What’s the best case lube? Mine isn’t cutting it for Lee APP

I purchased a Lee APP to handle my primer pocket swaging, bullet sizing and case sizing for .223 and 308. I have always used Marvel Mystery oil to lube cases and it has worked for me for over 30 years. Unfortunately, it doesn’t cut it for the Lee APP and I keep getting stuck cases. I started using Marvel Mystery oil when I started reloading at the age of 16. I needed a case lube and that was what was sitting on the shelf at the time. Probably not the best but has always worked and you know what they say about old habits.

Imperial Sizing Wax for me.

Another vote for imperial sizing wax. Give it a try, the 2oz can last nearly forever and it wipes off so easily.

I have the APP and think it is a great tool. But I can't see it lasting long sizing 308 brass . It gust seems to be to light for that kind of work .
When you say stuck do you mean to the point of pulling the case head off ? Or does it lack the leverage to pull the case from the die ?

Anhydrous Lanolin and castor oil, mix them together and SLOWLY heat until mixed.

I use sizing lube by Hornady, easy on and easy to clean off. A little tub of it will last literally years!

10 parts 99% isopropyl alcohol to 1 part of liquid lanolin. Wait untill the alcohol evaporates off.

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Originally Posted by Pipefitter

Anhydrous Lanolin and castor oil, mix them together and SLOWLY heat until mixed.

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The same works for me. Sometimes I mix it with alcohol so I can spray it on.

It's gonna sound crazy but I've been using a spritz of Pledge furniture polish for years for cases and boolits with nothing but success. I also like to convince myself that the lemon in the Pledge helps clean my cases too.

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Originally Posted by onelight

I have the APP and think it is a great tool. But I can't see it lasting long sizing 308 brass . It gust seems to be to light for that kind of work .
When you say stuck do you mean to the point of pulling the case head off ? Or does it lack the leverage to pull the case from the die ?

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I just set it up last night and was sizing some 223’s running along very fast about the 10th case in it pulled the case right out of the shell holder and was stuck all the way in the sizing die. Happened 3 times averaged about every 8 to 10 cases. Has to be the lube.

Hornady, RCBS or Imperial. I try to save the Imperial for case forming. 3 stuck cases in 60 years of handloading. None were the fault of any of the lubes.

The APP isn't meant or designed to me used to resize cases with the express shell holder. There isn't enough rim contact and you will pull cases out of the shellholder and stick them on a regular basis, probably with any case lube. Save resizing brass for a press with a regular shell holder.

Lee states somewhere to use a regular shell holder for resizing. So you loose the automation of sizing cases. And the leverage isn't there, so Id just use a real press and save myself the aggravation of having to remove stuck cases from the die.

Under the Lee APP instructions in the section about Xpress, shellholders, they state not to use for sizing bottleneck cases.

"The pass-through design reduces the amount of "pull" that can be applied to the cartridge. That said, we do not recommend full length resizing rimless bottleneck case. If you insist, we recommend using only Lee dies and Lee case resizing lubricant #90006, Only Lee dies include a built in stuck case remover in the event you damage a rim and stick a case"

I wonder if the case feeder would feed into a regular shell holder if you manually removed the sized case .
Any one tried that ?

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Originally Posted by fralic76

10 parts 99% isopropyl alcohol to 1 part of liquid lanolin. Wait untill the alcohol evaporates off.

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Or Imperial sizing wax especially for 223 or thin rimmed cartridges. I spray the lanolin in a baggie and roll the cases around till coated...... And keep a stuck case remover handy especially with 223's.

.223 (or 5.56 if you prefer) is bad about sticking cases. I have stuck a few others in my time, but by far the most common was rifle fired 5.56 LC cases.

Case lube? Most slick things will work, I've even used WD-40 and tumbled in walnut media afterwards. The best I've found is Imperial Sizing die wax, with plain old STP a close second. The Imperial is less messy though.

Bag Balm is supposed to work fine, never tried it for case lube though.

Robert

I took about an ounce or so of Hornady Unique Case lube and resolved it in Heet(12oz) in a spray bottle. I placed the spray bottle in some hot water and after several minutes the case lube had dissolved. Place your brass on a plastic tray, spray them and allow to dry for several minutes after which you can now resize. It works slicker than snot.

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Originally Posted by fralic76

10 parts 99% isopropyl alcohol to 1 part of liquid lanolin. Wait untill the alcohol evaporates off.

Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk

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+1 for this mix. I had to get my pharmacy to order the 99% alcohol but it works.

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Originally Posted by murf205

+1 for this mix. I had to get my pharmacy to order the 99% alcohol but it works.

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Won’t have any problem getting this. I’m a pharmacist.

Of the spray on, Dillon lube. Hornady Oneshot s better than spit but not by much. Hornady’s Unique lube, works great though better than any spray lube and of what I have tried #2 to only imperial sizing die wax.