Swaging Lube Discovery?

[Southron Sanders]

I have a big Crobin press and had swage a lot of .58 Minie Balls for an upcoming shoot. When I initally ordered the outfit from Corbin, I ordered a bottle of swaging lube from them.

Well, on that day I had to swage several hundred Minie Balls; I found I was completely out of the commercial swaging lube. In desperation, I raided the wife's kitchen and grabbed a can of that spray on, generic "No Stick" frying pan spray. (This is the stuff she sprays into a frying pan before cooking something in the pan.)

Well, I had my cores all laid out in a big tray down in the shop, I sprayed them LIGHTLY with the "No Stick" spray and then rolled them around with my hand a bit in the pan to distribute the No Stick "lube" evenly before it dried.

Then I started swaging. [This "Spray On" method beats the heck out of rolling EACH & EVERY CORE over a pad with commercial lube in it to "lube" every core. Needless to say, the "Spary On" feature is lightning fast compared to the old way I had been doing things!]

The No Stick "lube" worked wonderfully. No stuck bullets in the die and even my hollow points were coming out perfect. (Sometimes, with commercial lube, the buildup of lube in the nose portion of the die would cause a "hydraulic effect," preventing the hollow point nose from filling out properly.) Then it would be necessary to clean out the excess lube in the nose of the die.


This "lube build up" problem does not even exist with the "No Stick" kitchen spray! So, I am very happy with my cheap, generic, kitchen "No Stick" swaging spray!

[Swagerman]

I'm going to try some of that spray stuff, not that I really need it swaging cast pistol bullets, but might make it even better with some lubed bullets being resized.

Is it called Pam?

Jim

[quasi]

I wonder how it wold work as a case sizing lube?

[454PB]

I've got a funny story about Pam. I read somewhere that it worked great to prevent road grime from sticking to the chrome on motorcycles. My wife and I were heading out on a 300 mile motorcycle trip, and it was raining. I took a can of Pam and sprayed down the exhaust system, headers, and mufflers on the bike, and we headed into the storm. Within 10 miles the bike smelled like a giant french fry, and by the time we arrived at our destination, the Pam was cooked on and the whole exhaust system looked like the inside of a well seasoned cast iron skillet. It took me a whole day of cleaning and polishing with "Never Dull" to remove the cooked on Pam from my brand new motorcycle.

[Ricochet]

I know a guy who uses Pam as string & fretboard lube to play guitar. He can tear it up, too!

I've used it sprayed on boolits before sizing them. It's harder to get off than I thought it'd be, and when I oven heat treated them, they smoked and looked like they'd been tumbled in LLA.

[Southron Sanders]

I don't heat treat my swaged Minie Balls, so there is no possibility of the "Spray On" lube smoking or whatever.

I haven't tried the "Spray On" lube for case resizing-but wonder if it wouldn't possibly discolor the brass. As far as I am concerned, the major "plus" of the "Spray On" lube that it dries to form a slick, DRY film on my cores.

[NoDakJak]

I am glad to hear about your success with "Spray On" for swaging. I have been using RCBS Case Lube and it is a PITB. If anyone tries it as a case lube pease report your results. maybe i will try it sometime this week myself. Neil

[Red River Rick]

I use plain old WD-40, works great. I bought a new case lube pad and sprayed it with WD, let the solvents evaporate, then roll the slugs on the pad before swaging. The trick is to have just enough lube to do the job, too much will cause problems, as mentioned in one of the above posts

RRR

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Pam works great as a spatter shield when welding. I spray the tip of the MIG torch with it, to keep it clean. This has been common knowledge for many years.
Morgan

[Flinchrock]

I've got a funny story about Pam. I read somewhere that it worked great to prevent road grime from sticking to the chrome on motorcycles. My wife and I were heading out on a 300 mile motorcycle trip, and it was raining. I took a can of Pam and sprayed down the exhaust system, headers, and mufflers on the bike, and we headed into the storm. Within 10 miles the bike smelled like a giant french fry, and by the time we arrived at our destination, the Pam was cooked on and the whole exhaust system looked like the inside of a well seasoned cast iron skillet. It took me a whole day of cleaning and polishing with "Never Dull" to remove the cooked on Pam from my brand new motorcycle.

Oven cleaner will take burned on oil etc. off of your chrome, no joke, but don't get it on your paint!!

As long as yer in the kitchen,,,

[Southron Sanders]

Another "downside" of using Pam or a similar, generic "Spray On" lube for resizing cases would be that if the lube is not cleaned off of the dry cartridge; then the "slick" case would increase the thrust against the bolt when the round was fired. This is the same reason you are not supposed to shoot oily or greasy cartridges as the case walls do not properly adhere to the chamber walls when the round is fired.

[MT Gianni]

Next time you run low try 50-50 baby oil and anhydrous lanolin. A commercial swager says it is the equivelant of the commercial lube. Gianni

[cuzinbruce]

FWIW: Corbin's book on swaging recommends a 50/50 mix of castor oil and anhydrous lanolin.

[pjh421]

When you seat cores, you want them squeaky clean. Swishing them around in a coffee can with some acetone in it should take off the Pam. For Minie balls I'd just leave it on.

Paul

[yeahbub]

A light spritz of pan spray coating (I use generic, it's cheaper) works great as a case sizing lube, BUT, as noted above, it must be entirely removed or the faint residue will become stickier with time and foul up your hi-power matches. Don't ask how I know. For complete, 100% removal, wash the cases in aerosol oven cleaner (also generic), rolling and stirring while wearing a rubber glove, and adding small amounts of hot tap water to get the lye inside the cases. I rinse in hot water thoroughly and repeatedly to ensure it's all out. The cases will be brighter, squeaky clean and bone dry after an hour on a cookie sheet at 150 deg.

[georgeld]

Back in the mid 70's while trucking in the south I complained to someone about the LoveBugs destroying the new paint on the tractor. I was told to spray the nose of it with Pam and they'd never stick.

So I did! What a F-g mess that was! Dried out and got hard, nearly destroyed the paint getting the stuff off. From then on I just washed the bugs off when I got stopped long enough.

You folks that have never been in the south when they're out are really missing something. They mate in huge hords. Driving into a cloud of them is much like getting your windshield fully splattered in a big mudhole. Only the whole front of the vehicle is covered with them and they stick til washed off. You DON'T run the wipers either! That just smears them.

You southern guys, tell 'em more, hehe.

[bullet maker]

Hey everbody!!!
Here is a formula that I use all the time, and it makes wonderful lube, Its just like Corbins, except it is alot cheaper. Enjoy.




That is correct. Anhydrous Lanolin and Castor oil, mixed at about 1 pound (lanolin) to 4 oz of

oil. You can get this stuff from some on-line medical suppliers for about 50% of what you would spend having someone mixing it up for you and calling it swaging lub. It does take some time and effort to mix, so take your time and be careful about adding to much oil. It's the lanolin that does all the work and the oil only makes it easier to apply. It's great for resizing shells, too, and keeping your hands soft

I wanted to add that this is the same formula, or close to it, that Corbin`s lube is, except this is alot cheaper for swaging those bullets throughout the process.

bullet maker

[nicholst55]

The trick to saving money on this stuff is that you DO NOT need medical quality lanolin (or anything else)!

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

[teddyblu]

I know a custom bullet maker that uses crisco for a lube. what I didn"t ask at the time if it was crisco oil or the solid crisco shortning.

Larry

[bullet maker]

The trick to saving money on this stuff is that you DO NOT need medical quality lanolin (or anything else)!

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

OK I went and looked at it, so what is the ratio I`m suppose to be using? Do you use it, and if you do, what is the ratio you use? What is the cost to you.?

Thanks

bullet maker