Home Made Lanolin Case Lube Portions

[9mmepiphany]

Couple of hints:
1. Warm the lanolin before mixing
2. If you're going the warm the mixture to allow it to blend more evenly after it is in the spray bottle, open the nozzle first

 

[Walkalong]

Do you use the liquid lanolin that you can get at Walmart or CVS?

Added it on to an order from Amazon.

Was $6.99 at the time.

 

[Walkalong]

Couple of hints:
1. Warm the lanolin before mixing
2. If you're going the warm the mixture to allow it to blend more evenly after it is in the spray bottle, open the nozzle first

Very good advise. The nozzle trick sounds intuitive, but would be easy to not think about prior to.

It's rainy and outside, maybe I'll get to it today.

 

[Walkalong]

I poured the "16 Oz" bottle of 99% Iso into my spray bottle which is marked in ounces. So, did I get 17.5 Oz for the price of 16 Oz, or are the bottle markings off?. *Sigh*

Oh well, now to warm up the Lanolin and pour some in the Iso in the spray bottle.

 

[Walkalong]

1. Warm the lanolin before mixing

Another hint. When holding the Lanolin bottle in the water running it back and forth (Didn't have a double boiler), and the plastic bottle the Lanolin is in starts to shrink up/change shapes, the water is too hot.

I also decided that Lanolin was warm enough at that point. I had been taking it out and turning it over a few times to let the air bubble run up and help mix it since my water really needed to be deeper.

I poured it in the bottle of Iso to just over the 19 Oz mark and then shook it up. Mixed up easily. Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Walkalong]

The Lanolin after over heating.

 

[GBExpat]

Another hint. When holding the Lanolin bottle in the water running it back and forth (Didn't have a double boiler), and the plastic bottle the Lanolin is in starts to shrink up/change shapes, the water is too hot.

Hahaha ... upon reading this, I laughed out loud. Thanks for that!

 

[Reloadron]

Do you ever wonder why nobody ever overheats a plastic bottle of lanolin? No, you don't.
Do you ever wonder why nobody ever robs the bag man for the mob? No, you don't.

I guess we can assume the plastic gets soft at or below about 212 F.

Ron

 

[SCC]

I've used ratios between 10:1 and 20:1 at various times. Higher ratios allow you to spray more liquid for even coverage. Finally settled on 16.7:1, 6ml in 100ml. Note the syringe stuck into a hole in the lanolin cap. I invert the bottle and draw out the exact amount of lanolin needed. The graduated cylinder measures the alcohol and it's all mixed into what is already in the sprayer. I don't like mixing large batches because a spill while transferring to the sprayer would be a mess to clean up. Pure alcohol cleans up easily.



Pistol brass gets lubed immediately before loading. It gets about 3 sprays in a 2gal ziplock bag, the bag sides are then pressed together to evenly distribute the lube. Then about a quart and a half of brass is dumped in, bag sealed and the brass rolled around for a few minutes. Then it's dumped in a plastic tray to dry and be inspected. This keeps lube out of the inside of the cases.

Rifle brass is just dumped in the tray and sprayed until it's wet while mixing it several times with my fingers. It gets sized and then tumbled to remove the lube.

 

[Slamfire]

I purchased "butter tubs" of lanolin off ebay, and I am wondering how good the stuff is, mixed or not, for small base case sizing? How are your mixes of isopropyl alcohol and lanolin on rifle case sizing?

And, the Denatured alcohol (ethyl alcohol) MSDS: https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/53/535623d1-6175-4749-8412-e8ca3eb04f5c.pdf that you can find at home depot, will that work as well?

 

[SCC]

You must use isopropyl alcohol and it needs to be the near pure 99% stuff. Lanolin will not dissolve properly in either methanol or ethanol and it will not stay dissolved if there is a significant amount of water in the isopropanol.

I don't know about the lanolin you bought, but I suspect it's a lanolin emulsion with water and a soap of some sorts. May work, may not. Pure lanolin oil is the best. Might want to get some of that and save the "butter tub" for your hands.

 

[scarletfire]

as far as cleaning the lube from the cases:

today i added a couple drops of dawn to my normal amount of simple green.
used very hot water also.
rather than let it sit around till the next day, i cleaned the cases right after sizing.

that combo seems as though it cleaned it off very well.

thanks for all the hints

Bob

 

[Dudedog]

Another hint. When holding the Lanolin bottle in the water running it back and forth (Didn't have a double boiler), and the plastic bottle the Lanolin is in starts to shrink up/change shapes, the water is too hot.

 

[Nature Boy]

Read the Slamfire Papers and you won't bother removing case lube.

He uses Brylcreem, "a little dab will do ya"

 

[GW Staar]

Nature Boy, you're showing your age.
Walkalong......this is going to be interesting.....can't wait to see if you, love it, hate it, swear by it, or swear at it.

Just don't start out using it to size blinged 7.62 LC MG brass! Everything has it's limitations.....Imperial wax couldn't handle that either. I had to go back to the dark ages for that stuff. (RCBS pad and lube or STP ugh.) Just be careful, no stuck cases.....

Normal brass should be no problem as long as you let the homemade brew dry first.

 

[Average Joe]

I use Heet, get it at Walmart (4pack) Once ounce of Lanolin per bottle.

 

[hdwhit]

reloadron wrote:
I guess we can assume the plastic gets soft at or below about 212 F.

Actually for that type of plastic, it is around 180 degrees.

 

[hdwhit]

Interestingly, I'm around 20,000 rounds into a $4.99 tub of Hornady Unique and it's still about three-quarters full.

 

[Bronx kid]

I like that Hornady Unique. I's inexpensive, does a good job and lasts forever.

 

[9mmepiphany]

My only issue with a paste lube is application. It is easier to spray lube on several hundred cases and let them "dry" before loading into a case feeder

 

[Walkalong]

I have done thousands of cases by lubing my fingers with RCBS Case Lube II or Imperial and wiping it on the case as I pick it up and put it in the shell plate. It isn't too bad and with concentration doesn't slow it up hardly at all, but this method should prove nearly as easy as not lubing at all.

 

[Jeff Flannery]

I use a 10 to 1 ratio and it works well. I add brass to a gallon freezer bag and spray a couple or three squirts in. then close bag and massage the brass around till it is coated, dump out and allow the iso to flash off before sizing.

Ditto

 

[azar]

Seems you've already been given enough good advice, but add my $0.02...

ISO Heet is 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and 1% "additive". It's $1.97 per bottle at Walmart for 12 ounces. I used a 32oz spray bottle and so mixed two bottles of ISO Heet with ~2 ounces of liquid lanolin for a 12:1 mixture. Seems to work well.

I also followed some advice to drop a metal nut into the bottom of the spray bottle to assist with re-mixing it if/when the lanolin settles (kind of like the large BB in a can of spray paint). Most of the time I simply gently shake the bottle and let the nut help mix up any lanolin that has separated. If it's been a while since I reloaded or it's it's during the colder parts of the year (it's stored in my garage) I may warm up the bottle in a sink with warm water before gently shaking it again. There does seem to be some separation (usually when it's cold), but it's relatively minimal.

I also purchased disposable cake/lasagna pans from Walmart. There were like $2-$3 for a two pack. This is what I place my brass to be lubed in. It helps to contain "overspray" from the bottle of lube.

For small batches I still use Imperial Sizing Wax or RCBS Case Lube II w/ a pad. For large batches (223 usually) I use the alcohol / lanolin mix. The only thing I don't like about it is when lubing in large quantities it's hard to control getting lube inside the necks. I've had some bad neck stretching when FL sizing using this lube if I haven't made sure some of the lube got inside the necks. How do the rest of you deal with that? Maybe dump the brass in gallon sized ziplocks bags instead of using the cake pan and roll them all around after spraying?

 

[FROGO207]

The gallon Zip Loc freezer bag is your friend. I spray into the bag zip it shut and massage the brass around a couple minutes, then I dump it and let the Iso Heat flash off. I find that I only need to use about one half the spray I used to use when I sprayed into a cake pan.

 

[Walkalong]

I also followed some advice to drop a metal nut into the bottom of the spray bottle to assist with re-mixing it if/when the lanolin settles (kind of like the large BB in a can of spray paint).

A big ball bearing would be perfect, and I think i still have one. Great idea.

The gallon Zip Loc freezer bag is your friend.

That's my game plan, seems like many people do it that way. Although they just talk about putting them in the bag and spraying the mix. Your way sounds superior. Use less lube, get less inside cases.