There should be a separate thread on cold welding for everyone to provide their experiences, what's worked and what hasn't, and maybe get a discussion going for figuring out a definitive method to prevent it.
I've used imperial dry graphite on my case necks a ton, but still get cold weld.
My process is:
- anneal every few firings
- brush inside neck with nylon brush
- lube case, dip neck in graphite, size, wipe off lube
- prime
- powder, seat bullet
This process has given me cold weld, even after the cases have many reloads on them and there's a significant carbon layer on inside of the neck.
It's possible that:
- annealing burns the carbon off enough it exposes some bare brass
- using graphite only before sizing doesn't leave enough graphite for bullet seating
- expanding mandrel/button scrapes some carbon off exposing brass
- not wearing gloves while handling and seating bullets gets some salt/oils from my skin on the bullet and promotes welding
This year at some point, I'm going to test 5 rounds each of those potential sources I've thought of. I want to be able to load hundreds of rounds at once and have them perform the same way months later without having to break the bond.
Back to the use of graphite.... I've found that it makes bullet seating smoother but have not seen any benefit in the context of accuracy or velocity spreads. So, I want to cut it out of my process if possible.