Wednesday, March 02, 2016

I don't think I've written of it before, but as a case lube

a commenter* mentioned using lanolin: take the liquid, use one part of it to about nine parts 90% rubbing alcohol in a sprayer.  Sounded interesting, so I found a bottle of liquid lanolin and a small spray bottle and mixed some up.

Oh yeah, it works.  I put the cases in a baggie, give them a few sprays, then close the bag and work them around a minute.  If I want to make sure the inside of the necks get some, I set them upright in a bag, give a spray or two, then dump them over and spray & work.  The slide through the sizing die very nicely, it takes very little lanolin to do a LOT of cases, and it washes off with Dawn dish soap(I use that and hot water to clean the stuff, rinse and dry, then run them through the tumbler to make sure I got it all).

And if your hands dry out the way mine do in winter, you can use the straight lanolin on them.




*I can't remember who, dammit, if you see this let me know so I can give you credit

4 comments:

blindshooter said...

I use a Dillon 1050 for bulk loading .223 and have found Hornady one shot lube to be be almost perfect. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet, spray lightly from all directions to get some in all the necks then roll them around and let it dry a bit. It won't harm powder or primers. I do tumble loaded rounds in clean corn cobb for a few minutes afterwards. I used the lanolin mixes before I got the 1050 with success and it is cheaper.

Jerry The Geek said...

Y'all are pretty hi-tech;

My old man and I used motor oil (SAE30 WORKS JUST FINE) for anything from .223 & .22-250 up to .30-06,.338 and even 7mm magnum. Get a rag from an old t-shirt, splash some oil on it and work it a bit til it's saturated, then hold the rag in your hand while you quick-wipe each case. You can lube 100 rounds in 2 minutes. Might not work for you, but it worked for us for 30 years. Killed a lot of Jackrabbits with that ammo, never a malf due to lube.

Need to full-length size or neck down a case? Dip the neck into a splatter of powdered graphite. doesn't make crimp 'wrinkles' in the neck like too much oil will.

blindshooter said...

Jerry, I used Bag-balm (teat grease for cows) in late 70's. Even stole the wife's non-stick pan spray a time or two, and don't forget paste floor wax. Probably more stuff around that will work in a pinch....

Firehand said...

If it works, it works, whatever it is