using bag balm for resizing...

[castalott]

Please move this if in the wrong spot....


Ingredients for bag balm are petroleum and lanolin plus some small others. Anyone ever tried it for resizing? A twenty year supply is $10.

Thanks,Dale

[tankgunner59]

Hey Dale, I never thought of that. Have you tried it? After I get my reloading room put back together I'll have to try it. I have and use Imperial, but it would be good to know what common stuff is available. Thanks for the idea.

[turtlezx]

been using it for 20 years rifle and pistol 90% still left outta the small can
works for me

[castalott]

Hi tankgunner... No, I haven't used it for sizing. The only problem I can foresee is not using too much. It seems quite sticky....

turtlezz... Do you use it as a paste (like Imperial or other?) or do you make it into a spray with alcohol?

Thanks,Dale

[Markopolo]

I use it exclusively.. just a tiny dampening of fingers to rub over the case lasts 4 or 5 cases. A tiny tiny bit goes a very long ways. And, it’s good for your hands and cheap.

[rsrocket1]

Works great for me. So does Vaseline (same petrolatum or petroleum jelly as Bag Balm).

[turtlezx]

as a paste slide the case between fingers from rim to mouth try to keep it out of the case

[Kenstone]

I wet a 30 cal. patch with it and put that in container with the brass it, put on the cap and shake/roll it around.
That will quickly lube the brass on the outside/the mouth but not the inside or primer pocket. :drinks:
:bigsmyl2:

[leadhead]

I've been using it for years.... take a small amount and rub it between my
palms and take 4 or 5 cases and roll them between them and then size.
Denny

[dbosman]

Any oil, wax, grease, or soap can be used for case sizing.
Alox is a hard film, calcium soap, by the by.

I use pure lanolin on my thumb and first two fingers for lubing cases. I use my off hand to pick up cases and roll them between fingers and thumb. One finger over the case rim every third to fifth to lubricate for the sizing button/stem/bulb. A short dry tumble in used dry media to remove the lanolin.

[jdfoxinc]

That would work for swaging too.

[Outpost75]

Also works great as a black powder bullet lube, one 4-oz. tin of Bag Balm
https://bagbalm.com/collections/all/products/copy-of-on-the-go-tube
to an equal melted liquid volume of Goya Manteca lard.

[Tom W.]

If I still didn't have a lifetime supply of Imperial I'd get some. All of my handgun cases use carbide sizers, but I have used the RCBS lube pad and that sticky stuff that I still have too much of for my rifle brass.


I have looked at it, and remember when I was a kid in Pennsylvania there were cans of it all over the barn.....I used it for chapped lips back then.

[John Boy]

Never crunched a case using it to reform cases

[WRideout]

I started using it about two years ago to lube .223 cases that I am forming to 7.62 Tokarev. Bag Balm is also one of the ingredients in my home made stick lube for the Lyman 45 sizer.
Wayne

[Wayne Smith]

I got some a large number of Christmas' ago when I needed to add something to my Vermont Country Store order to get free shipping. Been using it ever since and barely touched the amount in the container.

[toot]

as good as E-Z LUBE? sounds as it is the same thing?

[RED BEAR]

Just ordered some to give it a try. How do yall clean it off after sizing?

[Froogal]

Soap and water is the only way to get it off of your hands.

[Kenstone]

Just ordered some to give it a try. How do yall clean it off after sizing?

Ordered ?
Sold everywhere, even WallyWorld in the pet dept.
If applied sparingly there's no need to remove it and bottle neck brass will stretch less and not thin the web as much.
It is water based though, so there's that.
My method of application:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?384195-using-bag-balm-for-resizing&p=4679393&viewfull=1#post4679393
:mrgreen:
Edit: I use that same method with STP as a lube, rubbed into the patch, a better lube/not as easily removed...works great.
Another Edit: wearing latex gloves when rubbing lube into that patch will negate any hand cleaning of sticky lubes like STP after handling it [smilie=f:

[Alan in Vermont]

It is water based though, so there's that.


Unless they have changed the formula there is no water listed as an ingredient.

[I]8-hydroxyquinoline sulphate 0.3% in a petrolatum, lanolin base[I]

It's not anhydrous lanolin so there is probably some amount of water mixed with it but not enough to get billing in the ingredients list. There are what appears to be little bubbles through the material though. Those may be, in reality, beads of lanolin which are unable to mix with the petrolatum.

[RED BEAR]

Ordered ?
Sold everywhere, even WallyWorld in the pet dept.
If applied sparingly there's no need to remove it and bottle neck brass will stretch less and not thin the web as much.
It is water based though, so there's that.
My method of application:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?384195-using-bag-balm-for-resizing&p=4679393&viewfull=1#post4679393
:mrgreen:
Edit: I use that same method with STP as a lube, rubbed into the patch, a better lube/not as easily removed...works great.

I have trouble getting around so any time they can bring it to me i go for that.

[1hole]

If I still didn't have a lifetime supply of Imperial I'd get some (bag balm).

The functioning lube ingredient in Imperial is carnauba wax, the rest of it is softeners. It's clean to use and doesn't need to be removed. A can of Kiwi shoe polish (neutral) works as well but needs softeners, or use SnoPruff boot treatment which has softeners included. (Both are in Walmart's shoe department.)

The working part of bag balm is lanolin. Lanolin works great and is found in quite a few common products. It need not be removed and is easily wiped away from fingers.


All of my handgun cases use carbide sizers, ...

Even carbide dies benefit from a small amount of some lube. Dry rubbing metal under high pressure is causes the galling of brass bits to attach to the carbide and eventually causes case scratchs.


but I have used the RCBS lube pad and that sticky stuff that I still have too much of for my rifle brass.

Roger that. The thick, gooey liquid in RCBS/Lyman, et al, case lube is nothing but very inexpensive STP sold to us as case lube for high prices. STP does work well for sizing BUT it's nasty and sticky so it's messy to use, plus it's hard to remove from cases and fingers. (I still have more than half a tiny bottle of the very first RCBS case lube I bought in '65; I won't toss it but haven't used it since about '67 and never will).


I have looked at it (bag balm), and remember when I was a kid in Pennsylvania there were cans of it all over the barn.....I used it for chapped lips back then.

Lanoline is what makes Chapstick work on dry lips. And, because of the lanolin. Chapstick will also work as a case lube but it's a bit difficult to apply properly because it needs a softener.

Of the currently available case lubes, I prefer Imperial and/or even better, Hornady's Unique.

Finally, all of the above mentioned lubes and substitutes have worked well enough for me to happily reform hundreds of surplus military 30-06 cases to .22-250 and .243 in an old Lyman "C" Spartan press and no one has a tougher job for their case lubes (or presses) than that!

[tankgunner59]

I plan to use it next time and I'm going to use a dry media tumbler to remove the bag balm and see how well it works. I'll post the results here.

[trapper9260]

I get the Bag Balm at the farm fleet store near by me .I use it on my skin now I see another use for it. I use the empty tins for my 44 spl loaded rounds. I can fit 50 in it.

[RED BEAR]

Tried it today and seems to work ok. Made a mess with it. Ordered it a d it came was setting on its side in bag outside in 90+ heat when i opened it went everywhere. Just another of my graceful moments.

[Kenstone]

Unless they have changed the formula there is no water listed as an ingredient.

[I]8-hydroxyquinoline sulphate 0.3% in a petrolatum, lanolin base[I]

It's not anhydrous lanolin so there is probably some amount of water mixed with it but not enough to get billing in the ingredients list. There are what appears to be little bubbles through the material though. Those may be, in reality, beads of lanolin which are unable to mix with the petrolatum.

OH, OK
never mind
I thought that because it was easily removed with soap and water...silly me :oops:
:mrgreen: