once-fired Military case) till I tried One Shot. After sticking the third case, I tossed the remaining cans of it I had bought. While it might have reacted with other substances in my dies or whatever, I never had such issues with RCBS product. For the spray lubes, I had good success with the Dillon product on a few huge batches of mil brass. My standard lube is the "old school" RCBS pad lube, as I always tumble lightly after sizing. If I were loading on-site, I'd use Imperial product. I use a small-base .223 die to do the first sizing on my military brass and never encountered ANY sizing problems except with that One Shot. As I know many of the spray on lubes are alcohol-based lanolin products, I'm thinking they are incompatible with anything other than dies free of other chemicals. As some get stuck dies with those products and some don't, I'd further guess it depends on the type of foreign substance on the dies, be it WD40 rust protection or whatever folks use to keep their dies rust-free. I used "Rust Prevent"

So you used One Shot differently than the instructions stated, then got mad at it and threw it in the trash?

 

[searcher]

So you used One Shot differently than the instructions stated, then got mad at it and threw it in the trash?

You assume I used it differently than the instructions called for. After getting stuck the first time, I attributed it to not letting it evaporate enough, though I was sure I did. After the second time (being sure to let it dry), I shot my die out with gun cleaner to ensure there were no petroleum products in the die - being sure that it was thoroughly dry. Stuck again a third time. Perhaps it was a bad lot with the wrong mix of chemicals - I don't know. That said - I figure If I have to clean my dies so well as to remove all chemical traces of chemicals each time I load some ammo, be sure there no traces of polish on my brass from the tumbler, etc. - that product was not for me. In the trash it went. No regrets.

 

[Old Navy]

I have reloaded for 52 years and many tens of thousands of rounds sized without issue (including at least 20,000 once-fired Military case) till I tried One Shot. After sticking the third case, I tossed the remaining cans of it I had bought. While it might have reacted with other substances in my dies or whatever, I never had such issues with RCBS product. For the spray lubes, I had good success with the Dillon product on a few huge batches of mil brass. My standard lube is the "old school" RCBS pad lube, as I always tumble lightly after sizing. If I were loading on-site, I'd use Imperial product. I use a small-base .223 die to do the first sizing on my military brass and never encountered ANY sizing problems except with that One Shot. As I know many of the spray on lubes are alcohol-based lanolin products, I'm thinking they are incompatible with anything other than dies free of other chemicals. As some get stuck dies with those products and some don't, I'd further guess it depends on the type of foreign substance on the dies, be it WD40 rust protection or whatever folks use to keep their dies rust-free. I used "Rust Prevent"

I only had the stuck case blues one time about 20+ years ago when I was shooting IHMSA. 5.56 LC brass head stamped 60 something. Supposed to be once fire brass. Using One Shot I did several 50 round trays and stuck a few. Shortly there after I decided I was going to turn them into 7 TCU. I necked them up to 6mm first and when I tried to go up to 7mm I split the neck on 7 or 8 out of 10. I annealed the rest of the cases and all was well. I used to pickup range brass years ago but I always culled the bad ones.

 

[ebb]

Searcher Ive used the Dillon spray and liked it, I used to get it from my LGS but he retired and sold the shop to an idiot who went out of business in 3 months. I found online where someone claimed that the Dillon was electricians wire pulling lube mixed with rubbing alcohol. I made some and it worked great but the wire lube from the alcohol and you had to really shake it to get it back. i may go back to the Dillon or the homemade stuff if I have more trouble.

 

[drop_point]

You assume I used it differently than the instructions called for. After getting stuck the first time, I attributed it to not letting it evaporate enough, though I was sure I did. After the second time (being sure to let it dry), I shot my die out with gun cleaner to ensure there were no petroleum products in the die - being sure that it was thoroughly dry. Stuck again a third time. Perhaps it was a bad lot with the wrong mix of chemicals - I don't know. That said - I figure If I have to clean my dies so well as to remove all chemical traces of chemicals each time I load some ammo, be sure there no traces of polish on my brass from the tumbler, etc. - that product was not for me. In the trash it went. No regrets.

You said it may have reacted with the products already in the die. Doesn't sound like you were certain if you got it clean or not.

No, you don't have to clean all the chemicals out of your die each time, if you are only using One Shot. I've loaded over 100,000 rounds with One Shot and have never stuck a case in a die using One Shot. Most ever time somebody sticks a case with One Shot, its because they either didn't let the spray evaporate or they started with dies with some other lube already in them. I don't really care what you use, but I can assure you, One Shot makes the entire process faster for bulk reloading vs having to lube each case individually.

 

[searcher]

You said it may have reacted with the products already in the die. Doesn't sound like you were certain if you got it clean or not.

No, you don't have to clean all the chemicals out of your die each time, if you are only using One Shot. I've loaded over 100,000 rounds with One Shot and have never stuck a case in a die using One Shot. Most ever time somebody sticks a case with One Shot, its because they either didn't let the spray evaporate or they started with dies with some other lube already in them. I don't really care what you use, but I can assure you, One Shot makes the entire process faster for bulk reloading vs having to lube each case individually.

I'm sure lots of folks don't have issues with it. Having ready many posts over the years on lubes - it is fair to say that I am not alone in respect to getting stuck cases with One Shot. I'd also say that I have read more posts of people sticking cases with One Shot than any other product. While that doesn't necessarily make it a bad product - there are other products out there where folks don't have such a high incidence of problems - so, I'd say they are better products - in MY opinion. I've tossed a lot of products that didn't always work as planned or were just not as good as other products I've used. I'm not one to leave items on my shelves that I don't like, be it lube, dies or whatever. Yesterday, I tossed another Hornady product, one of their ultrasonic cleaners. worked a dozen times and stopped cold. I'm not necessarily knocking Hornady - as they make a lot of fantastic bullets (which I buy in copious amounts), though I've been disappointed with a number of their reloading accessories.... For the spray lubes doing high-volume processing, I'll stick to the Dillon product.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

My dies only see one shot case lube, one shot cleaner. I don't use/own 223 small base die, I occasionally will have a range pickup case that doesn't drop fit the ammo checker after sizing. Those few go in the recycle pail, I do not have stuck case issues.

 

[Bill K]

I have found that with brass, range pickup or even fired rounds. Best to clean the cases, either ripe the fired ones down and tumble clean the range brass first. Then when you run the brass into your small base die, but
very lightly give them some lube all the way to the base of the brass prior to doing so. By
doing this I have never had a piece of brass stick in a small base die.