"I started to wonder if I could use other types of lubes that aren't made by reloading companies. Is there an alternative?"
Case lube isn't rocket science, a lot of things work. So far as I know, no reloading company 'makes' any lubes at all, commerical lubes are all based on common products. The sellers either buy an existing lube and repackage it or, sometimes, mix a few things to achieve the qualities they like but it's not rocket science, almost any high film strength lube will do nicely.
Many soaps (sold as water soluable case lubes), oil softened carnaba waxes, some oils such as lanolin (used in most spray case lubes) and, least attractive, some nasty auto oil additives (such as STP, etc.). They all work fine if used correctly, nothing works well if it's not used correctly. I dispise oily case lube pads, much too grittty and sticky for me. For smallish volumes and case reforming I prefer to finger apply a soft wax like Imperial or Unique. For larger volumes I go to a good spray like Dillon's.
Excellant case lube substitues for Imperial are the various paste type floor/funiture waxes and any Neutral Shoe Polish-wax/Kiwi Mink Oil/Sno-Proff, etc., boot treatments from Walmart; they can be used just as they come. Home made spray lubes can be made from lanolin mixed with denatured alcohol. Or make a spay of mixed soap and denatured alcohol based on one of the common electical cable pulling soft soap lubes like Gardner-Denver's; it's easily found in Lowe's/H'dept electrical departments.
