Question on neck sizing. I've been reloading for two years only handgun. I will be starting to load for my .223 and was wondering if when neck sizing if you still have to lube cases. I've read in manuals about reloading rifle cases and they talk about lubing but they don't say if you have to or not when neck sizing. Thanks for the help.

the only time you don't need to lubricate, is if you are using a collet type of neck sizer, that squeezes the brass against a mandrel without any sliding up or down. The expander button on a regular fl sizer die is where I see about 95 percent of my case neck stretching. I measure them after firing, before sizing and after sizing. It's amazing how much stretch your cases get, even when they are lubed inside and out, prior to sizing.

When neck sizing I always lightly lube the inside of the case mouth and outside of the neck.
Try a case without lube and one with lube and you should notice quiet a difference in the ammount of pressure needed on the press handle.
Never ever FL without lube. I only needed one stuck case to learn that one.

In neck or bushing dies I NEVER lubricate.

Even with the collet dies, I tend to run a brush through the inside of the necks. Seems to increase consistency in my groups. FWIW, Dutch.

Polish your case neck with 0000 steel wool and you can keep your case lube for FL sizing. It works smooth as silk and keeps your brass looking nice also. So little force is needed in neck sizing your cases it just waisting case lube by using it. Have never in over 40 years of relaoding had a case stick in my neck sizing dies using 0000 steel wool.

always lube the inside of the case nec.When you pick up the brass, have a little lub on you finger tips, pick the case up by the neck. If loading for a semi or full auto, always full length resize.

RJY,
the only exception to lubing your cases is if you are using a carbide die. NEVER lube when using carbide dies. The oil collects grit that will scratch the carbide.

PaulS

You might think this is crazy but I was at the loading bench the other day and noticed my boy had thrown one of those "armorall wipes" in the garbage. I fished it out and wraped it around a small brush and used it on 20 30-06 cases I was about to neck size with Hornady dies.
The sizing ball went through like butter. NOW, the hornady dies have a super eliptical expander so this might not work with normal dies. It saved me time because had I used rcbs case lube inside the mouth I ALWAYS WIPE IT BACK OUT AFTER SIZING, but, I figured a super thin coat of armor all could stay inside and not be wiped out. I put that "wipe" in a zip lock bag and will try it again soon!! This also might work perfect for sizing brand new brass either full length or neck sizing.

When I neck size for the .223 Here's my procedure:

clean outside of neck with fine steel wool. (Brownells sells brass wool, which I keep intending to try... supposedly less shedding)

I clean the inside of the necks by pushing them over a worn bronze brush wrapped with steel wool. The brush is chucked in an old variable speed drill mounted to a 2x6 with plumbers strap.

Then I "dunk and twist" the necks in a small container (cap from a spray can) of moly/Danzac coated steel shot. This deposits a tiny amount of lubrication that won't need to be removed.

Next I neck size using Redding nitride bushing dies. An important note, I DO NOT use the expander.

Using this method I can shoot endless 1/2 inch 5 shot 100yd groups in my Cooper 21 using stock winchester brass. No neck turning, no sorting of cases by weight, etc. And my bench technique is pretty lame.

Good luck!

Roger

NO LUBE NEEDED. Reddings carbide expander works well to iron out necks if needed too, WITHOUT LUBE.