Let's talk about case lube....

rwsmith

rwsmith

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Last night I was resizing .38 and .357 brass. I had finished my can of Lyman 'Case Slik' that always worked pretty well and started using Hornady 'One Shot' that I bought because I figured that Hornady had to be good. I noticed it was taking a LOT of effort to resize the cases. I kept shooting more 'One Shot' on the cases and the required force didn't improve by much. I had a bottle of RCBS 'Case Lube 2' and started using that. The effort immediately was reduced to a comfortable level.

I've also got some Imperial Sizing Wax that works well but it's easier to just spray on the lube, IF it does the job.

SO, have ya'll noticed that some case lubes are better than others? How about Hornady 'One Shot'?
 
When I started handloading in 1965, I used Vicks Vapo-Rub to lube .30-06 brass and the then wildcat case, .25-06. Vicks worked fine and I don't believe I used anything else until about 1971 when I started loading handgun cartridges. I must have run out of Vicks and tried some now forgotten commercial lube.

About forty years ago, I did a lot of wildcat and Improved case forming, a dozen or more, but don't recall what lube I was using then.

Imperial works well as does the Hornady waxy lube and the Redding water soluble lube. I've probably tried others I can't remember. I don't think I ever used a bad lube but have never tried the spray on kind.

And let's not forget plain Vaseline. It works, too.
 
rwsmith said:
Last night I was resizing .38 and .357 brass. I had finished my can of Lyman 'Case Slik' that always worked pretty well and started using Hornady 'One Shot' that I bought because I figured that Hornady had to be good. I noticed it was taking a LOT of effort to resize the cases. I kept shooting more 'One Shot' on the cases and the required force didn't improve by much. I had a bottle of RCBS 'Case Lube 2' and started using that. The effort immediately was reduced to a comfortable level.

I've also got some Imperial Sizing Wax that works well but it's easier to just spray on the lube, IF it does the job.

SO, have ya'll noticed that some case lubes are better than others? How about Hornady 'One Shot'?
Click to expand...

I have been reloading .38 Spl, .357 Mag, 45acp, 45 Colt & 9mm since the early 1980's using Carbide Dies on a Dillon 650 Press (started out reloading with a Dillon SD-B). I have never used case lube of any type on handgun cartridges. Never. I have never had any issues with resistance at all. Dillon specifically states that their Carbide Dies require no lubrication.
I also have an RCBS single stage press for large rifle calibers like 38-55, 45-70 Govt. and use Hornady One Shot case lube on those. It works fantastic and will not foul the powder! The key is that after spraying the cartridges in bulk, they need a few minutes to dry. After that you should be GTG.

I would suggest that if you are reloading lot's of stuff, Carbide Dies may be the way to go which will eliminate the lube all together.

Just curious as to which press and dies sets you have.
 
+50 years lubing cases .
Don't care too much for the spray can lube's ... wasteful and they don't work real well .
My favorite is Lee Case Lube ... mixed with alcahol and placed in a small spray pump bottle or simply applywith fingers .
Bag Balm is a good Lanoline based hand conditioner , giid for hands , feet and to lube cases .
For heavy duty resizing ... STP Oil Treatment on a clean ink pad will get the job done ... it reminds me of the Old RCBS and Lyman case lubes ,
Greasy stuff but good case sizing / forming lube .
I like the Lee case lube because it is water soluable , dries fast and easy to wipe off resized cases ... and it works for all but the heaviest resizing jobs.

Gary
 
Two simple things. 1) Make sure it is One Shot Case Lube and not One Shot Gun Lube/Cleaner. 2) You have to shake the can often, it separates quickly. If you are doing it right, there will be a translucent, waxy film on the cases!

Do not use gun Lubricants to lube cases, except Breakfree CLP! Many other brands will foul the primers! Breakfree won't!

Ivan
 
After the obligatory introduction of I have been reloading for a very long time, decades in fact, I will say for most of my resizing duties I use RCBS Case Slick in the spray bottle. It works well and isn't all that messy. I lay the cases out in a baking pan with a paper towel under them and give the cases one or two shots of Case Slick. I do this for almost all my cases even ones that go thru a carbide sizing die. While most straight walled pistol cases don't need a lube in carbide dies, it doesn't hurt them or the dies at all if they are lubed just a bit.

Win. 308/7.62 cases are different for me. If I don't use a heavier lube on them I will most certainly suffer a stuck case in my resizing die. It's not the end of the world if I get a case stuck in a die, but it's a pain to deal with. For those cases I break out the RCBS lube pad and bottle of Case Lube-2. I drop about 12 drops of lube on the pad and smear it around then roll about half a dozen cases on the pad. From then on I can size about 1 lubed case for every 2 un-lubed cases and never worry about jamming a case in my re-sizing die. No other cartridge in my reloading inventory is as difficult as the .308/7.62 to resize and I can get away with Case Slick spray on them.

Years ago I tried Hornady One Shot on my cases to be resized and it worked okay, but not as good as Case Slick. No spray lube works for me on .308/7.62 cases. The only down side to using Case Lube-2 is having to wipe off each case after resizing to get the leftover lube off, but it's part of the fun in reloading.

Rick H.
 
I like the Lee case lube, too!
It’s what I started with decades ago, using the Lee Loader kits.

The nice thing about it is that it won’t hurt you. Apply it with your bare fingers if you like.
It works wet, or let it dry.
Easy to wipe off, too.
 
I have been using homemade spray lube for years. Mine is 1 oz lanolin to 10 oz ISO HEET(in the red bottle). The ISO HEET is basically 100% alcohol with a little detergent. I'm in CA and it's the only source of 100% alcohol that's available. Put cases in a ziploc bag, shake up lube an spray a couple squirts in the bag, massage the bag and put them in a loading block to dry a bit. Never had a stuck case....even 30-06
 
rwsmith said:
Last night I was resizing .38 and .357 brass. I had finished my can of Lyman 'Case Slik' that always worked pretty well and started using Hornady 'One Shot' that I bought because I figured that Hornady had to be good. I noticed it was taking a LOT of effort to resize the cases. I kept shooting more 'One Shot' on the cases and the required force didn't improve by much.
Click to expand...

I haven't used a lot of One Shot case lube, but have some advice from what I've read. Apparently it's very important to thoroughly clean any other lube from your dies before using One-Shot. It doesn't play well with other kids. You might try scrubbing your sizing die and give One Shot another "shot."

That said, I use Imperial and more recently Royal. Royal is a bit better than Imperial, plus is smells good!
 
I've heard that Dillon case lube is good. I've been using the 90/10 mixture of alcohol and lanolin for quite a while now. It works well for straight walled handgun calibers and I use it with carbide dies. Anything that makes pulling the handle of my reloading press easier, is a big plus at my age!
 
I have a Rockchucker.....

chief38 said:
I have been reloading .38 Spl, .357 Mag, 45acp, 45 Colt & 9mm since the early 1980's using Carbide Dies on a Dillon 650 Press (started out reloading with a Dillon SD-B). I have never used case lube of any type on handgun cartridges. Never. I have never had any issues with resistance at all. Dillon specifically states that their Carbide Dies require no lubrication.
I also have an RCBS single stage press for large rifle calibers like 38-55, 45-70 Govt. and use Hornady One Shot case lube on those. It works fantastic and will not foul the powder! The key is that after spraying the cartridges in bulk, they need a few minutes to dry. After that you should be GTG.

I would suggest that if you are reloading lot's of stuff, Carbide Dies may be the way to go which will eliminate the lube all together.

Just curious as to which press and dies sets you have.
Click to expand...

...and use either RCBS or Lee steel dies.

I put a handful of cartridges on a pad and spray them. I turn them and spray them again. They seem to dry pretty quickly and feel cold to the touch.

I'm scratching my head as to why Hornady One Shot gets so many upvotes. I must not be doing something right.:confused:
 
It's the right stuff...

Ivan the Butcher said:
Two simple things. 1) Make sure it is One Shot Case Lube and not One Shot Gun Lube/Cleaner. 2) You have to shake the can often, it separates quickly. If you are doing it right, there will be a translucent, waxy film on the cases!

Do not use gun Lubricants to lube cases, except Breakfree CLP! Many other brands will foul the primers! Breakfree won't!

Ivan
Click to expand...

..but I notice that the can has a marble in it like a paint spray can, maybe I need to shake it up more.
 
I always....

Rick H. said:
After the obligatory introduction of I have been reloading for a very long time, decades in fact, I will say for most of my resizing duties I use RCBS Case Slick in the spray bottle. It works well and isn't all that messy. I lay the cases out in a baking pan with a paper towel under them and give the cases one or two shots of Case Slick. I do this for almost all my cases even ones that go thru a carbide sizing die. While most straight walled pistol cases don't need a lube in carbide dies, it doesn't hurt them or the dies at all if they are lubed just a bit.

Win. 308/7.62 cases are different for me. If I don't use a heavier lube on them I will most certainly suffer a stuck case in my resizing die. It's not the end of the world if I get a case stuck in a die, but it's a pain to deal with. For those cases I break out the RCBS lube pad and bottle of Case Lube-2. I drop about 12 drops of lube on the pad and smear it around then roll about half a dozen cases on the pad. From then on I can size about 1 lubed case for every 2 un-lubed cases and never worry about jamming a case in my re-sizing die. No other cartridge in my reloading inventory is as difficult as the .308/7.62 to resize and I can get away with Case Slick spray on them.

Years ago I tried Hornady One Shot on my cases to be resized and it worked okay, but not as good as Case Slick. No spray lube works for me on .308/7.62 cases. The only down side to using Case Lube-2 is having to wipe off each case after resizing to get the leftover lube off, but it's part of the fun in reloading.

Rick H.
Click to expand...

...wipe off the lube. Like you said, it's just part of the job.:)
 
Believe me.....

BE Mike said:
I've heard that Dillon case lube is good. I've been using the 90/10 mixture of alcohol and lanolin for quite a while now. It works well for straight walled handgun calibers and I use it with carbide dies. Anything that makes pulling the handle of my reloading press easier, is a big plus at my age!
Click to expand...

I noticed QUICK that it was a harder job than usual. I'm sure that the exercise is great but reloading shouldn't be like using a Nautilus machine, though.:)
 
Last edited:
jculloden said:
Lanolin liquid from Amazon, and 90% alcohol from Amazon, 4oz lanolin to 12oz alcohol in a spray bottle,been using about a year now,works great, and clean
Click to expand...

During the early days of Covid, Dillon ran out of their spray lube. In talking with them, it was suggested I do what others have done---simple lanolin and alcohol. Been using this for around 5 years now.

I cover the bottom of a cake pan with brass, spritz from a hard angle so as to get the mouths as well as the sides. Roll them around a bit and spritz again. Depending on the temperature, I let the alcohol evaporate for 3-6 minutes and start loading.

*If your loading room/man cave is outside---in the garage---in the barn, and not heated full time, it is best to keep this or any other case lube inside or at least bring it inside the night before a loading session. If you let it get chilled the lanolin will be on the bottom and like paste. Just heat and shake. Best in a clear spray bottle so you can see if it is well mixed.
 
rwsmith said:
...wipe off the lube. Like you said, it's just part of the job.:)
Click to expand...

I don't lube any handgun brass, just tumble and size. With rifle brass, if the cases have not landed on the ground, I lube, size, and then put it in a vibratory cleaner. This easily and quickly removes all lube. If brass has hit the ground, I wipe the brass with a cloth to remove any dirt particles, then lube, size, and put in the vibratory machine.

This process has worked very well for me and prevents scratched case sizing dies. No ritualistic case cleaning, dry media is fine.
 
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