Swage Lube

I will be a swager in just a few short days. I bought some equipment from a member on here, which should arrive in a few days. I know you need some lube for your swaging process, but which lube is best. Corbin sells 2 oz container for $8. I'm not worried about the price, but I don't want to order that if I can buy something locally that is as good for this purpose. I am happy to order some from Corbin if that's the standard, and I am sure they would have some on hand even though their lead time on actual dies is out of control.

What do you guys use? I would think something thick is desirable, not a oil. Something like Imperial sizing die wax maybe?

What do you guys suggest?

A 50/50 mix of castor oil and lanolin works well and is used by a lot of the swagers. A couple of years ago RCE sent me 12 of the two ounce containers by mistake so I'm still using that. Shipping them back would cost more than it was worth i guess.

^^^^^ Yep that is what most use. Do some digging into the threads here on lube. Go to the swap and sellin section and look up randyrat for lanolin.

I'm using about 80% lanolin, 20% castor oil (not precisely measured). I second contacting randyrat for the lanolin.

I make rifle bullets with premade jackets. I lube jackets with 4 parts anhydrous lanolin and 1 part pure neatsfoot oil. I put the portions together in a small glass jar and put it in the oven at 170 degrees F. When it is melted (melts like butter) stir and let cool. Neatsfoot oil can be obtained from a farm supply place. Its used to treat leather. Anhydrous lanolin can probably be obtained through a pharmacy. It is refined by Paddock Laboratories in Minneapolis, MN. A pound was about $30 last time I bought it but will last a lifetime. Give your pharmacy the NDC number 0574-0043-16 and if they don't have it, they should be able to order it with that number. Paddock will not sell direct, but they may be able to tell you which pharmacy in your area deals with them.

50-50 AnhydrousLanolin-CastorOil; keep closed until use; use sparingly by finger wiping; wash objects afterwards. ... felix

I do not swage (yet) but had read others have used Ballistol also as a lube. No idea if it works but more and more folks have it for their gun cleaning. Thinking on it further, they might have used it as a case lube versus swaging lube.

50/50 lano & castor oil works great for me. Randy has the lano at a good price. 8oz should last many years.

felix why the warning to wash objects after? I haven't been. What bad thing have I done?

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Originally Posted by huntnman

felix why the warning to wash objects after? I haven't been. What bad thing have I done?

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There may be more to Felix's response, but I learned something here a few months ago. I was going into the tumbler (SS pins / lemishine / dishsoap) with lube still on my pieces - it built up over time and one batch suddenly came out a really weird dull bronze color. After checking here, it was attributed to lanolin build-up on the pins / in the tumbler. I now agitate them in acetone before tumbling to remove the lube.

Hi chaps

We have played around with different drawing oils and water solubale oils and mixed our own blend a water soluble drawing oil which can be either a 30 % blend for light swageing or drawing or a 50 % bend for hard or deep swageing or drawing its a nice thick-ish fluid that works great and lasts for ever to clean of afterwards we just wash with a genral purpose degreaser and warm water

Regards
Charlie

REDDING "Imperial Sizing Die Wax", been using to for over 25 years.......try it.......you'll notice the difference imediately!

Applied as Felix does his lube, sparingly.

RRR

50/50 lanolin/castor oil has served a lot of bulletmakers well over the years. Depending on your dies about 0.1 gr. per 100 .224 jackets applied by tumbling in a glass jar seems to be pretty close to the correct amount. Applying with your fingers is fine if you are not worried about consistent dimensions and dented noses. Your biggest mistake as a new swager will be a tendency to over-lubricate jackets and use swage lube on your cores. Use motor oil instead:19 drops per 1000 22 cal. cores. This will considerabley shorten your learning curve. . . .