Lee Resizing Lubricant

[BBroadside]

I have read the instructions, but I am still a little uncertain on some points.

"Apply very sparingly with your fingers."

I may have overlubed a little, but I was able to decap my brass okay.
My plan for the future is: distribute a little lube on my fingers so that I can feel it but not see it, and rub on each neck. Is that right, or am I liable to get too much / too little lube on that way?

"DO NOT lube the shoulder."

This is pretty hard. Is it just telling me not to waste product on the shoulder, or will something bad happen if lube gets on the shoulder? I'd say almost as much lube got on the shoulders of my brass.

"Use a cotton swab or gun cleaning swab to lube the inside of the case neck for all two-die sets.

I have a three-die set. Do I still need to do this? Is it okay if a little lube gets inside?

[FieroCDSP]

I prefer to put a dab on a case-lube pad and roll several casings across it several times to get an even coat. This also helps to keep the lube off of the shoulders. A q-tip will get a little bit in and on the neck, a very important item unless you like extracting expander pins the hard way.

A nice thing about the Lee lube is that you can batch a hundred or so before sizing and the lube really doesn't suffer from the wait. I toss them in the tumbler for an hour after sizing to get the lube off.

Lube on the shoulder should be avoided, as it creates a hydraulic effect that can dimple the shoulder or even crush the case a little. Do it a few times and you'll see the result. Since it's not a part of the case that is encountering sliding friction against the die, it's also a waste of lube, if you really want to be picky about that.

Yous should lube any rifle casing. Most pistol brass need not be, though I'm not too sure about the few bottle-necked ones out there. The Lee 3-die rifle sets are all steel, so you need the lube. Unless it says for certain that it is a "Carbide" die, you need to use lube.

[Steel Talon]

Try doing this.. Put a small dab into the palm of your hand.rub in with your other palm Now roll 4 or 5 pieces of brass between your palms. This will control things nicely,and keep lube off of the shoulder. The lube will not hurt you It lanolin water based.

Add more lube as needed.

Remember to also give the case mouth a lite twist in your palm. a little lube helps with the expander ball.

[armoredman]

One thing is for sure, Lee case lube, for me, goes a long way. I apply with fingers to rifle cases, ( handgun dies are carbide), right below the shoulder and down the case, then scrape a little off onto the inside of the neck, not much, just enough to show all the way around.
That method has worked for me for years.

[Smokey Joe]

The great Col. Townsend Whelen said of the lube inside the case neck, that we want "just a suspicion" of lube in there. I like that description, and it has worked for me when FL resizing: The neck sizing button glides up the neck with no chatter, and yet there is very little to zero lube left on the inside of the neck to affect bullet tension when the cartridge is fired.

Whelen lubed every 3rd or 4th case inside the neck, not every single one. Again, this has worked for me also.

I've been using Imperial Sizing Die Wax; I assume that the Lee product works similarly. In the era predating specialized sizing lubes, Whelen was using anhydrous lanolin from the drugstore.

As to the outside of the case, the neck and the case body should be lubed, but not the shoulder. Under-lubing gets you a stuck case. Over-lubing gets you a greasy mess and wastes lube.

[Mule]

It has been maybe 15 years since I discovered Dillon Spray lube and never looked back. When I was using Lee Lube, I mixed the entire tube with a gallon of water. I put the cases to be lubed in a bowl or shallow pan. Covered with the lube mix. After 5-10 minutes I removed the brass, shook out the water and set aside to dry for a day or two. The remaining solution was saved in a plastic jug. The dryed cases appeared a little frosty but sized easily. I have no recollection of stuck cases or lube dents. After sizing they were cleaned and polished in corn cob.

I never did like the sticky lube pad, preferring the dunk and dry method.

Now I am mixing lanolin with iso-alcohol to make my own spray lube.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Now I am mixing lanolin with iso-alcohol to make my own spray lube.

^^^^
This

But you need to use 99% isopropyl, which is not always easy to find.

[Mule]

^^^^
This

But you need to use 99% isopropyl, which is not always easy to find.

ISO-HEAT gas line anti-freeze from the auto dept at Wally World.

[Steel Talon]

ISO-HEAT gas line anti-freeze from the auto dept at Wally World.

It's the RED bottle of ISO-HEAT you want not the yellow bottle

[dagger dog]

I always disliked the sizing SNOT, especially the clear stuff that comes in tubes, and the process that involves a lube pad.

So I tried the aerosols,didn't read the instructions and stuck a case in the resizing die, the spray works well if you use it per instructions.

Then I found Imperial sizing wax, I think it's great, swipe the tips of your fingers on the wax cake, roll the cases between the fingers and make sure to get some wax around the case mouth. The cases GLIDE through the die. I use a single stage and a self indexing turret, so I manually handle each case so it doesn't add an extra step.

Once the case is primed,charged and the bullet seated , use a soft rag to remove any excess before placing the round in the box.

Was reading more info on lubing and picked up a jewel of a tip from KodiakBeer !

Open a can of netural shoe polish-wax, it smells, looks, feels and works the same as Imperial sizing wax and it's cheaper !

I want to try the lanolin because I cast and can use it in the home made bullet lube process. Any one know of a internet site that sells in small quanities ?

[Griz44]

A short time back, I purchased an RCBS lube die for my 308 rifle case resizing. I love it. Fill the die up, and start feeding the progressive. I can do 500 cases in less than an hour, and that's taking my time. It lays a layer on the case that is so thin you can't see it, but the die sizes the brass very easily. A 2 oz bottle of the lube will go for thousands of cases.

[RoadkingLarry]

I've been using Hornady One-Shot spray lube for several years with good results. I stand up a batch of cases and give 'em a spray making sure to get some down the neck.
I'm loading .223 Rem. on a progressive press and stuck cases just aren't an issue.

[bruno2]

I cant remeber who it was either Lee or Hornady that was getting their name slammed when it came to lube. There were at one time hundreds of threads on the topic and none of them were good for the manufacturer's product.

I used to use the RCBS lube pad ,but, what a mess that stuff was. Not only was it messy also the lube pad would get all kinds of adulterants stuck to it. The dillon spray lube was pretty good. However, you had to let the alcohol evaporate before using it and if you didnt there may be problems.

Imperial is as good as it gets IMHO. I have never had a stuck case or a case dented using it. A little tin will last a lfetime as well. I am interested in the shoe polish technique though.

[1911 guy]

Sign me up for trying the shoe polish. Sounds like a winner. I hate having to pick junk off my lube pad. Right now I'm using the RCBS stuff from the small white bottle.

[dagger dog]

Back again with an update on the shoe polish.

I am starting to load 45-70 BPCR . Bought 50 new cases and a set of Lee dies. Wanted to run them through the sizer and trim to start everything uniform.

Was going to use shoe polish but being lazy I found my Minwax Paste Wax furniture-wood polish on the shelf near my bench, so I tried that.

Looks like it's a go, the new nickel plated finger sized cases slid through the non-carbide sizer with minimum effort.

One point that may be a problem is the fact that the wax dries soon after it is applied. I tried a few with the wax completely dry and the effort did not seem to be any more than with the wet wax, but the dried wax may be a problem if allowed to build up in the dies.

The Imperial seems to stay in the semi wet state, which leaves me to believe that the Minwax has a quick drying agent that evaporates very fast to set the wax for buffing.

Having used Hornady One Shot aerosol spray,I found out if you did not let the spray dry as directed in the instructions and tried to size while still wet you were setting yourself up to stick a case in the die.

So go figure.

More later on the shoe polish !

[Peoples' Bullet]

It also works very well on a case lube pad.

If necessary, using that pad, you may press the neck of the case into the pad to fully lubricate the case neck if required.

I love lee case lube ! It does tend to accumulate in dies with some regularity if used in excess, however.

Like most quality case lubes, a little goes a long way, and do endeavor to keep it off the shoulders of bottle-necked brass.