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Thread: Swage lube

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Swage lube

    Hello all! Taking my first baby steps here. What lube(s) are used to swag boolits?...Buck
    NRA LIFER .. "THE CAST BULLET HANDLOADER IS THE ONLY ONE THAT REALLY MAKES ANY OF HIS AMMUNITION. OTHERS MEARLY ASSEMBLE IT". -E.H. HARRISON

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  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    You can buy lube from either of the corbins or just buy some anhydrous lanolin and castor oil and make your own.

    You can get the lanolin and castor oil from the sage. Ive used an 80% lanolin to 20% castor oil mix.

    Its good stuff to have around for bullet lubes and other stuff also

    http://www.thesage.com/catalog/FixedOil.html

  3. #3
    Boolit Master


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    STP or Bag Balm(lanolin) works great

  4. #4
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    I have been using RCBS case lube 2 just because I have a bunch I'm tired of looking at.

  5. #5
    Boolit Mold coyote's Avatar
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    I use 50/50 mix anhydrous lanolin and castor oil melt it together in the microwave and you are good to go I use that mix for drawing jackets and swaging works great for me.

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy MightyThor's Avatar
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    I still like straight lanolin on my finger tips.
    "let's go. He ain't hittin' nothin'.".... "You IDIOT, he's hit everything he's aimed at!"

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by richbug View Post
    I have been using RCBS case lube 2 just because I have a bunch I'm tired of looking at.
    I think you will run into trouble eventually using case lube. I remember reading someware that it doesnt hold up as well under the pressures of swaging.
    I use the anhydrous lanolin and castor oil. My buddy picked it up somewhere but I think if you just do an internet search you can find it easily. If not Richard Corbin sells it right off of his website. http://www.rceco.com/
    Bret

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokin7mm View Post
    I think you will run into trouble eventually using case lube. I remember reading someware that it doesnt hold up as well under the pressures of swaging.
    I use the anhydrous lanolin and castor oil. My buddy picked it up somewhere but I think if you just do an internet search you can find it easily. If not Richard Corbin sells it right off of his website. http://www.rceco.com/
    Bret

    I ran 1500 bullets with it Friday. Quick and easy, I just tumble lubed them. What does it have to hold up?

    I'm allergic to lanolin, would have to use rubber gloves, I have no desire to reload using gloves.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    Thanks !!!!!
    NRA LIFER .. "THE CAST BULLET HANDLOADER IS THE ONLY ONE THAT REALLY MAKES ANY OF HIS AMMUNITION. OTHERS MEARLY ASSEMBLE IT". -E.H. HARRISON

    ----------------------
    "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
    Thomas Jefferson
    ------
    "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."
    -- Ronald Reagan

  10. #10
    The formula I am using now is a home-brew of 33% lanolin and 67% castor oil.

    I don't like a lube that is too thick, I use this mix for both swaging and reloading case sizing.

    I am going to start with 100% castor oil for case sizing and the same mix as above for swaging after this last batch is used up.

  11. #11
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    Anhydrous Lanolin. I like it a bit firm with only enough castor oil to make it a little smother. Only other thing I would recamend would be the imperial sizing die wax but the lanolin is by far the most recamended and all I will ever use anymore.
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  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by richbug View Post
    I ran 1500 bullets with it Friday. Quick and easy, I just tumble lubed them. What does it have to hold up?

    I'm allergic to lanolin, would have to use rubber gloves, I have no desire to reload using gloves.
    Swaging uses much higher pressures than sizing cases. I am just repeating what I have been told and read. I visit Richard Corbin about once a year, when I go down to southern Oregon for a silhouette tournament, to pick up new dies or to discuss bullet making ideas. When I first got into swaging and purchased his equipment I bought a jar of his swaging lube (not real expensive and it goes a long ways). I asked him about using other lubes and he did not recommend it but it was not just so I would buy his lube as he told me what was was made from and how to make it (Anhydrous Lanolin & castor oil) mixed up to about 50/50 to smooth it out depending on application, heat in microwave or double boiler to thin lanolin then mix in castor oil. Richard is a really nice guy and a wealth of information.
    If you are allergic to lanolin I am not sure what the substitute would be. You could go to the RCE site and e-mail Richard and ask and I am sure he would be more than willing to provide alternatives if there are any. Just my 2 cents.
    Bret

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokin7mm View Post
    Swaging uses much higher pressures than sizing cases. I am just repeating what I have been told and read. I visit Richard Corbin about once a year, when I go down to southern Oregon for a silhouette tournament, to pick up new dies or to discuss bullet making ideas. When I first got into swaging and purchased his equipment I bought a jar of his swaging lube (not real expensive and it goes a long ways). I asked him about using other lubes and he did not recommend it but it was not just so I would buy his lube as he told me what was was made from and how to make it (Anhydrous Lanolin & castor oil) mixed up to about 50/50 to smooth it out depending on application, heat in microwave or double boiler to thin lanolin then mix in castor oil. Richard is a really nice guy and a wealth of information.
    If you are allergic to lanolin I am not sure what the substitute would be. You could go to the RCE site and e-mail Richard and ask and I am sure he would be more than willing to provide alternatives if there are any. Just my 2 cents.
    Bret
    But if it works, and I have it, why would I want to change? Does sheep juice have some magical properties that make the bullets shoot better?

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by richbug View Post
    Does sheep juice have some magical properties that make the bullets shoot better?

    Some farmers would say yes

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    In the first edition of the ABC's of Reloading, Dean Grennell mentions benchrest bullet makers using lard/wood alcohol for high precision bullet making (page 181).

    I however have use 100% lanolin exclusively so far for all my bullet making. I recently get access to some pure castor oil, so I might start experimenting with that. What I've been doing is putting a dab of lanolin on a sheet of wax paper, and spread out a thin film of it across the surface. I then roll each jacket across the paper which picks up just a trace of lube.

    Since 100% lanolin seems to work just fine, I wonder how 100% castor oil would perform. I'll give it a try during my next swaging session.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    As for the allergies to Lanolin my wife was like that, or thought she was. She tried a little touch of the anhydrous lanolin on the inside of her arm and was fine.

    Now a wool coat or something will cause her to break out and itch, but just the lanolin has no effect. She had always thought it was the lanolin in the wool.
    Dont know if its something else used in the process, the fibers or something.

    I think the RCBS is a soap based lube right? I was reading somewhere that thats what most of the big companies use in their process.
    Dont know if its for cost, ease of use or what but it does work

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    We use bullplate

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub
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    what do you guys use to clean your bullets when finished?

    water, solvent, tumble?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Al in Mi View Post
    what do you guys use to clean your bullets when finished?

    water, solvent, tumble?
    In the past I used an acetone re-circulator (a closed system), but I switched to isopropyl alcohol when I was no longer operating in a commercial capacity for personal use.

    Trying to tumble them always damaged the fine tips and blunted the open tips on the copper jackets and got media stuck down inside the open tip.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Al in Mi View Post
    what do you guys use to clean your bullets when finished?

    water, solvent, tumble?

    Now there is the right question. I thought the cleaning of the bullets afterwards was the only dislike I had with making bullets. Tried a big towel and hamock style but they dented each other a bit. Now after bullet is formed a quick soak in some mineral sprits then layed out on towel to dry and a quick rool around on the towel does the trick. Easily cleans 100 or so at a time depending on how big you container is.

    Don't clean the seated core with mineral spirts before swaging final bullet as I have found even when I thought they where dry the left over mineral spirts conteracted with the lanolin and made bullet extraction dificult.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

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