Can you tell me about case lubes?

[DalesCarpentry]

What lube do you use? I see there are spray on and rub on. What do you prefer? Dale

[tomzuki]

Rub it on!  The spray is sometimes too thin, and you still have to lube the inside of the case neck anyway to help the sizer ball.  Brush lube the inside of the case mouth, roll them on the pad and with a little lube on your hand apply a very thin coat to the shoulder of the cases.  I even lube every five when using carbide dies for straight wall cases.

[Kurt L]

Dale.
I use the rcbs lube pad and it is a very nice item at a good cost.
I put a good bit of lube on the pad and let it set and soak in,
if you are in a big hurry you can roll a few cases and force it in the pad.
just make sure you don't get it to thick on the case if you force the lube
in the pad , roll them on a part of the pad you didn't lube or wipe the extra
off you will get the hang of it!
you also do not want much lube on the shoulder or you will get dented shoulders.

If you roll lube the body and put the neck on the pad like you are trying to cut a hole
in the pad and just push and turn a little and get a small dab on the tip of the case,that
is all you need.
if the case comes back off or out of the die and pulls hard over the expander ball that you
need to lube the inside of the case that is telling you something, you are over working your
brass and you should out side turn your necks,thus the die will re-size then when you bring
the case back over the expander ball it will go smooth .
Also another note DON"T EVER TRY TO ID POWDER BY THE LOOKS OF IT. VERY BAD IDEA.
Kurt.

[KN]

Hornady One Shot. That's all I ever use. May be a little expensive compared to other lubes but I have never had any problems with it. And its easy to use.   KN

[quickdtoo]

Ditto on the Hornady One Shot, it's all I've ever used, works great, no mess, no fuss, lubes the inside of the case necks just fine, I lay em out on a paper towel, then after following the directions on the can ,  start at one end spraying at an angle to get the necks, inside and out, work to the other end of the cases spraying liberally, then spray the body of the cases back to the beginning, roll the batch 180º and repeat. No need to tumble clean em again, just size, trim, prime and load em.

Tim

Hornady One Shot Reviews

[beemanbeme]

I do it exactly like Kurt1 does it.  Obviously he's very smart. I'll bet he's good looking too.  Us very smart fellows usually are.   
Every so often, I take the resizing ball and stem out of the die and spray it down with brake cleaner cause the oil and grunge will kinda build up.  Don't know that it hurts anything but it looks bad. 

[SM Bob]

Ditto+1 on the Hornady 1 Shot!
I have never stuck a case with it. I have used used other types
of case lubes with the pads and all that nonsense and I pretty
much hate them. Some of them are hard to get off afterwords
without some kind of solvent. What a mess! One Shot goes on
easy and comes off easy. It is all I will ever use.

                           Robert
 

[Lloyd Smale]

ive used alot of one shot and its not a bad lube but has its limitations. If your sizing brass that was shot in a loose chamber or using small base dies it will still give you an occasionanal stuck case. The best lube ive found hands down is anhydrous lanolin. I buy it by the big tub on ebay for making felix lube and found that if you dip your fingers in the tub and just wipe a very fine coat on your cases that even tough sizing cases go through like butter, Only downside to it is that it isnt near as fast to apply as one shot and you have to tumble it off. But then i tumble cases sprayed with one shot too. One nice thing if you load alot like me is the hornday one shot is expensive. I can go through a can in a couple days of loading. A pint sized tub of lanolin can be bought for about 10 bucks or less and would last the average loader his lifetime.

[Hairtrigger]

I have tried the lube pad, several brands of spray on lube and all had the ups and downs. I have also tried home made lube and non stick cooking spray.
I have settled on Imperial sizing wax. It is not messy and a little goes a very long way. I have not had a stuck case since switching to Imperial.

[Kurt L]

bemanbeme O"WISE GUY !
not so sure on the smart part, I am still taking my smart pills though.
and good looking ,as you said us smart fellers sure are good looking LOL

[Graybeard]

I've used nothing but RCBS pump bottle spray lube for the last ten or more years. It's unlikely I'll ever use anything else again.

[beemanbeme]

I always tumble my brass after resizing.  That takes care of any lube.  Several years ago I bought TWO of the small bottles of RCBS case lube. I just now opened the second bottle.  I figure part of it will be part of my estate when I die.   

[Old Syko]

+1 for Beeman.  The only thing I do different is I use a pad that's 16"x24" on a cookie sheet due to the volume of loading I do.  Started with RCBS lube many years ago, tried all the rub on and sprays, wrote them all off as a gimmick and went back to what works best.

[Steve in Michigan]

I have several military rifles and for some of them, I have to make brass from another caliber. I have found that for really tough sizing problems, the Lee Case Lube is, for me anyway, the best. It seems to lubricate better than Hornady One Shot, although it is not as easy to apply (I rub it on with my fingers). It is water-soluable so you can just wipe your brass off with a damp cloth when you are done. I generally use a cloth dampened with WD40 - No, it doesn't kill the primers and it removes the lube and protects the case from corrosion.

As a side note, I have used WD40 for years and I can't see what is so bad about it. I love the stuff and it has always done a great job for whatever tasks I have used it for.

Steve

[quickdtoo]

The Hornady One Shot doesn't need to be tumbled off, but I do wipe the case off after trimming, chamfering, deburring and brushing while the case is still in the lock stud chucked in the drill, just wrap a paper towel around it as the last step in that operation, easy as can be.

Tim

[jhalcott]

  I first thought this was about cast bullet lube! I have used Dillon spray ,One SHOt and many other lubes mentioned above. One thing about the "Imperial " types is you are forced to look at the cases a bit. This helps to find split necks or other imminent problems. The Lanolin lubes are great and I've never had a stuck case with them Hornady One Shot has given me a couple stuck cases.

[Hairtrigger]

When I was using the spray type lubes I had some issues with the lube getting into the neck of 22 caliber cases and causing the powder to bridge.
22 Caliber reloading is several thousand cases a year for me and a good % of my reloading

[quickdtoo]

Never had a problem with it in the 204, and I intentionally spray the inside of the necks, but I run a fat chinelle pipe cleaner thru them to clean em out cuz my case brushes are too big, you can get the fat pipe cleaners at a craft store, they're a girlie thing ya know!!

Tim

[DalesCarpentry]

Thanks for all the helpful tips. Dale

[DalesCarpentry]

I was just wondering if you could use WD-40 for case lube? If not why? Thanks Dale

[Lloyd Smale]

lee, dillon, and imperial sizing wax are all just variations of anhydros lanolin. the spary stuff is the same cut with mineal spirits. Its much cheaper to buy bulk lanolin I can get a quart of it for what a small bottle of the brand named stuff cost.

[AtlLaw]

I've used nothing but RCBS pump bottle spray lube for the last ten or more years. It's unlikely I'll ever use anything else again.

Okay, this is getting scary!
You've got RCBS pump bottle spray, and I've got RCBS pump bottle spray but I use Horn. 1 shot;
You've got 3 M-7's: 260, 7/08 & 308, and I've got 2 M-7's: a 260 & a 7/08 and a Savage 99A in 308;
You've got a full grey beard and I've got a full white beard;
You're retired and I'm retired but working full time;
You're in Alabama and I'm in Georgia;
Coincidence?  I think not!   

[coyotejoe]

I've used a lot of the Lee sizing lube, just a small blob on a fingertip will lube a dozen cases and it is soap so cleans your hands while you work!   But just to throw into the mix, a friend told me many years ago about his favorite case lube. A 50-50 mix of STP and automatic transmission fluid. It works very well for hard to size cases or case forming. It is a bit of a mess to remove, but cheap and effective. I keep a small bottle of it on my bench to use when other lubes seem insufficient and I start to worry about sticking a case.

[beemanbeme]

Maybe being able to mix their own is part of the complete package to some but to me to be able to open the little bottle, drop a couple of drops of case lube on my stamp pad after I'm finished with my resizing chores for the day, and close up the stamp pad until next time is worth the rather nebulous extra I have to pay.  The idea of using my fingers to individually smear lanolin onto 947 22-250 cases before I can go Pdog shooting makes me want to lie down and put a cold rag on my head. 

[stimpylu32]

Dale

WD-40 works well if your door squeeks but it stinks as a case lube , too thin and you will have tons of stuck cases , been there , done that . 

stimpy

[Lloyd Smale]

i use it loading on a progressive press and can pick up a case give it a twist in my fingers and stick it on the press about as fast as you can pick up a piece of brass and put it in a shell holder. It would take me longer to lube them on a lube pad. Ive loaded over a 1000 223s in a day like that and it sure didnt require a cold rag.

Maybe being able to mix their own is part of the complete package to some but to me to be able to open the little bottle, drop a couple of drops of case lube on my stamp pad after I'm finished with my resizing chores for the day, and close up the stamp pad until next time is worth the rather nebulous extra I have to pay.  The idea of using my fingers to individually smear lanolin onto 947 22-250 cases before I can go Pdog shooting makes me want to lie down and put a cold rag on my head. 

[LaOtto222]

I avoid case lube as much as possible. I use Lee neck collet dies and carbide dies as much as possible. When I have to; absolutely have to lube cases, I use the RCBS pad and lube. I wipe each one with a paper towel after sizing and am real careful about not getting it in the necks. I use mica powder or graphite in the necks so I do not contaminate the power with the lube. I have been thinking about the spray on types. Did I mention, that I hate to lube cases?

[Hairtrigger]

I Did I mention, that I hate to lube cases?

If you have not you should try the Imperial wax, it makes a bad job... well... not so bad