Swage lube

[buck1]

Hello all! Taking my first baby steps here. What lube(s) are used to swag boolits?...Buck :confused:

[ANeat]

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

[deltaenterprizes]

STP or Bag Balm(lanolin) works great

[richbug]

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

[coyote]

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.

[MightyThor]

I still like straight lanolin on my finger tips.

[Smokin7mm]

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

[richbug]

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.

[buck1]

Thanks !!!!!

[Radio Flyer]

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.

[BT Sniper]

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.

[Smokin7mm]

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

[richbug]

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?

[ANeat]

Does sheep juice have some magical properties that make the bullets shoot better?


Some farmers would say yes [smilie=6::kidding::lol:

[kawalekm]

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.

[ANeat]

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

[Bullshop]

We use bullplate

[Al in Mi]

what do you guys use to clean your bullets when finished?

water, solvent, tumble?

[Radio Flyer]

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.

[BT Sniper]

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.

[Radio Flyer]

I'm not allergic to lanolin but now that I do everything by hand I just find pure lanolin just a bit to thick and sticky on the fingers, I find a thinner mixture uses less and I have less a chance to get lube dents in the ogive.

[Buckshot]

................I've used Imperial case sizing lube (which I believe contains lanolin), RCBS pad type case lube, and that supplied as a sample by RCE when I got my press and dies. They each seemed to work and I couldn't tell if one was better then the other or not. And just a tiny bit of any of them worked.

I'd bought some Castrol Safety Draw 722X when Enco first advertised it. It was recommended for deep heavy duty drawing, and as an extreme pressure taping lube. It's a wax oil and will seperate over time. I plan on giving it a try when I have a chance to do some swaging and see what/how it does.

.............Buckshot

[MightyThor]

what do you guys use to clean your bullets when finished?

water, solvent, tumble?

My secret for bright brass bullets is to grab a handfull and squirt a pump of simple orange hand cleaner on them and roll them in my hands over an icecream bucket full of hot water. When they slip out of my hand into the bucket I grab the next handful. Then rinse them real well and repeat the process with a dab of Crest whitening tooth paste. Dry them in an old t shirt.

[Country]

My secret for bright brass bullets is to grab a handfull and squirt a pump of simple orange hand cleaner on them and roll them in my hands over an icecream bucket full of hot water. When they slip out of my hand into the bucket I grab the next handful. Then rinse them real well and repeat the process with a dab of Crest whitening tooth paste. Dry them in an old t shirt.

What do you mean by " bright brass bullet" Are you talking about a jacketed bullet. If so I clean my swaged jacketed bullets with a stuff called CLR it's sulfamic acid it's a bathroom cleaner. You mix 1 cup of CLR with a pint or two of warm water. It cleans them up perfect within a few seconds.
It is also good for cleaning the jackets before swaging and cartridge casese.
After you rinse the bullets in Shellite and it drives off the water. Then the shellite drys real quick. You have to make sure that any hollow points are dry.

[MaxJon]

I have 100gm of A...lanolin, and 50ml of castor oil. Silly question.....would a 50/50 mix be 50ml with 50gm?? Both the same weight, but semi-solid and liquid.
Tia!

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

Bullbarrel, I mixed mine 50/50 by volume, works fine, add more lanolin if you want it thicker. No rocket science involved or I'd have been lost!!

[MaxJon]

Bullbarrel, I mixed mine 50/50 by volume, works fine, add more lanolin if you want it thicker. No rocket science involved or I'd have been lost!!

Thanks Packrat!

[GONRA]

GONRA uses Corbin's Swage Lube when using Corbin CSP-2 Mega-Mite ™ press,
Corbin Boolit Forming Dies / equipment. (Verks PERFECTLY so would be nuts to "switch".)

Otherwise, like any other Deplorable Card Carrying Redneck -
use STP Oil Treatment for everything - reloading, custom case forming / cupping drawing etc....

[marten]

Tallow, used in industry as a release, works well for swaging (and reloading)

[just bill]

I bought the pure lanolin in block form and made the 50/50 mix with castor oil. It is a bit stiff. How can it be more fluid. I don't know if adding more liquid lanolin be the answer.
Bill

[reed1911]

Bill you can up the castor oil to thin it out some.

[ohnomrbillk]

I bought the pure lanolin in block form and made the 50/50 mix with castor oil. It is a bit stiff. How can it be more fluid. I don't know if adding more liquid lanolin be the answer.
Bill

Blackmon uses 5 parts lanolin and 6 parts castor oil

It is about like Vaseline consistency

[Traffer]

I have been using Lee Case Lube but I only swage lead. I heard that it has lanolin in it so I bought some lanolin. Haven't thinned it yet but I would like to get it to the same consistency of the Lee Case Lube. It seems like it has been hydrolyzed. Which is the process that they use to whip water into oil to make shortening for cooking. Doesn't take much water but it makes a big difference in the finished product. I am not sure how the process works. Will have to look it up.

[Traffer]

Here are a couple of interesting reads if you are so inclined. Apparently hydrolysis is not merely whipping water into an oil at all:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolysis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanolin

[just bill]

Bill you can up the castor oil to thin it out some.

Thanks Ron, I picked up some castor oil and found the tub of lube. I guess the one year sitting on the shelf mellowed out the mixture. It was just right.
Bill

[just bill]

Blackmon uses 5 parts lanolin and 6 parts castor oil

It is about like Vaseline consistency

I thought the 50/50 was a little stiff when I made it, however ageing seems to mellow out the lube.
Bill

[reed1911]

You can also thin it out temporary using alcohol. I cut mine with 90% strength rubbing alcohol for lubing large volume of jackets. It helps spread out the lube much more evenly and evaporates quite quickly (that's why the 90%; you can get stronger 95% and 99% but it's really cheap for 90% at Walmart, 1Qt runs about 2.00)

[M.A.D]

For 25 years ive used 100% Lanolin And Castor Oil.... 500 gm of Lanolin in a pot, melt it , add 700 ml of castor Oil... Stir in and let set..

[ohnomrbillk]

I stirred mine together at room temperature with a kitchen aid mixer that has the scraping spatula.

It was pretty homogenous at that time, but a little on the stiff side and an opaque off white color.

I then placed that metal bowl in the oven and turned it up to a little above the melting point of lanolin (I looked it up in a Merck Index from my chemistry days. That book is packed in a box somewhere). I checked it every fifteen minutes, and in an hour it looked like a clear, Vaseline colored homogenous liquid.

I poured the liquid into containers for storage and allowed them to cool. They then looked and felt very much like Vaseline, nearly identical to what Dr. Blackmon sent me, and just a little thinner than the Corbin lube.

Now that they have sit for a year, sometimes some liquid will rise to the top like peanut oil does in natural peanut butter. I just stir it in prior to use.

[DukeInFlorida]

I buy my anhydrous Lanolin from Randy Rat, here on the forum. I mix 80% lanolin with 20% Militec 1 synthetic oil. I put em both in a small jar, and have made a small mixing propeller from a wirecoat hanger. I mix until the lanolin looks a bit more yellow. After it sits, the air will come out, and the lube will be perfect for swaging.
I cleaning with Walmart brakecleaner. Maybe not good for the environment, but it works great.

[Bills Shed]

I am still running the 50/50 mix lanolin / castor oil, by weight, and it does all my draw and swage requirements. Temp of the reloading room has a lot to do with the thickness of this brew.
Cleaning is done in two tins of Shelite. For jackets that have been drawn and trimmed and ready for core seating, it is a pre rinse in a tin which gets 90% of the lube off and then a dip in unused Shelite to make them spotless. Jackets are then tumbled lubed in 1000 lots. The used Shelite that now contains a bit of lanolin is used to pre lube my cut cores prior to swaging them to weight. I dip the cores and then let them dry. This ensures each core has the same amount of lube and I do not need to tumble them to lube them. Once swaged the cores are dipped in the prerinse tin and then in unused Shelite to make them ready for seating. I now do every thing 1000 at a time.
the used Shelite can be filtered a bit through a rag to get the core swaging "fines" out of it if you want.

Bill

[Fla9-40]

Has anyone ever tried the lanolin/ISO-HEET (99% Isopropanol) mixture as a swage lube or will this be to light?
Maybe add more lanolin than alcohol?

[Bills Shed]

Shelite that has a bit of lanolin in it is what I use to Swage cores. The Shelite evaporites off and leaves a very thin film on the core . Every core is consistent that way. Tumbling works just as well but using a liquid that evaporates quickly means I can get on with it. I think the alcohol /lanolin mix would be way to thin for heavy swaging and drawing and would not stand up well at all. That said you could give it a go, you do not need a lot of lube for the core seat and point form but do not go too little as you do not want a stuck projectile. When core seating you do not want lube inside the jacket. That is why I tumble the jackets for the core seat and PF
Bill

[Traffer]

Help Me, H e l p m e. I swage 22 rim fire bullets. I want to powder coat them with only gloss clear powder coat. I love the shiny lead finish but I need to clean the swage lube off of them first (I use Lee Case Lube). Does anyone know what I can clean them with that will leave them shiny? Or am I asking the impossible?

[Bills Shed]

Are you making a lead tip??? If you are making projectiles out of 22 cases they are not" shiny lead". Sorry if I am mis-understanding what you are after. Why powder coat?

Bill.S

[reed1911]

I think he is swaging the bullets themselves for use in re-loading or pulling the factory bullets and loading his swaged bullets into .22LR cases. That is, he is swaging heel based bullets.

[Traffer]

Are you making a lead tip??? If you are making projectiles out of 22 cases they are not" shiny lead". Sorry if I am mis-understanding what you are after. Why powder coat?

Bill.S

I am swaging 40 grain 22lr bullets from 9-10 bhn lead. I use them in reloading 22lr and for loading some of the Eley primed 22lr cases that I have. They come out really nice. I use a very small amt of Lee case lube for swaging them. I do not want to powder coat over even the tiniest layer of lube, so I need to clean them first. I love the "fresh out of the die" swaged bullet color of raw shiny lead and bought some clear gloss powder coat for them. My question is, "what can they be cleaned with to keep that really nice mirror bright lead shine?". Here are some bullets made earlier. They are nicer now.
205675
205677

[hardcase54]

I use "dawn" dish soap for cores, Corbin's lube for everything else.