Hornady One Shot on Pistol Cases

[Charles L. Cotton]

I've been using Hornady One Shot case lube on rifle cases for years, but I don't lube pistol cases. (I don't trim them either!) I've read a few posts on other forums from people using One Shot on pistol cases commenting on how much easier it made reloading. Since this is a non-petroleum, wax lube, it doesn't harm powder or primers. It also drys without being tacky and doesn't have to be removed from the loaded cartridge, as with the old RCBS lube I used for years.

I decided to give it a try and it works great. It takes much less effort to resize and the overall progressive reloading process is considerably smoother. An unexpected benefit is being able to load faster, without "bumping" some flakes of powder from shorter cases like 45 ACP. One of the tricks to progressive reloading on a Dillon 650 with a case feeder is to use smooth strokes that are not so rapid as to cause the shell plate to start and stop abruptly. Without the One Shot lube, there is a noticeable pull required on the up stroke (case is coming out of the resizing die) and this can cause powder to be bounced out of the case when the shell plate moves erratically, unless you slow the up stroke. With One Shot, the case coming out of the resizing dies does not “stick,� so I don’t have to slow down and my production rate increases. The shell plate also stays cleaner.

I have about 5,000 rds. of 45 ACP brass cleaned and ready to load, so I spent about 40 minutes lubing all of them. From now on, I'll spray the One Shot on the cases as they come out of the tumbler, before they go into the "ready to load" bin.

I no longer load cast bullets, using either FMJ’s, JHP’s, or copper plated cast bullets instead. I don’t know what effect One Shot would have in the seating die or taper crimp die, when using cast bullets. I don’t think it would have a negative effect, but a small amount of bullet lube and One Shot will mix. I suspect the One Shot may make it easier to clean the bullet lube from dies.

Give it a try; I think you'll like it.
Chas.