Question about reloading press maintenence

[Road_Clam]

Do you guys have any type of maintenence or cleaning regiment for your reloading presses ? I specifically am asking if you use any type of lube on the arbor ? Sometimes lube is a good thing and bad...

 

[OldManTA]

Keep the ram clean of primer residue and put a lube once in awhile. Heavy lube plus primer mix will make an abrasive paste that will wear the ram bore and ram. Some people use a separate press for decapping for that reason.
Tom Alves

 

[NorCalMikie]

Like Tom said, keep it clean and lubed and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[BCoates]

I use lithium grease on one of my presses and heavy lube (transmission fluid or gear oil) on the other. For an arbor press I would use grease because I wouldn't want oil running down into the dies.

 

[CaptainMal]

My RCBS Presses are both 30 - 50 years old. Use them more than you can imagine. Occasionally wipe off residue and lube. They are both still tight and work well.

 

[Corey Schwanz]

Wipe the ram clear of any dust/debris and an occasional very light lube. Its a lot easier to maintain when you stay on top of it rather than let it go for an extended period of time, especially if you are doing any high volume loading.

 

[artbosco]

What does your manufacturer recommend? Some say light oil, some say grease. What's the recommendation?

 

[JRS]

I used to wipe the rams with Tri-Flow. Great stuff, and does not attract dust. I have removed the rams and tumbled them in hBN. No more lubrication, nor corrosion problems

 

[LCazador]

Like TA said above, a little lubricant and primer residue can make for a really abrasive paste. I saw an old Herter's press get destroyed by this residue. It had a ram that was so loose it wasn't worth using anymore. Clean and degrease the bore for the ram, ram, connecting pins, and handle at least once a year. I use Marvel oil.

 

[amlevin]

I have a Dillon 650 that has passed the 100k mark and the ram looks nicely "polished". Only real maintenance in the ram is a drop or two of 2W-30 Mobil 1 that I scavenge from the bottles after changing oil on my truck. Since the press is mounted on a Strong Mount I just keep a folded shop rag under the ram to catch any "drips". The rest of the press gets cleaned when I do a caliber change. Only ONE broken part in all those rounds and it was still "functional" after braking (an ear off the case moving "shuttle).

On my RCBS Rock Chucker, a wipe down of the ram with a rag and some of the same 5w-30 I use on the Dillon does the trick. The RCBS Summit has it's own grease fitting. I found some white teflon grease at a Bike Shop that does a great job, doesn't stain anything that might touch it. A "squirt" every 500-1,000 "loads" is all it needs. Nice thing about the Summit is that the primer dirt is not dumped on the ram like on the Rock Chucker.

 

[Road_Clam]

Thanks for the replies, I too was concerned about residual primer carbon getting into the ram. I'll do an ocassional cleaning and lube with a light oil. I just wasn't sure if it was better to NOT lube the ram.

 

[M-61]

The cleaning and lubing are all that's really needed. I have an RCBS A4 I bought new in the 70's or 80's. No problems. As stated above the Summit I have has its own grease fitting. The only thing I have always done is deprime cases separately with the correct (for Lapua) punch and anvil. I don't want the primer residue on my presses or in my dies. Takes longer but I'm not in a rush.

 

[Defty]

I was fortunate to obtain a Holywood Senior YEARS ago. It's set up with a RCBS universal deprimer, with a small pin.
My WIFE deprimes ALL my fired cases. This works great for us.
She also Primes and seats bullets.
The family that works together stays together.

 

[pdog2062]

Does you wife have a sister?

 

[Webster]

I have a 1 YO RCBS press. I could feel a slight roughness on the steel handle which is small amount of rust caused by hand perspiration. Poor paint job. I am tempted to spray it black with Rustoleum. I wipe the handle, ram and shell holder with a paper towel with brake cleaner on it. I then put a small amount of Mobil 1 grease on the ram. Sometimes I take the shell holder out and spray the area with Green Can brake cleaner and clean with cotton swabs. The primer residue gets on all of the critical areas. Doesn't hurt to put a high vis oil on the linkage pivot joints.

 

[amlevin]

Does you wife have a sister?

Careful what you ask. I can personally attest that "wife's sisters" are usually not like your wife. Nobody in my family even talks to my wife's sister. Not even my wife or her sister's husband.

 

[Defty]

Like I told pdog2062. She's a DEASMONCRAT