New Starling brass issue

[Sleepy Floyd]

Opened up a new bag of Starline brass,  During the powder charge and bell operation the brass comes out of the die with great difficulty.  Using Lee dies.  Do I have to lube this new brass?  I tried some older Starline and it was a non issue.

[Shotgun Franklin]

Unless you have a Carbide Die, yes.

[jimbobborg]

Caliber? 

[Advertising]

[Sleepy Floyd]

Caliber 45LC.  I do have carbide dies.  No issue with the sizing/depriming die.

[jimbobborg]

I've noticed something similar with my Starline 44-40 brass.  After the first firing, the brass goes through just fine.  I think they may be making the brass a little under-sized.

[Pettifogger]

I ALWAYS use Hornady spray on lube with new .45 brass even though all my .45 sizer dies are carbide.  If you look at your press after loading 1000 new .45 cases you will see a layer of brass dust.  These are micro burrs from around the case neck.  In addition to sizing down the outside of your brass, you expander button has to expand the case neck.  A shot of case lube will ease loading .45s dramatically.  Just because you have carbide dies does not mean that you can't use a little lube.  I put a couple of hundred in one of those plastic shoe boxes you can get at Walmart or Home Depot.  Give the cases a shot of spray lube.  Shake the box and about half the cases will be neck up.  Give them another light shot (to spread a little lube in some of the case necks), put the lid on the box and shake them a little.  Remove the lid wait a minute or two and dump them in your case feeder.  Will make life a lot easier.  I even lube the cases after they have been fired, just makes the whole process easier.  Do it with everything from .32 up.

[Sleepy Floyd]

I just ran about 50 new cases using one shot.  What a difference. 

Mucho happy. 

Now I can get some match only rounds done before Cowtown this weekend.

[Will Lynchem]

I have used Starline brass for most of my reloading. I too have noticed the first time through my Lee dies, that they are a little tight. I have even collapse a few. After researching this, l realized it is due to Starline making there brass cases thicker than most other brass case manufacturers. This will make the first loading a little tight, but in the long run will give you more reloads per case. Good luck and happy shooting.  W. L.

[Bibbyman]

We bought 500 new 38 Short Colt Starline cases and a new set of Lee carbide dies at the same time.  We too found it difficult to pull the case off the expander die.  I pulled the expander and noticed it was rough.  I chucked it in the lathe and polished it bright and smooth.  It worked much better after that.

We still have a couple of hundred that are new 38 Short Colt cases and I've got 500 new Starline 45 Colt cases I've not broken into yet so I'll be watching to see if the sticking problem comes up.

Last year I bought some 45 C45S cases made by Starline and don't reccall having a sizing problem. 

[Sleepy Floyd]

No necessary to go through all that trouble.  Just spray on the one shot and press on.

[h c ramrod]

i had the same problem with new starline brass  simple cure for my brass was to run them thru a tumbler to clean of the coating thats on them the coating is to keep them from discoloring while in storage before there sold.....

[Will Lynchem]

Yesterday I reloaded 500 rounds of 38spl using Starline brass that I have shot once. These are the same Starline cases that I bought new and stated were a little tight in the earlier post.  After cleaning, every one of them sized out and loaded perfectly!  I agree with the above posts that the cases will stretch out after the first firing and cleaning them in a tumbler before the first loading will help the process go more smoothly.  Will Lychem.

[Bibbyman]

Mary loaded up her 38 Short Colt Starline brass for the next shoot.  She was a little let down when she ran out of brass.  We broke open a new bag of another 100.   About 10 in, she started to complain about the difficulty pulling the cases off the neck sizing die.  I took to lightly lubing the inside the case mouths.  Happy wife. 

[Crow Choker]

I never really planned to post any comment on this subject, but after seeing all the posts about Starline brass sticking the first time when sizing I thought I'd comment. I've sized and loaded 357 Mag, 44 Colt, 44 Special, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, and 45 ACP ammo using Starline brass bought direct from Starline and have never had any problems with the brass sticking in the sizer die. I use RCBS and Redding dies for the various calibers and size direct from the bag when new. Must be blessed or it's a problem with the Lee dies being a little tight. Just thought I'd advise.

[Cliff Fendley]

I had trouble with some new 45 Schofield brass from starline. I never have cleaned brass on the first loading before but I'll try that.

[Mean Bob Mean]

Ran 500 brand new Starline .38 LC brass through my carbide Lee dies, zero issue.

[rbertalotto]

38-40 and 44-40 are both bottle neck cases and unlike straight wall cases, need to be lubed. You can process without lube but you will see scratches in the cases and the life of the case will be shortened due to work hardening.

I'm not sure, but I don't believe 34-40 and 44-40 dies are available in carbide.

[Pettifogger]

38-40 and 44-40 are both bottle neck cases and unlike straight wall cases, need to be lubed. You can process without lube but you will see scratches in the cases and the life of the case will be shortened due to work hardening.

I'm not sure, but I don't believe 34-40 and 44-40 dies are available in carbide.

[/color]

Nope.  Once again One Shot is your friend.