Rifle Case Lube - Whats Best And Easiest.

[bradhe]

I have had the same problem getting the dillon lube off cases. Prepping brass on an automated 1050 and wet tumbling. One shot works fine for 9mm and is easy to clean off, but for a .45 acp I need the Dillon lube. I hit on the notion of filling up a couple of turkey pots and boiling it for a few minutes then wet tumbling. Pain in the xxx, but the wet tumble just wasn't getting it off even with water changes. I am going to try the krud kutter next time

[chrishoesel]

This is what I do for 5.56 and 300AAC:

1. Put 200-500 semi clean cases in a plastic tote, and spray Dillon Lube 2 squirts, shake the tote a few times, 2 more squirts, and let sit for 30 minutes for the alcohol to evaporate. (if you size them while wet, you will get dents on the shoulders)

Hey Chris - What are you thinking is "semi clean cases"? I'd love to give this a try.

Is there a pre-wash step that might get a bunch of store-bought cases "semi-clean"? I'm thinking this Iosso Brass Cleaner to get bulk range cases clean before using your process http://www.cabelas.com/product/Iosso-Case-Cleaner-Kit/727251.uts

I call semi-clean cases ones that are range brass, but tumbled either wet or dry prior to any sizing or processing. Just to get the dirt and gunk off of them..

[chrishoesel]

I have had the same problem getting the dillon lube off cases. Prepping brass on an automated 1050 and wet tumbling. One shot works fine for 9mm and is easy to clean off, but for a .45 acp I need the Dillon lube. I hit on the notion of filling up a couple of turkey pots and boiling it for a few minutes then wet tumbling. Pain in the xxx, but the wet tumble just wasn't getting it off even with water changes. I am going to try the krud kutter next time

I tried a bunch of different things, even an alcohol bath and acetone. Pain in the ass for sure. Even the hottest water I could get out of the tap wasn't doing it. I tried the KrudKutter in the gallon concentrate and it seems to work to break down the lube prior to dumping it in the wet tumbler. Don't be shy with the dawn either, I squirt the bottle for a full six seconds and even though it creates a lot of foam when you open up the tumbler at the end, it seems to work fine. Use of Lemishine I think is optional, and I might actually stop using it, because even 1/4 tsp of it will turn random batches of brass into a yellow/gold color. It does nothing to reduce waterspots either, so perhaps a formula of car wash/wax, dawn, and hot water is best. I'll be trying this next time I'm home on R&R.

[hgr2]

After initially tumbling the brass in walnut hulls, I probably use a little more of the Dillon spray lube than most here when processing 223 & 308 brass. Once processed on the 1050 I give the brass a bath in acetone, strain to recover the acetone and let the brass dry out on an old beach towel out in the driveway. I then dry tumble again for +- 1 hour using fine corncob, comes out great. Then I run the prepped brass back thru just about like loading pistol ammo. So far so good.

[Kaskillo]

For my precision riffle brass I use Imperial wax

For my pistol or plinking 223/556 ammo I use Lanolin/alcohol mix.

[sig2009]

One bottle of HEET in the red bottle available at Walmart or auto parts store and 1 oz liquid lanolin.

[Doc10mm]

Google "bootleg case lube". It's 4:1, 4 parts isopropyl alcohol 99% and 1 part lanolin oil. About $32 to make a gallon of it. Make sure you use 99% isopropyl alcohol so the lanolin stays in solution and evaporates quickly. You can get it at the pharmacy but it's usually kept behind the counter so ask the pharmacist. $3 spray bottle and you're good to go. As sig2009 noted HEET also works since it's isopropyl alcohol but it's a little more expensive.

Edit: Whoops. Didn't see that this recipe was already posted. BTW I found 99% isopropyl alcohol at Safeway.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Doc10mm

[Eric_Vmax]

Best, RCBS case lube. Easiest One Shot spray lube

[rustybayonet]

I've had great success with a muzzle loading product called bore butter.

put a little on your hands and just pick your brass up and rub it all together. You'll have to lube the necks but I have yet to have any rifle brass stick (.223 up to .300 win mag).

You'll want to tumble afterwards or not....it doesn't matter unless it is quite warm then it gets kind of "slick".

Not the easiest, not the least messy, but unless your doing 500+ at a time no different than any other rifle case lubes.

Hopalong

You can make your own bore butter too. Use bees wax, crisco (the cream in the can), and olive oil.

Not sure on amounts, I just play with it till its the way I like it.

[Steve RA]

I picked up a can of Lyman Quick Slick spray case lube to fill out an order to meet the minimum for free shipping - having never seen anyone else mention it I may be the only user !

I just spray a short burst in a 1 gallon ZipLok bag and fill it about 1/3 full of brass (.223 or 9mm/.45ACP) and roll/shake around for a short period of time.

I've never had a problem with full length sizing the .223s and then just leave it on the cases. Use a minimum amount on the cases and you'll be good to go.

[rishii]

I tried the Lyman spray lube and it is total junk

Had a bunch of stuck rifle cases with it

I can't find one shot locally, and have been using the rcbs spray lube and it work great

It takes a little longer to dry then one shot but I think it works better

[Steve RA]

Lyman has Quick Slick and Quick Spray - which did you use ??? Curious cause I've done a lot of .223 cases with the Quick Slick and haven't had a single problem with it.

[StraightSh00ter]

I got Cabelas lube for loading pistol rounds. It leaves the finished product kinda sticky, so I've been running the rounds through the tumbler with corn media for ~15min. They come out beautiful.

[twodownzero]

I use wax for rifle cases and tumble after sizing unless I'm loading with fmj bullets, and then I tumble them loaded.

Pistols I use spray lube and just leave it on.

[rishii]

Lyman has Quick Slick and Quick Spray - which did you use ??? Curious cause I've done a lot of .223 cases with the Quick Slick and haven't had a single problem with it.

I don't know, I got so pissed with it, I tossed the bottle

It was in a orange trigger spray pump bottle, and Amazon would ship it to Hawaii

And it was ok for the first couple hundred rounds, then I started to get stuck rounds, tired everything, shook the bottle (I shook it every time I used it) ran it with lube both dry and wet, and I would get 1-2 stuck rounds every 100

I found the rcbs works better than one shot case lube, but it doesn't dry as fast

[pshooter]

I process my 5.56 / .223 this way:

Dry tumble clean,

inspect

anneal on my Annealeez,

spray Dillon lube (foil lined box),

trim by RT1200 mounted on an old Lyman turret press,

chamfer inside and outside on an RCBS case prep station,

lube the inside of the necks with powdered graphite on a brush.

on the 550 - run through sizing die to de-cap and expand the necks,

remove primer crimps using super swage 600

clean primer pockets only if needed.

Tumble to remove lube,

inspect,

and then finally load on the 550 by priming and then skipping the resize die, run the rest of the process normally.

I feel it is best to remove the lube before shooting as lube reportedly could reduce casing / chamber wall grip on firing and cause excessive breech-bolt forces.