Home made case lube

[Rutland lad]

Morning all - can any of you suggest a good home recipe for case lube.
It’s got to be sensible ingredients that I can easily obtain and at not ridiculous expense.
I’m getting fed up with using messy stuff that takes a lot of effort to clean off after use or clogs my dies.

in conjunction with the above - who uses graphite to lube the inner lip of case neck ? And what product do you use ?

cheers - looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

 

[phaedra]

Usual mix is about 11 parts Isopropanol to 1 part liquid lanolin (not the thick anhydrous type)

Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of a shortage, Amazon is now £20 for the 4oz bottle, I was getting them from the US for about £5 last year, now £8.45

Liquid Lanolin Pure, 4 fl oz (118 mL) Bottle

What is Lanolin? A wax derived from the wool of domestic sheep, lanolin offers numerous natural skin-supportive benefits. This waterproof wax helps keep water from soaking into the wool of the sheep and is believed to help protect the sheep’s skin and wool from environmental factors. It is...

gb.pipingrock.com

Spray on a bag or box full of cases, mix up, leave for 10-20mins for the isopropanol to evaporate and off you go

Handy tip, before mixing stand both in a sink of warm/hot water to heat up, the lanolin mixes more easily.

 

[Smellydog]

Beeswax and olive oil. Coconut fat and olive oil. Tallo and olive oil. Candlewax and olive oil.
Easy peasy.

 

[Rutland lad]

Beeswax and olive oil. Coconut fat and olive oil. Tallo and olive oil. Candlewax and olive oil.
Easy peasy.

Any ratio recommendations?

 

[Smellydog]

Any ratio recommendations?

I just guess it. Melt it, mix it, let it set. If to stiff add more oil or visa versa.

 

[User00044]

Don't know if he's still making it , try @Dr. Strangelove

 

[finnbear270]

Isopropyl Alcohol / Lanolin.

 

[Dazb1967]

Isopropyl Alcohol / Mineral oil, Can't remember the ratio but there's loads of tips on YouTube

 

[nCognitos]

I use the Lee case lube, 1 part lube, 4 parts water and 4 parts isopropyl alcohol to make 550ml. Put it in a spray bottle and spray into a bag containing cases, then agitate, remove and let air dry before sizing. £5 of Lee lube and £5 of alcohol will make enough to last for a couple of years, no smell and little mess though you do have to wash your hands after taking the cases out of the bag. It's water soluble as well, so the loading trays can go into the dishwasher! If you have trouble getting the Lee lube, you can get 3M wire pulling lube from Amazon for £12 but there is twice as much and you will need a 1l spray bottle to dilute, that will definitely last you years and you need to leave room to shake the bottle to mix the contents before use! Dilute Case Resizing Lube for using in a spray bottle. You don't need to clean the cases afterward but if you want to, a quick wet or dry tumble will do the job, I used to use Imperial wax and graphite but this is way easier and much less messy.

I love the old ways of doing things but sometimes modern materials are developed for a good reason.

I have the Imperial Graphite dry lube but that does leave a residue inside the die which needs cleaning up, since switching over to the Lee method above, I don't need the graphite, as the necks get lubed in the bag.

I've found the diluted Lee lube works really well with Forster and Hornady dies, for Lee dies I had to use it at a lower dilution as they seem to be rougher on the inside.

 

[TheCornishman]

Morning all - can any of you suggest a good home recipe for case lube.
It’s got to be sensible ingredients that I can easily obtain and at not ridiculous expense.
I’m getting fed up with using messy stuff that takes a lot of effort to clean off after use or clogs my dies.

in conjunction with the above - who uses graphite to lube the inner lip of case neck ? And what product do you use ?

cheers - looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

Coconut oil straight out of the jar..no alchemy required

 

[nun_hunter]

Unless you like spending ages lubing cases then go for the lanolin and alcohol. You can either stand all the cases up in a tray and spray on or just them all in a sandwich bag and spray on and mix up a bit. Takes seconds to do 100 cases and you can't really go wrong and over lube them if you get the mix right as they'll look wet and lubed after a couple of sprays and then good to go. Life is too short to be applying lube individually to cases and making sure you don't get too much on.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Don't know if he's still making it , try @Dr. Strangelove

I am, and I have some in stock currently!

 

[Selous]

So with the lanolin mix how do you remove it after sizing? Wipe off or tumble??

 

[nun_hunter]

So with the lanolin mix how do you remove it after sizing? Wipe off or tumble??

I generally spray it on once fired brass, then de-prime and resize them (followed by any other bits that may be necessary, de-burr flash holes, trim to length, chamfer etc) throw it all in the tumbler and out comes shiny brass ready to reload. That's my method anyway.

 

[Rutland lad]

How much volume and how much money Dr Strangelove ?

 

[gonzo]

Isoprop/lanolin is my current lube.

I was getting issues with sticky cases after wet tumbling and this was holding a lot of dirt. Having to wash that off with paraffin afterwards.
But I've now moved the paraffin wash to before tumbling, and the results are better. The paraffin takes the lube off then the tumbling water keepd the dirt/residues.

 

[finnbear270]

So with the lanolin mix how do you remove it after sizing? Wipe off or tumble??

Squirt of washing up soap, glug of lemon juice, wet tumble.