Annealing and mandrel sizing

[Scott-ak]

Just to wrap this up. I gave the 200 cases a quick dunk in acetone to remove the lanolin from inside the necks. It's stuff that's too dirty for creakote prep that I hate to throw out. This is not a long term solution but allowed me to move on with this batch.
I annealed a handful more and tried a mix of alcohol and 400 mesh (fine powder) graphite in the necks before mandrel sizing. This worked just as good as the lanolin/alcohol mix I use for FL sizing and will save the step of having to clean the inside of the necks to keep powder from sticking.
Eventually I'll get a carbide sizing mandrel

 

[big5ifty]

I tried dipping in fine graphite but the neck is so dry that the powder doesn't stick.

Dip the case neck in fine graphite, don't worry about what you can't see after.

If the powder is visibly sticking to the neck, it's not right, maybe the case is dirty or still has lube on it.

You should feel the difference using the mandrel with cases dipped in graphite, and not, even if you can't see the graphite.

 

[rmeyerwy]

I dry tumble with media, use a little limonshine, used dryer sheets, then FL without decapping stem, then run thru mandrel, then trim, clean primer pockets, then prime, then run an old bore brush in neck, add powder, seat bulllet. Only lube is in the FL resize process, use 1 shot for that. Sometimes I will take a towel or old tshirt after annealing and spray with a little limonshine and clean the cases up nice and purty.

 

[JimSC]

My brass never hits the ground so it just gets wiped off before lubing and sizing then cleaned then annealed. Works for me

 

[CamoWhamo]

I ultrasonic clean my brass before annealing on the AMP.
I size using Imperial wax on the outside.
I've tried a few different dry lubes on the inside of the neck prior to expanding with a mandrel die but i've found that if feels rough and i get some galling, regardless of the product used.

When i use a wet lube inside the necks the cases glide over the mandrel and it requires significantly less effort.
I started using a Q-tip with imperial wax but that lube never drys out so it needs an extra step of cleaning to stop powder sticking when charging the cases.
On my latest batch I'm testing the Lee Case Lube on a Q-tip and it works just as well but is not as messy and according to Lee it will dry out so that should alleviate the cleaning step unless I'm charging the cases immediately afterwards.