I have a bottle of Herter's case lube that is 90 weight gear oil.
I have a bottle of Herter's case lube that is 90 weight gear oil.
I use IMPERIAL Sizing wax for case forming and doing just a few cases. Have for ages. REDDING sells it now. The RCBS #2 is on my Lube pad & I use it when I size more than 10 Rifle cases. For big batches of .223,.308 & ought 6, .44WCF & .38WCF I use HORNADY spray on case lube, cleans of well easy.
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Just today I was resizing some of my .45-70 brass and a few were really hard. I’ve always used RCBS lube, rolling on a pad. A while back a friend gave me some castor oil and said it works great for case lube.
Wow, what a difference! I’ll be using it from now on. I’ve heard some folks mix it with lanolin. I might give that a try too. I have found out that all lubes are not created equal.
I've used most of the commercial lubes and several other things that were not marketed as case lube. Most of them worked, some better than others. Some were also easier to clean up than others. I've settled on two. I use Imperial for neck sizing and Dillon spray lube (Lanolin and alcohol) for everything else. I'll probably make my own when the Dillon gets used up. For clean up on the heavy STP type of lubes I've used everything from gasoline (use caution here), alcohol, mineral spirits, brake cleaner and probably some other stuff to cut the grease.
I personally don't shoot that high of a volume to warrant a spray type lube. What I use is either a RCBS pad with Hornady lube, Lee case sizing lube, or Hornady Unique in the tub.
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I'm quite fond of the Hornady Unique mixed with Heat for a spray lube. 1 oz of the lube with a bottle of Heat. I stand the cases up in a shallow shell tray and spray from two directions from above so the inside necks also get some lube. You want a shallow case tray so you get lube down at the base of the shell where it is most critical. Hornady One-Shot lube is great also and very clean, but more expensive then the home-made spray stuff.
If you have a progressive press, anything other than a spray lube is somewhat of a pain. But the spray is so fast and nice I hardly use anything but the spray even when using the old single-stage.
In reading what others have said, I think I am going to mix one part lanolin and one part of the castor oil I already have. I like the idea of going to a spray type so I can get some inside the necks.
From what I have seen a lot of people are adding alcohol or heat. I assume that is to reduce the viscosity so it works in a spray bottle and then evaporates. How much to add? Equal parts or is it more or less trial and error? Does the strength of the alcohol make a big difference?
Thanks for your advice.
I really like the Imperial sizing lube myself. No stuck cases.
1 part lanolin to 10 parts isopropyl alcohol is the best case lube I've ever used. Cheap too, and works in a spray bottle.
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I stuck a .380 case in a die using chapstick as a lube. I don't use it any more.
Thanks for the heads up....I never even thought about Chapstick...but if I do then I wont .
I once had some military 303 British cases that had been fired in a WWII era machine gun... the chamber was ..."extremely generous"...They were free but I had to size them down in three steps using STP oil treatment for lube...every other lube tried wanted to stick cases. I don't use STP regularly because it's so greasy, but if you ever have an extreme sizing job it will do the trick.
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I use a bath towel to lube large batches of cases with imperial sizing die wax, this works for other lubes as well.
Wash and dry a towel to remove whiteners and other left overs. Rinse several times.
put a few fingers full of lube on towel while laying flat spread out over area
put clean cases on towel
add some more lube in the cases
pick up corners each end in one hand
Raise and lower hands agitating cases in the towel
check often for correct coating. At first few uses towel will absorb a lot. as used less lube is required. I lubed 800-1000 308 cases at a time like this. Store the towel in a gallon ziplock bag when not in use. Once its impregnated adding lube and lubing is straight forward. if it becomes over lubed a little solvent and load of cases removes excess while lubing those cases.
This works well with the waxes, lanolins, stps, Crisco and others.
I started using the Lanolin and red Heat combo. and I got the exact thing as Dillon lube. The only difference is it separates and you need to shake the bottle before use. It is easy to clean off as it is water soluble.
What exactly is red heat or heat? I use the Dillion case lube on everything but my bottle is getting awful low and other than some hi grade iso alch that my pharmacy doesn’t sell not sure what I could add..
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Still using rcbs case lube on a pad that I got 30 odd years ago ,haven't had any problems and its water soluble so easy to remove .
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I use the Dillon lanolin/alcohol spray lube. By far the easiest for me to use, works great. It's free too, every year when the wife asks me what I want for my birthday I tell her..."Dillon Case Lube".
If red heet is just concentrated alcohol then why not just mix lanolin with de-natured alcohol. That’s a lot more concentrated and smells nice.
thanks for the info I’ll have a look next time I hit Walmart
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BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |