Case lube tip

[jonnefudge]

Maybe it’s old news but I have just tried lanolin and isopropanol for resizing case lube and it works amazingly well. Just 1/10 lanolin and 9/10 isopropanol in a spraybottle. Spray onto brass and wait a couple of minutes for the isopropanol to dry then you are good to go. Very cheap, very fast, and non toxic. Also reduces over applying lube that results in dirty dies.

Strongly recommend!!

[kilotanker22]

Nice tip. I may try that sometime, but I hate spraying cases personally. I am always afraid I am gonna get some inside the case and taint powder.

I have been using a little tin of wax from Redding. Stuff works great. I just apply a little to my fingers and apply to cases as I load them

[Average Joe]

Instead of using regular alcohol, use Heet from Walmart ( found in the auto section) It's 99% pure alcohol, and contains no water, so it evaporates much faster.

[jonnefudge]

Yes you should only use 99%. Imo Don’t worry about tainting the powder I know plenty of really serious prs-shooters using this method. Might be wrong though.

[locknloader]

I’ve been using this mixture exclusively since I started reloading 223, stuff is amazing.

[hounddawg]

On a post a while back on the subject someone posted if you use Heet get the red not the yellow. The yellow Heet contains methanol. The red Heet contains isopropyl. Evidently isopropanol is a better solvent for lanolin than methanol is.

Back to the OP I switched from Imperial wax to the home made stuff a couple of years back and love it

[Unclenick]

The regular yellow product is called Heet, while the red is called Iso-Heet, so you can tell the latter is isopropyl alcohol. It's around $0.55/ounce where I've looked. Cheaper, if you don't mind getting a larger quantity, is to but 99% anhydrous isopropyl alcohol under its own name. It's expensive a Walmart because it is medical grade ($1.07/ounce in a gallon quantity), but Amazon has the even purer 99.9% pure MG chemicals at $0.40/oz in a quart bottle with free shipping via Prime, if you have it already. If you buy 6 bottles, it goes down to $034/ounce. The granddaddy of cheap is one vendor who will sell you 4 gallons of the 99% stuff for $0.0145/ounce, but that's before shipping. That's a case where going in on it with 3 friends to get a gallon each would make the most sense.

Hornady has a mink oil-based lube called Unique. It is guaranteed not to contaminate powder. A 4-ounce tub costs about what 1 ounce of Imperial does. I've tried it and it seems to work. It's a little easier to get enough to cause shoulder dents than is the case with Imperial, but that's just a matter of being careful not to overapply it.

[hounddawg]

you could probably get by with just 91% from the drugstore just fine, once the bottle is open any anhydrous liquid will start to absorb water from the air. I bet my bottle of 99% pure iso is about 85-90% after being opened and shut a number of times. It would work just as well, maybe take another minute to dry

[HiBC]

Regarding contaminating the powder with lube:
If you stood all your brass up in a loading block,and sprayed from overhead,you would have the full area of the neck I.D receiving lube.Probably not best practice,but nobody stands the brass up in a loading block and sprays down from overhead.

If the brass is laying on its side,there is theoretically zero area of open neck exposed to the spray if it comes from directly overhead. Kind of like you can enjoy standing in the doorway of a barn watching the rain and stay dry if the wind isn't blowing.

If we apply that idea to spraying the lube on,if the brass is fairly spread out,like in a cake pan ,its mostly horizontal.There is not much open neck target area to hit. We are not flooding the brass,we mist it.Then,we shake it around to transfer the lube,like tossing a salad.

The point: If you do it right you don't have to worry.And the slight amount that might crawl into some of the necks is not a runny pool of oil.It gets wiped by the expander plug. IMO,a little of that is actually a good thing.

[cw308]

I always use RCBS Case Lube for rifle , lube the inside of the necks also , I use the expander ball. Then back in the wet tumbler to remove lube . Try to keep things simple .

[jonnefudge]

A wet tumble or just put in a bucket with water and some dish soap and shake it should remove all lube inside the cases. Should probably also rinse with clean water and dry the cases.

[StripesDude]

Use one of those disposable Tupperware containers. Spray the lube in the container, pour some brass in, close the lid and shake. No lube in brass and brass ends up coated. I’ve never had dented shoulder issues with this method and it beats rolling on a pad.

[Road_Clam]

Not interested in chasing down misc chems and brewing a mix. Dillon case lube in a large ziploc bag, "shake-n-bake". I use Imperial wax for bottleneck rifle.

[ed308]

Dillon in a large plastic tupperware is what I use for my progressive press. Various finger rubs for the precision loads on the single stage press. But I do use Lanolin for forming my wildcat brass. Thick stuff too. Little bit goes a long way.

[CommandoX]

I too switched to the 99% and lanolin mixture last year. Absolutely one of the best changes I made to my reloading process. Heck, I'm still on my first batch of the stuff and I've used it on pistol cartridges as well as rifle. Thousands of cases processed. A little goes a long way when the brass is mixed in tupperware. I've had zero problems using this method so far and only drop the brass in the walnut shell for 20 mins. to clean off the lube after sizing. Great stuff.

[locknloader]

@road_clam - The "Brew" is literally 2 things dumped into a spray bottle and your done. Why overpay for Dillon lube?

[F. Guffey]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe it’s old news but I have just tried lanolin and isopropanol for resizing case lube and it works amazingly well.

Back in the early 1950s Jack O'Conner wrote books on reloading; he claimed his hands hurt all of the time and the only relief he got was from Lanolin. In one of his books he said he used lanolin on his hands and when reloading he used extra lanolin for case lube. Today? Reloaders claim they discovered lanolin lube by adding alcohol and then there is enough difference in the percentage if the mix to give everyone credit for the discovery.

A month or two ago a reloader lubed his cases with lanolin and failed to tumble to remove the lanolin. I will tell you lanolin is like a super magnet of difficult to remove stuff from the case if left on the case to dry. I do not use lanolin.

I do use a 'no name lube', this stuff is as slick as okra. I know there is a difference because when forming the tuff to form cases forming is effortless.

Biases: I was asked to help a builder of bench rest type rifles form cases for his new wildcat. We all know had he been successful in his attempt he would not have asked for help. He told me not to bring my 'no name lube' but it was OK for me to bring the other shell holder for the 300 Win Mag.

Anyhow; first I determined it could be done and then formed 420 cases for his new creation. The cases that would only fit 'the other 300 Win Mag shell holder were left in boxes.

F. Guffey

[locknloader]

I use a very light application on the outside of the cases only, and do not clean them after. Have not had any issues with 223 using this method. Like the poster above said, if you have the cases on their sides there is a near 0% chance you are going to get it inside the case and contaminate the powder. I have also not experienced the lanolin acting as a dirt magnet.

With that said, i usually shoot up my reloads pretty quickly, if i was making some "long term storage" ammo, i would probably wash the cases just to be extra safe they would be ok sitting for months/years at a time.

[HiBC]

I use spray lube. The RCBS and the lanolin lubes work fine.

Something I have not tried,and,no,I don't know if it will work...An Old Guy I worked with kept a bar of cocoa butter in his tool box as a lubricant for press fits,specifically dowel pins.

It did work good for dowel pins.

Bulk lanolin can be bought on e-bay,cheap. I think cocoa butter may be a lot more expensive.

One reason to experiment with cocoa butter might be the "dirt magnet" complaint. Cocoa butter might seem "cleaner". IMO,if you don't use too much,lanolin is not bad.

Note,I'm NOT recommendinf cocoa butter! You stick a case,you are on your own. It works good for Dowel pins.

[F. Guffey]

I said Jack O'Conner's hands hurt all the time, at the time Lanolin gave him relief. When reloading he used extra lanolin on his hands for case lube. He did not claim he invented it and he did not say he reduced the lanolin with alcohol.

It is a safe guess to say he did not use alcohol because his hands were dry and cracked, split with opens wounds. I could say I understood how he felt but I would be lying because I have never had my hands split and crack. I did try lanolin as a lube, with straight lanolin I found it most annoying removing the lanolin when tumbling. My cases turned into dust/mud balls in the tumbler.

It was about that time I decided I had all types/kinds of lubes so I started a the process of elimination. Because no one give Jack any credit for his contribution I decided to call the lube I decided on 'no name'. I could have called it 'Tootsie Roll lube' because it last a long time, I am still using the first bottle I poured.

Running out? I still have lube from Lyman, RCBS, etc., I use my 'no name lube' on the tuffest to size/form cases. My old friend that died this last summer asked me not to bring my no name lube when helping size and or form cases because he insisted nothing worked like Dillon in a can or tube or Imperial. You guys could never guess how much trouble I had making that stuff look good.

F. Guffey

[HiBC]

Yes,me precious....those guys will never know...I'll keep you to myself ,me precious....

[hounddawg]

over the years I used Imperial for the longest time, tried paste style mink oil, Kiwi clear shoe polish, and Johnson paste furniture wax. Spray on lanolin lube works best for me. No shoulder dents and I just clean after sizing

[Mule]

I have used iso/lanolin for a long time. My habit is to spin in corn cob to remove the lube.

[F. Guffey]

My old friend that died this last summer asked me not to bring my no name lube when helping size and or form cases because he insisted nothing worked like Dillon in a can or tube or Imperial. You guys could never guess how much trouble I had making that stuff look good.

Yes,me precious....those guys will never know...I'll keep you to myself ,me precious....

The older man thought he would loose part of his identity if a lube with no name worked better than his 'BiG BRAND STUFF'. Nothing can be more modest and or humbling than a product called 'no name'.

He could not understand the concept of 'the cases resistance to sizing' some cases have more resistance to sizing than the press and die can overcome. And then there was all of the time he had invested in promoting 'the best lube'; and me? all I wanted to do was size and or form the cases.

To cut down on all of the arguing I had to first determine if 'it could be done' that soulds like a Jimmy Dean thing.

F. Guffey

[Metal god]

I've used 1.5oz of lanolin and 10oz of 91% isopropanol and have sized at least 3k 223 , 308 and 30-30 cases with that amount . I mean I've sized so many I can't really keep count , it may be 5k cases . With the 3 bottles of lanolin and about a gallon of isopropanol , I may very well have enough lube to last the rest of my life for like $50 . Anyone else think they'll spend $50 or less on case lube over the next 30yrs ?

It's cheaper then anything commercially available specifically designed for sizing cases . I get it though you'll save what $100 over 30yrs . Don't think anyone is really going to feel the hit in there wallet if they just go with commercial products over that time . The one benefit of the home brew IMO is $17 will have enough product sent to your house to last 10 years and that's sizing many thousands every year . So if you're loading that much at least you won't need to be going to the local gun store once a month to buy more lube or constantly ordering it online .

At some point I'm sure I'll be graduating to a full progressive press . Not sure what I'll use then . I know this same home brew will work but it leaves a very tacky residue I clean off buy dry tumbling after sizing and before I load the case . No way I want to deal with a fully loaded cartridge that is super tacky begging to have things stick to it .

For those of you that use this mixture with rifle cartridges on a progressive press . How do you keep it out of the insides of the necks/cases and what do you do about the sticky finished loaded cartridge ?