goodbye Imperial

H

hounddawg

New member
For years now I swore by Imperial sizing wax but I finally broke down and tried a spray lube.

I bought 4 oz oz of lanolin oil off Amazon and 2 bottles of 99% isopropyl alcohol, mixed the lanolin to alcohol 1 - 3 and put it in a spray bottle. Just full length resized 150 .223 cases by sitting the cases upright in a case tray and spritzing them with the mixture and the cases slid in and out of the die perfectly with no hint of binding or seizing. Much faster and easier than lubing each case individually

Imperial sizing wax is a great product and has served me faithfully through the years but as of now it is now my second choice. I guess you can teach a old dog new tricks
 
that is my lube of choice. But I buy the 100% liquid lanolin from piping rock and the isopropyl from walmart called HEET gas line antifreeze.
 
1-3 seems pretty concentrated to me. I think I use 1-12 (or maybe it is 1-10, I can't remember and would have to go check my log book).

Where did you see that recipe?
 
the alcohol is just a carrier so ratios can vary. As cheap as it is to make I would rather have it a bit more concentrated and have zero chance of a case sticking. I did go back and empty what was left of the open bottle of alcohol into the spray bottle just to get rid of it so it is now 4 to 1. On the net you can find ratios from 1 -3 to 1-10 I decided to err on the conservative side. After the alcohol evaps it gives the cases a slick feel, not really greasy or sticky at all.

I have seen these recipes many time through the years , I think this thread is the one that spurred me into making a batch.

https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=785134

last eve I resized 100 .223 cases my daughter burned up last week, no sign of binding, love this stuff
 
I'd bounced around on case lube for quite a while before I finely settled on One Shot. But I only changed when there was something about the lube I was using I didn't care for. If it works don't fix it kind of guy. Been using One Shot close to 30 yrs now. So, just curious, why did you guy's change, especially from Imperial Wax. Seem's that guy's that used it absolutely love the stuff.
 
hounddawg wrote:
Much faster and easier than lubing each case individually...
Click to expand...

I actually came to Hornady Unique through a process much the reverse what you just described. I find Unique to be very fast, very easy and requiring no more clean-up than a paper towel. Using spray lubes (packaged like Hornady One Shot or home-made) there was always the issue of protecting the area from overspray and then cleaning up the case block.

I'm glad you're satisfied with your home-brew lubricant, but having been there, done that, got the t-shirt and having had to launder it, I'm satisfied with Unique.
 
Don,

I think the OP explained it. Speed and convenience.

I have been using a tub of Hornady Unique for my low volume resizing for a time now. It seems to perform as well as Imperial and is dramatically less expensive.

For spray, I use a homemade fixture that looks like a test tube drying rack. Just dowels in a plank. I spray the upside down cases.
 
hdwhit said:
I actually came to Hornady Unique through a process much the reverse what you just described. I find Unique to be very fast, very easy and requiring no more clean-up than a paper towel. Using spray lubes (packaged like Hornady One Shot or home-made) there was always the issue of protecting the area from overspray and then cleaning up the case block.

I'm glad you're satisfied with your home-brew lubricant, but having been there, done that, got the t-shirt and having had to launder it, I'm satisfied with Unique.
Click to expand...

I got a can of Unique to try. Haven't a clue when I ever had a case lubed right. Really gave me the booger's so quit using it the same day I first tried it. Now I use it with a q-tip to lube inside the case mouth for pulling over an expanding button and when putting case's through the case trimmer. I'm not sure why I'd ever tried it in the first place!
 
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It's the 'Internet Experts' listening to the old wives tales and disparaging products/applications they haven't even tried...

I've been using one shot for years, as well as trying other stuff as it comes along, and have no issues.
The only problem I see with the spray on lube is over application, people HOSING DOWN the brass & getting hydraulic lock & dents, etc.

Throwing a couple hundred brass in the bottom of a short cardboard box (or other container) with a lot of surface area for the brass to roll around in,
Mist one side, shake the box, excess lube wipes off onto other brass and you get a pretty uniform coat.
Flat bottom container keeps bottle necks from getting excess lube which stops dents, excess coats bottom and lubes the down side of the case bodies.

I use cardboard boxes so I can throw them out when I'm done with a batch or run, some of this stuff really stinks, some of it is flammable, and who wants that laying around?...

Lubing one brass at a time by finger power is still a pretty good way to do HARD forming, but spray works fine for lesser forming, say from 5.56 to .300 BO, and saves a ton of time & hand work.
When you do 1,000 (or 10,000) at a time, the time saving is in days!

One Shot (and the like) doesn't goo up the dies like the heavier lubricants do.
If you are doing 20 rounds & cleaning dies, it's one thing, but try getting a few thousand through a die with wax or lanolin... learn to clean!

Better have that vent hole drilled out and fully exposed because you are going to need to clean it about every 50 to 100 rounds, depending on how much alcohol you cut things with!
Nothing quite like having to tear the sizing die down over & over again to clean it out...

For a stinky, but effective lubricant, you might try synthetic (bio fuel) kerosene & alcohol in about 50/50 mix. Several of the factory manufacturers use this mix (adjusted one way or the other a little) with good results.
Spray cleaner/anti-rust stuff cleans it out really quickly when you are done, and it's very economical for large batches, doesn't goo up in the bottle or spray nozzle when stored reasonable periods of time, and stops rust when it's left in the dies for reasonable periods, but stinks...

The synthetic kerosene & alcohol works pretty good with case feeders and sponges, moist sponges with mixture, sprits a little on cases once in feeder, and let the case feeder roll cases around with the sponges for a pretty uniform coat,
Or you can spray & box shake for hand feeding if you aren't running a case feeder.
REALLY speeds things up with sponges!

More than one way to skin a cat, I still have Imperial around here somewhere, but it's been so long since I used it...
 
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I don't know how many will understand this, but it works quite well and I've not seen anyone outside of manufacturers do this...

Use a Jewlers' wire saw, I find 18ga. works well with talc dry lube or soap stone powder lube,
And make a cut through the threads on the die.
This allows dry lube to pass via vibration of the press down on to the sizing ball lubricating it during cycling.
A funnel attached to the top of the sizing die (soda bottle top works with a hose clamp) makes for a bin to hold powdered lube on top the die.

One at a time guys and hand lube guys won't need this, but it's real handy for production guys using common decapping/resizing dies.

With bigger machines, I started using a brush for the FOD probe that goes down into the case, that brush really distributes the powder lube well. (FOD = Foreign Object, Debris)
 
Agree that 1/3 ratio is too greasy. One oz. lanolin to 10 oz. 99% alcohol seems to be near Dillon Case Lube's ratio. Even 1/8 is a little too thick. Some do use 1/12 and it will do fine at this ratio.
 
And then there was Jack O'Conner, in about 1954 he said his hands hurt all the time and he said the only relief he got came from lanolin. He said when he was sizing cases he would add a little extra Lanolin to his hands for sizing.

One more time, I use a no-name lube when sizing gets tough and I said when the going gets tough I have a difficult time making Imperial and or Dillon in a can or bottle look good.

Most of my sizing does not require a high-standard case lube, most of the time4 any old lube-l-do so I start with RCBS.

F. Guffey
 
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Jack O'Connor in 1654?
WAY ahead of his time since the metallic cartridge wasn't going to gain prominence for another 200 years... ;)
 
I agree with the both, posts.

I have never used Imperial Sizing Wax as my main lubricant. I have used spray lubricants for probably 20 years. But, there is a tin of Imperial in the top drawer of my loading bench and it gets a fair amount of use, mainly when I need to size just a couple cases for some reason. Another reason I use it is because it is in the top drawer right next to me so it is convienient.
 
added a bit of alcohol , now at 2 oz lanolin, 20 oz alcohol. thanks for the advice all. I don't know about alleviating hand pain, but they sure are soft now :D

I don't do any major sizing jobs, no case forming or anything like that. Phasing out my .308 stuff even, planning on converting everything to .223 or .260 to simplify
 
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