Lee Lube and Alcohol Mix

[tkcomer]

While off on another topic, and a few other boards, a few people mentioned to mix a tube of Lee lube with 16 ounces of alcohol as a cheap spray to lube rifle cases. Does this actually work? They say just to spray it on and let it dry then size the cases. Claims it also works as a neck lube if you spray the necks. Anybody try this? If it works, it has to be better than the RCBS lube pad I use now.

 

[JDGray]

I use it on 9mm cases. 100 cases in a ziplock, a few squirts of the spray bottle, shake it up, size the cases(wet) Works great!

 

[benedict1]

See Richard Lee's book "Modern Reloading", 2nd. ed. I do what the previous poster does but let 'em dry for 10 minutes before loading.

On rifle cases, as I recall from the book, the lube is used straight, without diluting. Here is the link to Lee website where it is discussed a little--

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/cat...tml/catalog/dies-rifle.html#ResizingLubricant

If you dilute it, use the 91% alcohol that you can get at Wal Mart for about 89 cents for a bottle.

 

[3006mv]

drinking and reloading do not mix

I believe Lee says you can dilute w/ water. I have not tried it w/ alcohol. It is a paste, maybe use less alcohol and try. Do you just mix and spray in a spray bottle? Or use a pad?

 

[benedict1]

It is an oily substance--I think there is a good bit of Lanolin in it. With water you have to shake like crazy to disperse it before spraying; that's why most of us use alcohol so we can get it dissolved. Still have to shake. yes, use a spray bottle and have at it!

 

[tkcomer]

So far it is a hard effort sizing 223 shells. I can size them, but it takes a lot of force to shove them in the die. They come out fine though. If I lube a case with the RCBS lube and run it through, I can get about 5 shells through before it gets hard to size them again. I wouldn't want to try this with the 243 or 308 shells.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Some cheap resizing lube:

Gardner Bender Wire Aide Wire Pulling Lubricant, Part #79-006 for the outside of the case. Use on an stamp ink pad (new one) or use an RCBS lube pad (new one) for the outside of the case. For the neck, use graphite powder you bought from the local Ace hardware.

Some serious resizing lube for difficult reloading tasks:

Imperial Sizing Die Wax and the aforementioned graphite powder for inside the neck.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Zippy06]

Tk.
I lube EVERY rifle case. Just like the book indicates.
On 9mm,.357, and .40. I lube one for every 4-6. lee lube is great.

 

[toecutter]

I don't know about the lee lube. But the RCBS liquid lube is pretty close to the liquid lanolin I buy at the health food store. You can mix either with alcohol. Typically a 1:5 mix and make up some pretty good spray lube. When doing neck sizing, I usually just put a little bit of it in a bottle cap and dip the ends in.

 

[tkcomer]

Well, I finished up that batch with the RCBS lube and pad. I decided to give the Lee lube one more try. I sprayed another 50 cases and let them dry while I trimmed the cases and cleaned up the primer pockets. This time it worked. They went right through with no problem. Not sure if the RCBS lube “slicked” up the die or I just did a better job of spraying the lube. One thing is for sure, spraying into the necks sure made the cases coming out of the die easier. I'd never lubed inside the case neck before on the 223s. They always came out pretty easily. Now, its even easier.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Yep, lubing inside the neck was probably the problem solver. I've found most friction related to sizing is in the expander ball area and the base of the brass.

Dave