Whats your Lube????

[A Pause for the Coz]

Figured I would share my experiences with case lube. I think I finally got it down to two I like.

Lets start with two I do not like.

RCBS spray lube, If you like stuck cases and gummed up dies this is the one to get.
I found that when you spray them you must size now. If the wife calls you to kill a spider. When you get back you will get a stuck case. If you get it too thick you get the weep hole in the die plugged and you get smashed shoulders.

RCBS lube and the pad: I have never had a stuck case with this but lots and lots of smashed shoulders.

I have mine down to two I do like.

For small batches I use Hornady Unique. Touch your finger to the lube and your good for 5 cases at least.
Seems to wipe of pretty easy.

For large batches ( say a couple hundred 223's)
The best way I found is to use the LEE lube. Yep thats what I said.
I have never and I mean never gotten a stuck case or a smashed shoulder. Use it wet or leave and come back next day and finish sizing.
Some old timmer filled me in on the trick to using the LEE Lube.

Take a hundred or so cases. Dump them in a ice cream pail. Put a liberal dab of lube in you hands. Rub your hands together. Then mix the cases rolling them between your palms. Takes about 1 minute to lube a hundred cases.
Works like a dream.
As a extra step. i dont like old lube all over my cases.
So I wash them after sizing in hot water with dish soap.
The Lee lube rinses right off. Its water based ya know.

Then I stick them in a old sock. I hang them in the cloths dryer. Just inside the door and use the door to hold the sock, so that the brass does not touch the Tumbler. I let them dry for 20 minutes.
Then back into the brass tumbler for 30 minutes.
Gives you nice, clean, shinny, sized brass.



Only have one hand available, other is holding the camera. But you get the idea.

 

[Snag]

After joining this forum I kept seeing people recommending Imperial Sizing Wax so I picked up some next chance I had. Good stuff, I'll probably be using it for the rest of my life.

+1 on the ice cream pails by the way.

 

[loadedround]

The best case lube that I have found is Imperial Sizing Wax and I have been reloading for over 45 years and have used them all.

 

[SlowFuse]

When I first started reloading, I used lee lube. I usually mixed a little water with it and used a small paint brush to "paint" it on, cases sat upside down in blocks. Never had a problem with it. Now I've moved past lee and use imperial wax and a ziploc for 30-40 cases at a time. Looking back the paintbrush idea was a little silly! I've gotten so many great ideas from these reloading threads.

 

[A Pause for the Coz]

I haven't tried Imperial wax yet. i will though.
I got the Hornady stuff when I was ordering a new custom LEE mold. Came to $17 and they were going to charge me a $3 service fee for a order under $20.
What!!!!!

Since they were the only seller of this particular mold. I searched for some thing I could use for 3 bucks.
That was it.
Pretty happy I did, stuff works good.

 

[cfullgraf]

I use Imperial Sizing Wax and RCBS Case Lube. It somewhat depends on the task at hand on which lubricant I use.

For the RCBS case lubricant and a pad, I use it sparingly, hang the should over the edge of the case lube pad and frequently cycle some dry cases through the die to use up excess lubricant. (one lubed, one dry or two lubed and one dry depending on how wet the pad is).

I still have a bear of a time preventing dented shoulders wtih 17 Remington though. No dented shoulder with other cartridges.

Main use for the Imperial Sizing Wax is the inside of the neck of every 4th or 5th case. Care must be exercised to prevent lubricant from gettin on the outside of the neck and potentially denting the shoulder.

I also use Imperial Sizing Wax for case forming and occasional resizing.

I used to use the Lee lubricant when I used steel resizing dies back in the dark ages. It worked great and cleaned off easily. I do not remember if I ever tried it on bottle neck rifle cases.

 

[Scimmia]

I use Imperial for most case lube jobs, but I'll throw in another one that doesn't get talked about. Royal Case Lube from Sharp Shoot R. It's an aerosol that's really convenient. I use it for sizing new cases for for sizing handgun cases in steel dies. It may be fine with the heavy duty stuff, I've just never tried it for that. I really need to as people that have rave about it, I just haven't worked up the courage to trust an aerosol for something like that

 

[moxie]

Hornady OneShot spray. Goes on easy, wipes off easy, smells OK. Cases don't get stuck (which is the bottom line). Much less messy than most others.

 

[zxcvbob]

I use Dillon Spray Lube (or the Cabela's knockoff) for resizing .223's and .30 Carbine.

For .30-06, I use either Kiwi Mink Oil or castor oil -- haven't tried the Dillon spray yet; not sure I trust it on large cases but it's probably OK.

 

[jdownj]

I don't load any cartridges that are known to be sensitive like 17HMR, etc... I take the Lee lube(2oz Tube) and cut it with 8oz of rubbing alcohol, spray it on and allow to dry... Works well for me.. And cheap!

 

[jcwit]

Imperial wax or Mink Oil, they both sit on my bench and it just depends which my hands fall onto.

 

[MEHavey]

I've used/use both RCBS and Imperial Sizing wax.
I've settled on this as easiest on the cases:

Put a very small "BB"s worth of RCBS case lube on a case side and rub in/around on with thumb & forefinger.
Don't even go near the neck.
Size it.

Without using more lube, rub your slick thumb/forefinger on 2-3 more cases and size them as well.

Start the cycle over.

Throw the pad away.

 

[cfullgraf]

Throw the pad away.

Different strokes for different folks, but without the pad, case lubing is too slow for me. Mostly, too much time spent re-lubing the "applicator" (fingers).

 

[jcwit]

Throw the pad away.

Right, I like to fondle my cases.

 

[Chuck357]

Carbide dies

Since carbide resizing dies came out, I don't lube before resizing at all. But I also don't tumble brass to clean it before resizing, so I suspect the powder and other residue from shooting acts as a sort of lubricant. I can tell a difference in resistance between a new brass case and a fired one, but it's not enough to bother my shoulder.

 

[Chuck357]

Carbide dies

Before someone else points it out, let me add that I'm talking only about handgun cases, not rifle cases.

 

[traderpats]

OK, I'll chime in on this one. Homemade case lube. Use 99% Isopropyl alcohol and liquid anhydrous lanolin. A ration of 10:1 Alcohol / Lanolin, may be tweaked for personal or equipment preference. It stays in suspension for a very long time.

Just a few sprays into a bag o' brass, mix and dump out to let the alcohol evaporate. The lanolin is left behind in a very nice sheen that is just really slick. Anyways I've been reloading for a few years and see no reason at all to change, the stuff just works and is cheap. Buy a nice size bottle of alcohol and lanolin and it'll last a long time. Hope this helps.

Edit: Damn, first post on this site huh? Didn't realize that...

 

[Rule3]

I don't load any cartridges that are known to be sensitive like 17HMR, etc... I take the Lee lube(2oz Tube) and cut it with 8oz of rubbing alcohol, spray it on and allow to dry... Works well for me.. And cheap!

I do the same. It is water soluble, does not need to be cleaned off and works great. It will separate so needs to be shaken not stirred

Lee buys it is 55 gal drums, think cable pulling lube.

 

[mnhntr]

Imperial sizing wax and Imperial dry neck lube

 

[Uniquedot]

Only thing i use now is Hornady unique and the Lee lube. The Lee stuff is the cheapest lube available for lubing tapered cases when mixed with alcohol.

 

[cutter_spc]

I have used Lee lube, RCBS lube and pad, mink oil, and cable pulling lube.

I have settled on cable pulling lube. I mix it with water in a bucket with a air tight lid, I made a strainer out of 1/4" mesh that fits down in the bucket. Before I start I give the bucket a good mixing by shaking it around, then pull off the lid and dump my cases in, agitate the cases with the stainer a bit, then lift the stainer with the cases inside and hang it over the bucket to drain for a while. Then I put my cases neck down into loading blocks to dry for a day.

 

[788Ham]

Imperial sizing wax! When I found out how easy this stuff works, the Hornady spray went out with the trash!

 

[dragon813gt]

Mink oil. If I was forming cases I'd give the Imperial a try. But for normal resizing of cases mink oil works great. You can pick it up at any place that sells footwear and it's cheap. I'm pretty sure I will get over a decade out of one tub of it. Once your fingers are coated you only have to add more to them every five cases or so for 308. It really adds no extra time.


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[MrCountyCop]

Imperial Sizing Wax

 

[Bovice]

I use Dillon case lube, spray it on and shake it up in a box.