case lube

dale2242

Well-Known Member
I make my sticky case lube from 50% STP/Motor Honey and 505 light machine oil.
I use it on a lightly lubed pad and roll the cases on it.
Call me old fashioned.
I have never stuck a cases using this lube.
I have been reloading for nearly 60 years.
 
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Missionary

Well-Known Member
We first got orientated to Lucas Racing oil back in late 70s My neighbor had a 68 Chevelle with a bored out 396 blown that would do 1/4's under 12 seconds. Bear ran a few high 10s off and on. He changed his Lucas every run.
If I ever run out of all the case lube fellers have given me Luas will sit on the bench.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
I use the 1 shot for BO shake in baggie - works great. 308 & 30/30 get the rcbs but it's a pain if doing many cases.
 

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
I’m using 30 weight motor oil. I lube in a baggie like Fiver does. Just add a few drops and shake. I wipe the necks on my bottle necked brass to avoid lube dents.

I wash all my brass in soap, vinegar, and hot water so using oil really isn’t a big deal.

Edit: I have stuck a case using oil. But I was applying it wrong. I was lubing every third or fourth case with my fingers. Now that I evenly coat them with oil in the bag I’ve not had a problem.
 
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popper

Well-Known Member
I find baggie shake doesn't get any lube in the neck so I finger wipe the mouth some every few cases for die using the spud.
 

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
I find baggie shake doesn't get any lube in the neck so I finger wipe the mouth some every few cases for die using the spud.
Very true. I keep a little oil in cat food tin with a q-tip, when I’m sizing, for dabbing the inside of the necks.
 

todd

Well-Known Member
i use a baggie shake and a 1/2 - 3/4 squirt of lanolin/alcohol in my fl sizing die(let it dry!!!!). its good on the necks for about 100-125 cases. you will feel/hear the neck needs some more case lube(fl die).


note: the first time i had used the lanolin/alcohol mixture it was about 40-50 cases before i felt/heard the fl die. so i squirted (1/2-3/4) the mixture into my die and let the mixture DRY. if you don't, hydraulic dents will happen. (i know, don't ask:embarrassed:)
 

johnc

Member
appreciate all the replies. i use the one shot on straight wall pistol cases then after it dries they go into a dillon electric case feeder on an 1100 so.....the lube has to be pump or aerisol, and dry fast or it will get into the feeder tube etc. so imperial wax, lanolin based lubes, oil etc are out for this purpose.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I will admit that since I went to a wet tumbler with SS pins I have not used my ”dry” tumbler. I don’t miss the dust at all.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I use the dry tumbler to dry my cases, and to get lube off them.
to apply lube to the inside of the case neck I use a bore mop and the same lube I use on the outside.

I'm getting so I like having some lube inside the case neck on my loaded ammo.
I think it helps with bullet pull over a longer period of time and somewhat prevents electrolysis.
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Same here. Perfect for a 15 min remove lube and load.
If wet Id have ta wait to remove moisture....


IMHO BOTH have there place.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
With no intention of enlightening anyone, I'll throw my choice into the "database:"

I've used LEE case lube since some time in the eighties. I did use to do some case forming for AI cartridges and necking up/down - nothing radical so this has been perfectly fine for everything I've done. I ran out and bummed a partial tube from my dad some ten or so years ago, which is dated "89," l've accidentally allowed it to freeze several times out in my shop (don't do that) but it still works even if it looks nasty. I got low enough a few years ago that I asked a friend to grab me a tube as he went galavanting about the State's gun shops one weekend and still haven't needed to get into it. That was in 2018.

To put this into context, I don't do a lot of bottle-neck cases any more, and I never did "shoot in volume" using a semi-auto. I shoot mostly 30-30 and 222 now, which I lube and full-length size once when new/used brass is acquired and neck-size with a LEE Collet Die thereafter. Someone shooting several thousand 223s through an AR may not find my choice of case lube appropriate - but then I don't know for sure that it wouldn't.

I rub (finger) a LIGHT film on the NECK, then the BODY, skipping the shoulder entirely, and then, using a Q-tip, give a quick twist inside a CLEAN neck. If I can SEE the lube on the case, it's too much. It's always dry by the time I start sizing. I usually do batches of a hundred cases, down to ten or twenty. Any time I do more, like 500 or more, it's pistol cases and I lightly lube every tenth case and use a carbide die. I clean off what little lube is left on cases with denatured alcohol on a rag, but don't make a huge production of it - twist the neck in the damp rag, twist the body in the damp rag, toss the case into a bin/basket - done. I don't mess with trying to clean it off pistol cases. Sometimes, for a large batch, I just tumble them, but I HATE picking corn cob out of flash holes. I HAVE full-length-sized some nasty 7.62x51 cases, which required some extra oompf and STILL wouldn't chamber in a bolt-gun, so I ran them through a small-base sizing die too. I got a heck of a workout on that "free" brass, but never stuck one, and MANY threatened to not come out of the die. Come to think of it, the LEE Turret Press stood up to the task and I figured I'd wear it out or at least loosen it up with 500 of those cases. Sure wasn't worth it, but the point is - the lube did its job.

It's so cheap, that I can't think of anything I could make cheaper. It works well, is easy to use, does not have an offensive odor, doesn't make my fingers dry/crack, isn't messy at all. It works really well for the type and amount of sizing I do.
 

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Mitty38

Well-Known Member
I never tumble do not see a real benefit for the way, I load.
I like my lanolin lube because it comes off real easy from the inside with a Q tip soaked in 99% alcohol, plus that gives me a chance to get any soot I missed during my wash, or moisture I may have left inside. A soft cotton rag wipes it off the outside good enough.
Plus at the same time as removing my lube, I do a hand clean of the primer pockets and a visual inspection and trim of the brass.

Not worried about my brass being posh, just super clean and to spec. My hand cleaning- sizing ritual assures that.
 
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USSR

Finger Lakes Region of NY
Here is the recipe I give to the guys who take my reloading course:

You need to buy 3 things. First, you want to get pure liquid lanolin. It can be bought online on Amazon.com and looks like this: (http://www.vitaglo.com/7730.html). There are other suppliers as well, but try to get it in a 4 oz. bottle, as you will understand why later.

Liquid lanolin, which is a refined lanolin oil, is also sometimes available from health food stores and sources specializing in ingredients for cosmetics.

Next, you need to buy a 12 oz. bottle of 99 percent isopropyl alcohol. While many stores carry isopropyl alcohol in their drug/cosmetic isle, I have found few that carry the 99 percent variety that you need. Fortunately, there is an easily found product that contains 99 percent isopropyl alcohol: Iso-HEET Injector Cleaner & Fuel Line Antifreeze. Make sure it is the red bottle HEET and not the yellow bottle HEET, as that contains methanol and not isopropyl alcohol.

Lastly, you need a spray bottle. I bought mine at a Dollar General store for about 2 bucks. Now for the mixing. You need to warm both the lanolin and the HEET to enable them to mix together. But, you cannot do this over an open flame. Again, do not heat either the lanolin or the HEET over an open flame. Rather, bring a pot of water on the stove to a boil and then turn off the heat. Then, insert the bottle of lanolin and the bottle of HEET into the boiling water until both are quite hot. After removing them from the water, with a pen or magic marker, mark the lanolin bottle in increments of 1 oz. In other words, if the height to the top of the lanolin in the bottle is 4 inches, from the bottom place a mark 1 inch up, 2 inches up, and 3 inches up. Actually, it is probably better to do this prior to heating the lanolin. So now, with both the lanolin and the HEET hot, pour 1 oz. of the lanolin and the entire 12 oz. bottle of HEET into your spray bottle. Shake it up and look for an even mixing taking place. If you see separation of the two, place the spray bottle into the hot water to heat up the mixture and shake again.

To apply the lube, it’s best to place your brass into something like a 1 gallon ziplock bag, give a couple of squirts, close the bag and then shake the bag so the lube gets distributed onto all your brass. You can also spray the inside of the bag a couple times and then put the brass in prior to shaking them. After resizing the brass, you will need to remove the lube. The best way to do this is to place them in your dry tumbler, add about a tablespoon of mineral spirits/paint thinner, and then tumble them for about 20 minutes. Hope this has been helpful to someone.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Unless I'm forming cases, I find that the demands on the case lube aren't that great.
For just sizing operations, the old RCBS case lube and lube pad will get the job done with no trouble. And it's incredibly cheap over the life of the bottle.
I use a nylon neck brush to get a little case lube inside case necks and that seems to be the ticket.

For case forming operations, (which I rarely perform these days) a THIN layer of something a little more tacky seems to do the trick. It's not rocket science, it only needs to work for a small window of time. There's no heat, there's no long run times, there's no high speed forces.
For shear economy, 90W gear oil thinned with alcohol will work (but I hate the odor of gear oil) or STP oil treatment thinned with alcohol.

I keep a bottle of STP on the shelf just for lubricating the arbors of revolver cylinders, so it's alway handy.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
I go the powdered (mica) dry neck lube route. No brushes needed. Just dip neck and knock off excess with a pencil or wooden dowel. Besides, cast bullets already have lube............at least mine do.