Lube for a press...
M Bruce--You will notice in the replies so far that a wide variety of lubes have been used successfully on reloading presses, especially single-stage presses.
My own RCBS Rockchucker's ram started making a little noise 1/2 way through my last reloading session. I was resizing cases at the time. Had Imperial Sizing Die Wax on my fingers, so I smeared a little on the press ram.
Surprise! The noise the ram had been making disappeared immediately. The ram stayed quiet for the rest of the reloading session.
I had been using ordinary lubricating oil on the press' joints, and the ram. And sometimes Wilson Combat gun grease, on the ram. Will probably continue to use oil on the joints (following the "oil for rotating, grease for sliding parts" rule) but may consider using Imperial Sizing Die Wax for the ram in the future.
IMHO, something operating as slowly as a reloading press doesn't need a high-grade, or specialized, lube. Any sort of lube should work. I guess I'd draw the line short of using peanut butter (a la Dennis the Menace) simply because eventually it'd become rancid and smell bad, but really, a press is just not a major lubrication problem.
Nothing I've ever used, though, has made it so quiet, so quickly, as the Imperial Sizing Die Wax.
