More Lube!
 

I bought some spent .50 BMG brass at a gun show yesterday. More to fool around with as I have a .50 BMG press...

Holy crap! You have to use A LOT of lube to get the press to go down far enough to push the primers out. Now, I'm not a small guy, but I really had to use some elbow grease to get the press to remove those crimped-in primers. On a few of them I had to resort to using a punch and a hammer...

You're using the punch and hammer on the spent cartridges, right?? =D

The only thing that was getting hammered was the primer. The cartridge itself wasn't being touched. And I was using small, firm taps from a little hobby hammer.

rub it a little more, that always gets it lubed up for me...

Yeah, Chris, more foreplay...

Lubing the empty cases properly is very important. Be sure to avoid getting lube on the case shoulders, just on the body and neck. Use plenty and tumble them afterwards to get rid of all traces of the lube before you reprime and load...

Well, I currently have 3 .50 BMG dies:

A full-length sizer
A bullet seater
A crimp die

Obviously a Neck Sizer is missing. The unfortunate thing is that I'd have to get one made. I bought the Lee .50 BMG kit, which has 1¼" threads, as opposed to the 1½" threads other .50 BMG presses use. Lee does not make a collet neck sizer because, as it turns out, there are no SAAMI standards for .50 BMG. Instead you have to send Lee two spent cases from your rifle and they will make a die that sizes the neck to your gun. Sadly, I'm yet to actually buy a rifle chambered in .50 BMG. (I need a bigger safe to put one in....I need a bigger house for a bigger safe...) So it looks like I'm done with these cases for awhile.

what kind of lube are you using. the rub on kind or the spray?

Rub on kind. Lyman brand, IIRC.