Lubricating the cartridges?

[Merc]

I'm looking for info based on your own experience.

Does anyone lubricate their cartridges before loading and shooting? If yes, what kind of lubricant do you use? Wet, as in petroleum-based, or dry as in wax or silicon-based? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages? Do you lubricate the case and bullet or just the case? Does it help preserve the case or the receiver, or both? Is it necessary or unnecessary?

Merc

[joem]

I don't lube any of my loaded rounds. I've read that it can cause so very bad problems and I'm not going to find out. A few old MG's needed lubed cartridges.

[dave]

You should never lube cartridges unless, as mentioned, gun was designed for them! Cartridges expand when fired and stick to the chamber walls, when pressure drops they contract so they can be extracted. If lubed they will not stick to chamber and will slam back against the bolt, which will cause undue pressure on the action. Not a safe practice!

It is not only unnecessary but dangerous!

[bruce]

Have never lubricated ammunition prior to firing. Everything I've read is that the chamber and ammunition is to be clean and dry. Granted old archaic weapons required lubricated ammunition, but these firearms are now just museum pieces. Once upon a time I handloaded some nice .30-06 ammunition for use in my hunting rifle. I wanted the rounds to look as good as new factory rounds, so I polished them to a bright shine using Simichrome polish. When finished they had a slick feeling. I used some of the ammo to check the zero in the rifle before the season started. I remember noticing that the head/primer of the case appeared different, the primer was flatter. I fired the exact same load in LC brass that was only cleaned but not polished with Semichrome. Fired cases looked normal so I decided not to Semichrome any more ammo prior to firing. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[Merc]

Thanks for the replies. I had never heard of lubricating cartridges until I read an illustrated post on this forum under SMLE entitled "Reloading .303 cases." It's not something I wanted to try before getting a "best practices" opinion from other forum members.

Merc

[joem]

Perhaps they mean to lubricate the cases before sizing.

[Merc]

Read the post on this forum under the SMLE Enfield thread entitled "Reloading .303 Cases." The illustration refers to head-case separation that occurs without lubrication.

[dave]

I was going to mention reloading procedures but thought it was unnecessary to do so. You have to sure the lub is removed after reloading! 303 cases are not good for a lot of reloads, they are head spaced on the rim and unless they have a real tight chamber (unusual on a military rifle) the brass flows forward upon firing and they become thiner at the head. Resizing does not compensate for that.
If you have more then one 303 rifle keep cases with same rifle to minimize this.

[PhillipM]

The warnings above about lubrication interfering with the friction fit of the case to the chamber are valid for rimless rounds.

Since the 303 headspace on rim, I don't think it would matter from a safety standpoint. Google bolt thrust for discussions on why it's bad to lube rimless cases.

[dave]

The original post did not mention any caliber, only cartridges in general!