Oil as case lube

Sniffer

Sniffer

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
44   0   0
Location
Okanagan
I know there are dedicated case lube products on the market and it can be made inexpensively by mixing Lanolin and Isopropyl but Ive just read some articles where people have used motor oil with great success

They simply dip the mouth in a container and put a small smear on with their fingers as the case is placed in the shell holder

There were concerns regarding oil contaminating the powder/primer but some had no negative results

If the cases were thoroughly cleaned again (i.e. ultrasonic or wet tumbled with stainless pins) after depriming/resizing/trimming surely there could be no issues?

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
I've used mobil1 to re-form 30-06 brass into 7.5x54. It worked fine. Swish the brass around in a sealed container of acetone afterward and load away.
 
I used synthetic motor oil and just put a light finger wipe around the neck, then repeated after I passed 5 cases through the sizing die. It will work in a pinch but if you can stick to proper cases lubes if you can.
 
Why would you want to? RCBS case lube is inexpensive and lasts a very long time and doesn't muck up your hands and pi$$ you off with that oily residue on your hands.
 
I have been using wd40 for many years and have never used any of the other case lubes. It may be a bit on the hands but it works fine for me and my cases are in very clean condition as the 40 takes some grime off the case as I reload them. put a bit on a small rag and roll some shells in your hand and resize. when I am done I put the rag into a tobacco can to keep the smell down and to protect the rag from fire as 40 is rather flameable. any oil will work but don't put too much as it will produce lube dents in your brass.
 
I've been reloading for 50 years. Originally I used a pad with the case lube on it and rolled the case on the pad to lube it. All the tool manufacturers make case lube (lyman, rcbs,ch etc). For what you pay for about a 2 oz tube or bottle you can buy a container of STP oil treatment. It works as good or better than ANY type of lube I've tried and one container will last a lifetime. For lubing the inside of case necks I use powdered graphite. I put a little in an old baby food jar and apply it with a Q-tip. Works great and does NOT contaminate powder. I purchased a quart sized bottle of powdered graphite from the local John Deere dealer for a bout $ 5. It will be a lifetime supply as well. Hope that helps.
 
A container of Imperial sizing wax lasts so long that I don't bother trying to use other lubricants to save a few dollars. I don't use WD40 for reloading, or on my tooling, or on my firearms as it isn't a great lubricant, and it cakes up with dust.
 
I've loaded 1,000's or rounds and only used half a bottle of rcbs lube. I may have to break down and buy another bottle in a few years. About every 5th round I touch the case mouth to the lube pad to lube the expander ball. Everyone will tell you, a little goes a long way.
 
A bottle of RCBS lube and a case lube pad does around 10,000 rounds for me, so I'm not really worried about finding alternatives. I usually lube every other neck with a brush that has a few drops of lube on it.
 
rokoro said:
I've been reloading for 50 years. Originally I used a pad with the case lube on it and rolled the case on the pad to lube it. All the tool manufacturers make case lube (lyman, rcbs,ch etc). For what you pay for about a 2 oz tube or bottle you can buy a container of STP oil treatment. It works as good or better than ANY type of lube I've tried and one container will last a lifetime. For lubing the inside of case necks I use powdered graphite. I put a little in an old baby food jar and apply it with a Q-tip. Works great and does NOT contaminate powder. I purchased a quart sized bottle of powdered graphite from the local John Deere dealer for a bout $ 5. It will be a lifetime supply as well. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


Fill the baby food jar half full of BBs (steel ones, not lead). Then stir in your graphite. Stick the case in, and twirl. BBs will rub the graphite on the neck. May not work for a small neck case, like 223.
 
I think that are many hacks that work, but is it really saving any significant amount of money? It is not like caselube is made out of synthetic G96 or one of the new fangled gun lubes that cost $20 per small bottle or something.
 
Motor oil is sticky crap that's hard to clean up and might not be friendly to powder and primers. As long as there are better choices around, I'll use them instead of motor oil.
 
I used to use STP and then synthetic motor oil. It worked and was cheap, but there was extra work in getting it off.

Now I use Lee Lube (water soluble) which comes off in the tumbler.

I tumble clean range pick up brass for a half hour, just to get the gunge off, so as to not scratch my dies. Then I lube with Lee, size and then prime. Then the brass goes into the tumbler for several hours. One hour gets the lube off, two or more hours makes it nice and shiny.
 
For years, I've been cleaning the brass in the cleaner first, so as to protect the dies, then lubing with Lee or RCBS spray (very lightly), but I don't remove or clean the lube. I have never had any issues, but have I been doing it wrong?
 
Papaclaude said:
For years, I've been cleaning the brass in the cleaner first, so as to protect the dies, then lubing with Lee or RCBS spray (very lightly), but I don't remove or clean the lube. I have never had any issues, but have I been doing it wrong?
Click to expand...

I don't normally tumble clean the lube either, but if I'm using lanolin I will wipe down a batch of loaded cartridges with a cloth towel.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom