Why You Need Case Lube

​Okay, you’ve got your cases sparkly-clean and are now ready to introduce them into your reloading machine. But wait! There’s still one more preparatory step, one more thing you need, to do the job right, and that’s case lube. This is a liquid lubricant that, when you apply a thin coating over the cases before introducing them into the machine’s sizing die, immensely lessens the amount of force you need to generate onto the machine’s handle, to raise and lower the ram. More specifically, it lessens the amount of force needed to introduce a case into the resizing die at Station 1, and then extract it from the die afterward.

​On bottleneck cases, failure to lube will typically cause the case to stick in the die. The case rim will fail, and the case remain stuck in the die. Removing the stuck case is an annoyance at minimum.
​Those of us who do a lot of high-volume reloading have been known to develop what’s been called “Dillon elbow,” the reloading equivalent of tennis elbow. Personally, it doesn’t hit me in the elbow; it’s always hit me in the wrist. Just a quirk of how my body works. Now, you show me someone with Dillon elbow, I’ll show you someone who thought case lube was unnecessary.

​Reducing the amount of force required to cycle the handle on the reloading machine really does reduce the amount of wear-and-tear on your body over time. It also reduces the amount of wear-and-tear on the machine. Less force applied to parts over time equals less wear equals a longer-lasting, happier reloading machine. Sure, Dillon Precision has your back with their No B.S. Lifetime Warranty and 1-800 customer service line. While that’s a very good thing, still, why beat up your reloading machine any more than you absolutely have to?

​Shooters over the years have come up with numerous ways to get the lube out of the bottle, and a thin coating onto the cases. My favorite way is to use a plastic freezer bag, squirt a few pumps of lube into the interior of the empty bag, then partially fill it with cases. Close up the bag, and then knead it around in your hands. Cases around will rub against the interior walls of the bag; the required thin coating of slick lube will be transferred to the cases. I then open up the bag and sit it next to my reloading machine, where I can easily reach it with my right hand while reloading.

​I will admit that, when reloading 9mm Parabellum, its tapered cases go into the resizing die, and especially extract from it, so smoothly and easily, I rarely use lube when reloading 9mm. I should, because when you combine the tapered 9mm case WITH case lube, cycling the handle just gets ridiculously easy. For any straight-walled pistol case, i.e. the vast majority of them, or a much-longer rifle case, case lube is not optional. I view case lube as a necessary part of the machine.