Expanded a bunch of new cases without lube (I’ve only done it as part of a resizing process where everything has lube on it, not on its own with new cases. Lesson learned) and now the mandrel has burrs/gouges in it. Keep on using it or replace it?
Is this mandrel toast
- Thread starter bfk4lyfe
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depending on how deep they are you might try and chuck it up in a drill and use a very fine polish on a cloth, see if you can polish them out. Also, I use a mop with imperial lube on it and run the case on that prior to running on mandrel. I also clean the mandrel every use (not every case) and put some lube on it prior to putting it back in body die. I use a dry mop to remove excess in case mouth prior to dropping powder. It will leave a tiny bit of lube in neck and works very good for me.
I just rub my finger on some imperial (when i say that i mean just lightly so a very thin film of it gets on my finger tip) and then across the case mouth so a tiny bit is scraped off my finger and stays on the inside of the case mouth . I do this around the case mouth in 3 spots and turn it while I do it so it gets pretty much around the whole thing, then run 7-10 and do it again. It works well
FWIW that looks to be a build up of brass not a gouge into the mandrel surface from your pics. Try cleaning it off.
Try kroil and steel wool... see if it cleans up. Maybe chuck it in a cordless drill to speed the process. My $0.02
I have had that problem happen to my steel and carbide mandrels. You can chuck the mandrel in a power drill and polish it off but the problem will come back. Worse part is the problem will gouge the brass necks and ruin that consistency we all spend cash for. The next step is to ensure lube before use but this gets to be a pain taking it apart and lubing repeatedly. The problem still happens just slower. The better method I have found is a bushing die which reduces the amount of pressure by sizing the neck less.
Made exactly the same mistake ... I had to replace the mandrel. Now I use a coating of NEOLUBE #2 on the inside of the case neck before I touch it with a mandrel.
It's galled brass. Sweets will dissolve it or you can remove it with emery cloth and a drill. Any number of lubricants, wet or dry, will prevent it in the future.
Must be the lighting in the pics but its not built up brass. Been soaking and scrubbing with no luck. Found a few older threads with same mistake causing same results (weird huh). While it probably won't make a huge difference, I think its worth the peace of mind to just buy a new one, which of course is out of stock currently.
I'd chuck it up in a drill and spin it a little with some 000 steel wool to smooth it out and it'd still be useable, at least until you're able to replace it.
Perhaps I am misinformed but I was told that brass cannot hardened enough to gouge steel. So, if the steel is actually gouged then it was not the new cases that did it, it was something else - maybe dirt or sand on the neck?
New brass is annealed so what we see could be soft annealed brass rubbed off and adhering to the steel, I have that issue. If you shoot many bullets through a barrel, you lay down streaks of copper, some cleaning fluids will remove that. But other people suggested that you use steel wool or paper or Sweets to remove it and you said you tried that and it didn't do anything.
I don't see how new brass could be hard enough to gouge steel. The brass should be clean so it shouldn't be carrying anything hard enough to gouge. If not gouged then steel wool, fine paper, and sweets should do something. This seems mysterious.
Before expanding, I always lube necks with graphite. I use this.
Here is my mandrel for 308. I have expanded several thousand cases with that - mostly with the Imperial graphite kit.
What are you lubing with?
I scratched the living shit out of a bunch of mandrels before going to a finger on the lip with imperial wax the like above poster.
I also buy carbide now if at all possible. My mandrels don’t look anything like above.
Fwiw, imperial graphite dosnt stick or lubricate enough for use on annealed necks in my experience.
I’d keep using that mandrel and lube properly. Almost all my steel mandrels have ended up with scratches on them to some degree.
I scratched the living shit out of a bunch of mandrels before going to a finger on the lip with imperial wax the like above poster.
I also buy carbide now if at all possible. My mandrels don’t look anything like above.
Fwiw, imperial graphite dosnt stick or lubricate enough for use on annealed necks in my experience.
I’d keep using that mandrel and lube properly. Almost all my steel mandrels have ended up with scratches on them to some degree.
