Castor Oil for your K31

[Grouchy Spike]

For the reloaders of the 7.5x55 cartridge for K31 carbines - if sizing is difficult at the base of the cartridge, try Castor Oil as a lube.

 

Every case mouth is brushed with a bore brush, swabbed out with an alcohol-soaked patch; every case is wiped down with an alcohol soaked rag before lubing.

 

Then I'll spray Hornady One Shot into the case mouths before beginning the CO lube process. 

 

I'm using a Redding FL sizing die to resize 7.5x55 for a K31, recommended by several on the Swiss Rifle forum. 

When I switched to Castor Oil from Hornady One Shot aerosol, sizing became much easier with the Redding die.  And surprisingly little CO is needed. Dip one finger into the neck of the CO bottle, smear a bit on thumb and two fingers and rub each case body.  If you can see a run of CO on the case, you have over-lubed.

 

I'm not having any more problems with slightly oversize cartridge bases (and failure to chamber completely) as I did when using a Lee FL die.  Maybe the CO would have solved the problem with the Lee FL sizer, but I'm not backing up to check that.

 

On the case necks, a quick rub with fingers barely sticky with CO is sufficient, otherwise case necks can be dented.  And after sizing, a complete wipe down of the case with an alcohol-soaked rag is needed.

 

Prior to expanding the case mouth with the Lyman M-Die (thanks to suggestions by Garrison Joe and Boggus Deal), I'll use dip the case neck into Redding Imperial Dry Neck Lube, then wipe it off after the bullet is seated and lightly crimped.

 

Every loaded cartridge is cycled through a K31 chamber after reloading is finished, feeling for any resistance which would prevent complete chambering.

 

Maybe this is extra anal and labor intensive, but all of my ammo chambers without a problem.

[Happy Jack]

There is no doubt that the Redding dies are the best. They are all I use for rifle rounds from 218 Bee all the way to 50BMG. (I do have some Wilson dies for benchrest.) As for a case lube in my opinion Spray on Hornady One Shot is one of the WORST case lubes available. I only use it on 45 Colt and 454 Casull pistol brass. On difficult cases I only Use Imperial Sizing Wax.