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DIY case lube works!!

4K views 22 replies 18 participants last post by  Earthquake 
#1 ·
Most of you might already know of the popular diy case lube made from Heet gas treatment (99%+ isopropyl alcohol) and lanolin. Well I tried my first batch of it last night and today and I'm pleased.

I initially mixed up the 12oz bottle with a good ounce of lanolin. That didn't seem rich enough. (Sizing once fired 308). So I added another 1/2ish ounce and then maybe another 1/2. I like it just a bit rich. It could be maybe thinner with 223 brass but it's fine as is for me.

I put it in spray bottle with a couple nuts to agitate. I lay brass on its side on a long folded dish towel. I point all brass towards me lined up even. My first pass with spray hits the necks. Then a quick pass with one pump to hit the body. 40 cases at a time. For speed I hit the brass now with a heat gun for a couple seconds each as I walk down the line. I can see the alcohol flash off. I then roll the brass 1/2 turn and hit the other side with one pass/one pump of sprayer. Heat gun real quick and I'm done. All in all this probably takes as much time to lube by hand with imperial wax 5 cases. So 1/8 the time.

Now I put the cases through the hornady full length sizer on my lock n load. I hand feed the case as I didn't bother with the case feeder. But I can put them through faster than my rock chucker since I don't have to remove the case.

But I am happy that I really shortened the lube time required. Imperial wax is great but took too much time. Now it's just a couple squirts. And I have big supply as I bought 12oz bottle over internet. I can do thousands of brass with what I just mixed. It takes three squirts to do 40 308 or 50 223.


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#3 ·
After I was introduced to electrician's wire pulling lube I haven't looked back. You can find it at most big box hardware stores, the stuff works for me, and it's been the cheapest option to boot.
 
#4 ·
This worked great for me up until I started in with .308...I presume that I had some MG brass and combined with a small base die, this was impossible to size. I had to grab my tube of Lee lube to get them sized. But yes, I do love the Alc/Lanolin otherwise, had never let me down to then.
 
#8 ·
#12 ·
I'm on my second bottle of Lee case lube. The first lasted med about 3 years, maybe 4. It cracked (from being squeezed I guess) before it was empty. I've loaded thousands of .308, 30.06 and .223 rounds with that first bottle.

I use the RCBS lube pad to roll them on. After resizing I put them in the vibratory cleaner with walnut shell media for about 30 minutes to remove the resizing lube.

I just ran across two bottles of RCBS case lube while looking for some .300 BO brass yesterday. I'd forgotten when/where I bought those but they were covered with dust from a few years of sitting on the shelf in the garage.

I like reading about alternate ways of getting stuff done. Home made case lube, like home made bore cleaner and using motor oil for fire arms lubrication leave us open to options should we ever have trouble getting the store bought stuff.
 
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#15 ·
Seems like you're Rube Goldberging a simple process.
I just put some lanolin into the palm of my hand and roll the cases between my palms.
Process a lubed case every other case, never an issue. Qtip some inside the neck, every 3 or 4th case.
Now? Send the brass out for processing. Worth every penny.
 
#16 · (Edited)
The reason I use the plastic bag method is that I am doing 200 at a time for use in a progressive press with a case feeder.
I will typically size and trim 1,000 7.62 or 2,000-3,000 5.56 at a time.
From the plastic bag they get thrown on the cookie sheet.
200 in the case feeder and 200 on the cookie sheet so that the alcohol will evaporate.
I deprime, size, and trim in one sequence.
If I'm sizing by hand I use Hornady Unique which is very similar to Imperial Sizing Wax.

What are you being charged to process 1000 cases of 5.56 or 7.62?
 
#17 ·
wow,
lots of great replies. thanks for that.

the reason i don't use RCBS is expense. for 12oz it would be $24+

on machine gun 308 brass. i have been resizing that today without any trouble. i make sure i have the cases thoroughly covered and that the alcohol has evaporated. but then they size with very similar force to what was needed with imperial wax which i consider the best. i used that wax for sizing 50bmg.

getting the lube off. yes, that is not easily done nor was it easy with the imperial wax. But i have a system that works flawlessly. please listen for those that struggle.

wax and other oils can be hard to remove with just detergent. i wet stainless steel tumble my brass before and after sizing. after sizing to get the lube off, i add about 3/4 cup of denatured alcohol to the batch along with the two squirts of dawn and 1/4 teaspoon of lemishine. without the alcohol, the cases will not be fully clean. but with the alcohol, they are spotless and squeaky clean. the alcohol breaks down the lanolin or wax so the detergent can do its job.

i thought about the plastic bag way but was not sure i would get a mist of lube into all of the case necks. sure the ones pointing up would get some, but not all brass would be presenting the neck for lube. so to be sure, i have them laying on their side and shoot right across each neck opening.

i don't think i am rudegolberging it as i am trying to minimize handling. i didn't like picking up each case to lube with my fingers and then use a q-tip to get the neck when using imperial wax, so i am trying to eliminate that fussing about. the only handling i do is to lay them out in a line. so i can see that a plastic bag method could improve on that some as well. i might try that once to see for myself as that could speed up the process even a bit more.

i have processed about 1400 cases in the past day and a half spending an hour at a time. that also included eliminating the primer crimp. now only have to trim (waiting for girauad tri way trimmer) and prime by hand.
 
#19 ·
Seems like a lot of work! I roll 4-5 over the pad with RCBS, every half dozen or so I drag the neck of one thru some lube to keep the button slick and then tumble in corn cob. Its plenty fast and easy and does not entail concocting lubes and using Q tips or wiping off cases, all of which takes time. I would rather keep case sizing and cleaning time to absolute minimum.
 
#18 ·
I've used the Hornady One-Shot spray lube for many years. Never had any success with paste type or wax type lubes, always got hydraulic dents at the case shoulders. Clean the cases after sizing with cloth and denatured alcohol.

It's not so inconvenient since I really do more than 100 cases at a time.
 
#20 ·
I am still using the same old RCBS lube pad and tube of lube I bought when a teenager? Maybe my second or third?
Had my first case stick in my RCBS 'X' die last night with my once fired Win commercial brass last night and will no longer use it! IT IS SOFT!
Had to go out in the garage and do the 'drill and tap' routine to get it out.
 
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#21 ·
WaM14gunner,

I switched to crushed walnut over corn cob to avoid the plugged primer holes
 
#23 ·
I found 99.9% isopropyl alcohol on Amazon by the gallon, comes in four 1 quart bottles, I have not made any yet because I still have a couple bottles of Dillon lube to use up. I found pure lanolin on line from a sight called Vitacost which was funny because they are in Las Vegas, they usually have a 15% savings if you sign up for emails which does not brother me and it paid for shipping...
https://www.vitacost.com/home-health-liquid-lanolin?ta=lanolin&t=lanolin
I use the cardboard tray my wet dog food comes in for lube trays, I dump in a load of brass and give it a good spray with the lube and mix it and spray it again then I let sit for 20-30 minutes for the alcohol to dry, you don't want to try to size if the cases are still wet with alcohol is wet, I also roll the cases between my finger as I put them in the press.
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