A suggestion was made on another board that one could use Dawn dish washing liquid as a case lube. The idea was to use something that would wash off when cases were wet cleaned with stainless steel pins.

Anyone tried it?

I doubt that Dawn has very good lubricating properties .There are many proper lubes and they should wash off by adding detergent [Dawn ?? to the tumbler]

Sounds messy.

But most lubricants are by nature messy, so that's why I like to use the Lee Collet die for every gun/caliber combination appropriate to it.

Dish soap can also be quite corrosive to steel parts.....dies and reloading equipment are in need of extensive cleaning and lubrication after such application.

I wouldn't do it for anything!

Go to the electrical section of Lowes or similar store. Buy a plastic bottle of GB (Gardner Bender) Wire Aide. About $5 per quart. I'm told this is the exact stuff that Lee Lube is. I have used it and it is good. I have not tried this, but a very experienced shooter that I know dilutes it with alcohol and uses spray bottle and sprays it to include inside the neck. He lets it dry before he sizes. It comes right off. Now as far as using Dawn it would be a matter is she willing?

Use normal case lubes like Imperial and when you get through with everything rinse the cases off with 90% or 99% isopropyl alcohol.

I use Imperial and when I put the cases in the ultrasonic cleaner with warm water, LemiShine and a drop or two of Dawn, it all comes off, quickly I might add!

I used the Lyman lube and a pad for 35 years. Tried a can of the hornady spray--- works ok, but the lyman lube works better.
As big a pain as a stuck case is, I would rather spend a few $ and save the aggravation. In my opinion this is not a good place to cut cost. Get the proper product and save the hassle!

I use Imperial then wipe the case with a clean rag. No fuss no mess.

quote:

I use Imperial then wipe the case with a clean rag. No fuss no mess.

+1

Imperial case wax or vaseline. Take your pick.
The vaseline cleans off the cases the easiest.

Who dreams up this stuff?

Got a little bit lazy a few weeks ago and started throwing the freshly sized cases into an ultrasonic cleaner.

Who say,s you can,t teach an old redneck new tricks?

Easiest and most certain way to learn if something will work is to try it.

All water soluable lubes, including wire pulling lube, are soaps. Dawn is a mixture of soap and detergent. I've used a lot of soap case lubes and substitutes such as hand soaps, they all work fine if applied and used correctly. Nothing is good if it's used poorly.

If we use a water wetted lube it should be obvious the sizer's innards need to be dry and oiled before storage. If that one common sense precaution is followed the soaps pose no problem and do have some advantages. Water is the issue, not the lube type of itself. Once the water has dried it's gone; no rust hazard.

Lots of lubes work just fine. The type of lube that works "best" for anyone depends on the volume of cases needing to be lubed and the loaders personal work preferences. I'm a low volume shooter and hate the mess and waste of spray lubes, I despise the oily petroleum types. Soaps need to dry before sizing and that slows me down.

I'm not a range rat, I go to a range to test new loads and confirm zero, not to see how much noise I can make or impress others on the line. As a low volume shooter, I prefer any of the wax lubes applied one at a time with a "touch the lube with finger tips and quickly rub it over the case" method as I pick each case up on the way to the sizer; that's fast, it only requires maybe a second and a half to apply the lube and I don't have to wait for anything to dry or work with messy lube pads or sprays.

Jim C

That was a great post. Soap is still used in industry for some lubrication needs such as extruding metals to name one. Bar of hand soap will do in a pinch by rubbing it on the case getting good coverage such as you mentioned. I like the waxes myself. Long gone are the days of using RCBS greasy lube that you saturated a pad with rolling your cases on...at least for me. That stuff was really messy.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
Who dreams up this stuff?

What stuff?

Pretty sure if you look at how cartridge brass is made you will find it has been run into a whole series of dies with soap as a lubricant before it gets to your door?

That said I see no reason on earth not to use Dillon spray lube?

I don't know about that but considering how cheap and effective real, live case lubes are why do folks insist on trying vaseline, and stp and whatever.

Ya know.....been usin Hornady Unique case lube pretty much since I started reloading, have,nt made much of a dent in the little hockey puck size tub. It does say on the side of the tub- Also preserves leather, waterproofs shoes & Boots.
I could probably get two more tubs, and even if I went full Red Green, for the princely sum of maybe $8.50, I,d still have a lifetime supply...

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I don't know about that but considering how cheap and effective real, live case lubes are why do folks insist on trying vaseline, and stp and whatever.

Oh come on dude, lighten up for once!
Don't tell me that you fell out of the crack with all that vast knowledge.

Some things just do work whether some folks like it or not.
(And some people just don't like things that cut in to their sales. Do they?)

How do you think someone came up with case wax or any of the other stuff?
Hmmmm....could it be by experimenting?
Nooooo, couldn't have been.

quote:

been usin Hornady Unique case lube pretty much since I started reloading, have,nt made much of a dent in the little hockey puck size tub. It does say on the side of the tub- Also preserves leather, waterproofs shoes & Boots.

Case lubes consist of stuff made for other purposes that's repackaged for sale to us. The original Lyman and RCBS case lubes (plus others) was just STP repacked in small bottles and sold at greatly inflated prices. And STP still works great - except for the MESS!

Unique is good stuff but it's not unique, it's simply another soften wax much like Imperial. Kiwi's "Mink Oil", Snow-Seal, Sno-Proff boot treatments and any neutral shoe wax, paste floor wax, wax toilet sealing rings, etc. are basically the same and they all work fine. So does Chap-Stick, at last some iipsticks, Castor Oil, some of the ladies 'skin moistureizing' creams, nipple balms for nursing mothers and cows, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

I use Imperial then wipe the case with a clean rag. No fuss no mess.

+1

I'm in this camp too!

I'll be the weirdo on this one!

I use Molyslip Copa Slip, a lubricant developed for press fitting components. Never had a stuck case since, and it wipes off nicely with a clean rag. I guess it was made for eliminating stresses when forcing one thingy into another thingy, without binding - which is pretty much what I want from a case lube. Imagine the applications!! Or should I rather just shut up? A tiny dab on a fingertip does 2 or 3 cases. Lasts forever.

Msstarling,
why do you want to clean/polish your cases "after" you resize them? (just curious)
The only reason I would even think about throwing any cases in a tumbler or such would be to smooth or clean them "before" I ran them through a die.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:

quote:

been usin Hornady Unique case lube pretty much since I started reloading, have,nt made much of a dent in the little hockey puck size tub. It does say on the side of the tub- Also preserves leather, waterproofs shoes & Boots.

Case lubes consist of stuff made for other purposes that's repackaged for sale to us. The original Lyman and RCBS case lubes (plus others) was just STP repacked in small bottles and sold at greatly inflated prices. And STP still works great - except for the MESS!

Unique is good stuff but it's not unique, it's simply another soften wax much like Imperial. Kiwi's "Mink Oil", Snow-Seal, Sno-Proff boot treatments and any neutral shoe wax, paste floor wax, wax toilet sealing rings, etc. are basically the same and they all work fine. So does Chap-Stick, at last some iipsticks, Castor Oil, some of the ladies 'skin moistureizing' creams, nipple balms for nursing mothers and cows, etc.

It's not exactly the same as STP. For one the case lubes you claim made from it are clear. StP isn't clear. It more then likely has other ingredients in it compatible with use in engines and manual transmissions. Those additives are expensive and not needed for sizing brass.

Another oil some folks have used it SAE 90 gear oil, but that stuff smells god awful and you never seem to wash that smell out of your clothing if you get some on them.

I'll stick with Imperial wax and I've tried just about all the lubes.

Anhydrous lanolin is another oldie that works well

I've removed enough stuck cases from friends' sizing dies (and a few of my own) to be careful as to what I use for a sizing lube. Imperial sizing wax is what I use for making case into wildcats, etc. When younger, always used the little bit of STP left in the can when adding it to my car/truck. On large volumes of cases, like hundreds .223s used on prairie dog hunts, I put them in plastic loading racks and spray them with the Hornady lube. Haven't had a stuck case since using any of the three above lubes.

quote:

Originally posted by Rae59:
Imperial case wax or vaseline. Take your pick.
The vaseline cleans off the cases the easiest.

I've been using vasoline since I started reloading in 1956. I've never been unhappy. I am not saying something may not be better, but I have tried several over the years and always went back to vasoline, for one reason or another.

RCBS case slick SPRAY lube. Toss brass into a baking pan or cardboard box. Give a couple of sprays. Shake. Spray again and start resizing. When done toss them on to a old towel, fold the towel over them and rub back and forth a few times. They are done and ready to prime/load.

Clean , quick and easy without stuck cases from 204ruger to 50bmg for me.

quote:

It's not exactly the same as STP. For one the case lubes you claim made from it are clear. StP isn't clear.

Smokin, I'm sure you're correct, today. What I got from both Lyman and RCBS in the mid-60s was indeed common STP.

Anyway, my post was only to say there are no lubricant distilleries running for reloading case lube. Some sellers may well be mixing some stuff together but at the bottom line they are all common stuff; soap, wax or grease.

If there's a Tractor Supply Store (or other farm supply outlet) near you try a small can of their Udder Balm, it's a truly great lube combonation of wax and lanolin; it leaves your rough hands silky soft too!

quote:

GB (Gardner Bender) Wire Aide

I tried a bottle of wire pulling aid. It will stick a case in your die. Only lubricates for a short time, once it starts to dry that is when it fails.

Waterproof Mink Oil, comes in a can at Walmart, works as well as Imperial Sizing Wax. Might be Imperial Sizing Wax looking at it.