Homebrewed Case Lube

[heymarine1833]

just now mixed a heaping teaspoon of 76* coconut oil in 12oz microwaved warmed 91% rubbing alcohol. mixture is clear. had to shake shake shake til it dissolved..bout 30 seconds. poured some into an old pan with brass inside. rolled around a bit. let alcohol evaporate and tried one case to be sized. very smooth action! kinda greasy of course. no more greasy than dillons stuff. i'll let this mixture sit on the brass for a week open air and see if it turns gummy on me. so far so good. can buy coconut oil at the store. will also wait a week to see if the mixture separates in the bottle. if i miss the weeks time please remind me. think this is going to be real nice. why didnt i think about this years ago?

just allowed the new lube to dry some more on the cases and discovered it is no where near as greasy now than it was. i sized 20 cases just now and very smooth. a lot smoother than hornady one shot and TSI-301. no grabbing, sticking, no hard pulls or pushes. the size die glides over the brass effortlessly. i can feel the lube on my fingers but its not an awful ooey gooey gunk. guys? ya gots to try this! seriously have to try this. just take a heaping teaspoon out of the tub and use the rest to cook with. just now starting to solidify in the bottom but a few shakes made it clear up. looks like liquid crystal

 

[1980Harley]

The coconut oil sounds like a great idea! I saved the last tub I had because it had expired before I could use it all, and I knew I could put it to use sometime soon. This seems to be the time. Thanks heymarine1833! I'll give it a try.

 

[photosaurus]

Why bother?

I'm always amazed by the threads on home-brew case lube, arguably the cheapest component in reloading. Nearly incalculable per round. What is the fascination for these odd concoctions? Forget the technical term, but any efforts aimed at saving money need to be directed to the costliest components; there simply isn't a justifiable ROI at the bottom of the scale. Are you looking for a better spray lube?

Got a tube of Lee, but haven't tried it yet. Been using Imperial, and cannot imagine anything that works better or gets more mileage.

I'm not trying to stir things up, but seriously intrigued.

 

[heymarine1833]

just got home from work and found the coconut oil/alcohol mix was cloudy and grainy. i removed the cap and microwaved 10 seconds then shook. crystal clear now. sized some more brass from yesterdays treatment and its super smooth sizing still with little to no greasy feel.

to photosaurus--ive tried many products and most of them i hated for lubing brass cases. two ive hated enough to toss were dillon case lube and lee case lube. hornady one shot does ok for blowing gunk from firearms but is not too good for cases. TSI-301 is very good stuff all around but very expensive. lanolin makes cases very sticky when mixed in an alcohol solution. the other thing is that right now, most of us are bored stiff, cant shoot due to weather or cannot find the powder we want to use etc...so we are here discussing the mundane case lube. and this new creation i mixed up seems to work better than anything ever! just try it and you may just toss your lee gunk in the trash can. the other thing about most products from pain relievers to bore solvents is there are simply too many options and too many opinions as to what's good and what is awful as it is just a personal preference. most of the case lubes get sticky and dries with a sticky film that is tough to remove. that's for the garbage can. just try some coconut and alcohol. it's another new recipe from me to all of you. enjoy

 

[Sport45]

For a few rifle cases I'll use Kiwi Mink Oil polish. No brewing required. For lots of brass I can roll 5 or 6 at a time across my old Lyman pad with Lyman lube. Haven't stuck a case with either method.

 

[heymarine1833]

how could we turn the kiwi mink oil polish into a spray? it would separate in liquid so you would have to add a bit of polysorbate 20 to turn it in to an emulsion. i think that would do it. should add a bit of that to what i have now and see what happens haha! a winter chemistry experiment

 

[heymarine1833]

Polysorbate 20 mixed with the coconut oil and alcohol did well. So even though the mixture is cloudy due to the oil being cold, the oil and alcohol is now in an emulsion so there is no need to heat it.

Just now made another lube with alcohol and hex boron nitride. This one is cool because it is dry after the alcohol evaporates. Just shake spray evaporate and go.

 

[kostner]

Have always been interested in this topic but over the years have settled on One Shot & RCBS case lube. Just reordered last night on ebay and with shipping on the RCBS of $2.00 and the One Shot was free. total cost $11.00 and that will last a few years. That doing about 100-200 223's & 300 45asp weekly.

 

[heymarine1833]

an update for the coconut oil homebrew: i discovered that one needs 1 semi heaping tablespoon or a 2 heaping teaspoons and a tad more of melted coconut oil, 1 tablespoon polysorbate 20 and 12 ounces alcohol. preferably 91%. have not experimented with denatured alcohol for a carrier yet but will. this case lube still has yet to turn gummy on me even after 3 weeks. have to make sure that all alcohol has evaporated. an ex gf's hair drier works great for this purpose. very smooth sizing and best home made stuff i ever made.

 

[carbine85]

I broke down and ordered the lanolin and alcohol to make up some case lube. I first mixed it 8:1 and it was to thick. I ended up at about 12:1. I had a spray bottle from Home Depot but found the spray pattern to large and heavy. I found a small spray bottle of Off Insect spray so I refilled it with the lube. It sprays a nice misty spray and coats the brass nicely. The One Shot is now up on the shelve for back up.
So far I have resized 5.56, .308 and 8mm.

 

[ulflyer]

I've used RCBS pad lube (stuff in tiny container) with alcohol, mixed to suit in one of those small spray bottles you find in Walmart where they have the small travel items. Also use the One Shot and like both. Even tho my dies are carbide, I find it makes operating
the Dillon easier and smoother. I never tumble or clean after loading.

 

[stavman11]

2 thumbs up for the lanolin and alcohol for me

Been using it for over a year... best lube i have used..

 

[carbine85]

I've used RCBS pad lube (stuff in tiny container) with alcohol, mixed to suit in one of those small spray bottles

I wanted to try this. I have like 4 tubes of that sticky stuff

 

[BrianC636]

I've used the lanolin and alcohol mix with good results. My current mix is 12:1 alcohol and coconut oil. I like it much better than the lanolin because the cases aren't sticky after the alcohol evaporates.

 

[ulflyer]

Carbine85: Put in a few drops at a time, test it on your fingers for feel. It doesn't take much and whatever guess work mix I made does not leave any obvious residue on the cases. IF it does, I'd suggest thinning it way down.

 

[Stumper]

For years I have been using soap applied with the fingers. Wipe off after sizing with a damp rag for nice clean cases. 1/3 of a bar of Ivory grated into a cup of water and heated in microwave for a minute forms a gel that gradual gets more solid. Stick a finger in, wipe the body and the neck and scrape the finger across the mouth to lube the inside of the neck/expander ball. I started making my own simply because I was unable to find commercial lube one day when I wanted to load. I keep using it because it works and cleans up more easily than anything else I ever used.

 

[ddc]

How about silicone spray?

 

[Elkins45]

How about silicone spray?

I would think silicone wouldn't have the film strength of a good case lube, and I would be afraid it would creep into primer pockets.

 

[fiftybmg]

1 in 10 anhydrous lanolin to 99% isopropanol

 

[Ks5shooter]

Does enough get into the inside of the case neck? I have seen videos of guys doing it on a cookie sheet. Seems like not enough gets inside the neck. What say you that have experience? thanks Don