lubricants for reloading presses?

[DonMountain]

Should I be using oils or greases on my reloading presses? I have Hornady 007, Hornady Projector and RCBS Ammomaster presses for reloading brass casings, and a Pacific DL-150 shotgun press. I often wonder what kind of lubricants to use on the main shaft of these presses and on the other pivot points of the linkages and bolts. Also on my RCBS LAMII Lube sizer and Forrester case trimmer.

[mtgrs737]

I have a Dillon 550B that has little holes drilled thru to the joints for lube. I have used a grease injector to pump lube into these holes but I am not so sure that is the best way to lube them. I am going back to my old reliable Mobil One Motor oil lube for all parts of my metallic press lubing. On my MEC shotgun presses MEC recommends 90 wt. gear oil so that is what I use. I like to lube my presses and probably overdo it but I don't think it matters much as I just wipe it off the bottom with a paper towel if I get carried away. I also hate rust so I make sure that I keep a film of oil on the bare or blued metal parts using WD-40 or Balistol. The oil needs to be thin enough to be sucked into the joints so I use 15w 50 Mobil One on my presses but I am sure that other wts of oil will work fine.

[N4AUD]

I have a Pacific 007 and I put a little 3-in-1 oil on the ram and the pivot points and wipe off the excess. It still works smoothly after all these years.

[Ickisrulz]

Almost every kind of oil and/or grease is used on presses by the people here...and they all seem to work.

[salpal48]

On all my Old presses, Lyman, Herter's , dunbar, others I found That Anti -seize compound works vey well . Use on all rams screw threads link pins and other moving parts. this is a preference by me and it's works well and prevents rust as well
also General Lubrication Grease work great also 1 can lasts for years & years
just keep it away from shell holder and cases

[Full Mold Jack]

Whatever light oil I have handy for hinge and swivel type parts.

Ram shafts get a regular wipe with Ed's Red to flush out any gunk like primer residue and keeps 'em slick, I love that stuff.

[grampa243]

my dillon get red high presure grease and syn motor oil.

just stay away from the primer stuff; it will make for a bad time at the range if you get oil in any primers.

[1hole]

"Should I be using oils or greases on my reloading presses?"

Moving parts/joints should be lubracated. Presses don't have fast moving parts so a medium weight oil will work quite well. Go to a 'mart's auto lube department and get yourself a quart of synthetic motor oil, 10w-30 will be fine. And get a quart of Automatic Transmission Fluid too; it can't be beat for a light gun, fishing reel and household oil.

[Bayou52]

For my 35+ year old RCBS RC press, I like to periodically drench the ram and all joints in Marvel Mystery Oil. That is a fairly light oil that is extremely high detergent. It does a great job cleaning powder residue, and any other contaminate, from every surface and joint it's applied to.

Bayou52

[Dale in Louisiana]

I usually squeeze a drop of sizing lube onto the ram of my press. Ed's REd goes everywhere else.

Dale in Louisiana

[Kevin Rohrer]

This question has been asked numerous times. Did you do a search for the answers?

[jmort]

I use synthetic grease.

[double8]

A light coat of lithium grease on the ram, Remington gun oil on pivots....seems ok for my use.

[Ed_Shot]

+1 for 3-n-1 oil. I also use a drop on my Lyman 450's sizing die retaining nut every time I switch sizing dies. Sure helps getting the nut started without cross threading.

[oscarflytyer]

My MEC 600 Jr has been sticky as all heck... In a fit of frustration other day, I sprayed some of the Hornady One Shot Spray on the stem/post. WOW! Worked great! Only cranked out 200 rds, but the diff was amazing! Have used Rig gun grease on my RockChucker. Also found that simply degreasing is a great help too...

[engineer401]

I use 3n1 also.

[myg30]

Ballistol, Ed's red or which ever is closest to my hand when the need to clean and lube comes up. Any lube is better than none at all. I like the dry silicone lube too.

Mike