I have been using lanolin to lube my brass for that last couple years and been using the shake and bake method for application. I found a way that works much better and I do not have to worry about a bag ripping or waste lots of time using a tumbler. My mom has been saving those clear tubs that cookies and other snacks come in I use them for brass storage. She dropped one off that previously held a couple pounds of dog buscuits and boy does it work slick. Instead of using a spray bottle with an alcohol/ lanolin 10 percent solution I just take my finger and put a small dab of lanolin inside this square plastic tub. The plastic tub holds 1k .223 with room left over. After I put the brass in I squirt it a couple times with a squirt bottle of 92% ethanol and screw on the lid and start rotating it in my hands. It only took five minutes to get good coverage and seemed to be way less hassle then using a gallon size ziplock bag.

Once you do it you learn how large a dab of lanolin it takes. After I have my cases loaded instead of tumbling them to remove the excess lube I just wipe them on an old towel as I put them in ammo boxes. I then just launder the towel.

I sort of hijacked this thread into more than lubing. Sorry it’s 4 am and I can’t sleep. Pain in the ass typing this all out on a cell phone. Country living with no internet has its drawbacks.

That is a great idea. I will expand on it and tell you what I do. I use the Franklin wet tumbler for cleaning brass and later lubing brass. I do still mix the lanolin and alcohol in a spray bottle then spray some into the tumbler with the brass. Let the tumbler do the work and then deprime and size the brass .

I do my reloading in a little different way than most. This is for rifle only. I do pistol differently since it doesn’t require lube. Some will say I do more steps than needed, but it works well for me and allows me to have brass stored in different stages of reloading ready to go depending on my needs. I have well over 50 of the 50 cal ammo cans with brass and completed rounds in various stages of my reloading process. This allows me to do a large amount of brass in one stage at a time. I find I’m more efficient and get larger quantities done at each stage by not stopping and switching all the time. I can also have cleaning, drying or lubing going while I’m sizing, priming or loading the completed rounds thus completing two stages at once.

1. Sort brass
2. Clean brass in Franklin wet tumbler and dry in dehydrator
3. Lube brass in Franklin wet tumbler with lanolin spray
4. Deprime and size with Hornady LnL progressive press (has auto case feeder)
5. Clean brass in wet tumbler with small amount of dawn to remove lube and dry in dehydrator (the lube could be wiped off with a clean towel).
6. Hand prime while watching tv to check all brass and feel for loose primer pockets. I also do this by hand because it is the single most problematic part of a progressive press. I never have to stop and adj or fix primers.
7. Load primed brass with powder, bullet and apply crimp on Hornady LnL progressive press with auto case feeder.
8. If I’m shooting the rounds right away then that’s it, if they are going into storage I run them them through the corn cob tumbler with a cap full of Nufinish car polish. I really don’t care if my completed rounds are all shiny and pretty like some people, so I don’t always do this step.

With all this said, I do reloading in large batches and stages. I will do a run of cleaning and sizing so they are ready to load with primers. I will hand prime later and store them in 50 cal ammo cans till I’m ready to load bullets and power to complete the round. I do this since I shoot with and without suppressors, so it can vary what loads I want.

I have a ton of all sizes of brass (thanks to Wes at Sages reloading supply), so I reload several thousand rounds at a time and have brass in various stages of my reloading process. I’m fortunate to have two Hornady L&L progressive presses with auto brass feeders. One press is set up for pistol and one for rifle. It saves me a lot of time and adjustments converting back and forth. I also have a large shop to reload in and store all my equipment and supply’s. When I lived in Seattle and didn’t have the room my process was completely different.

There are lots of ways to reload and not everything works the same for everyone. This is what works for me.

Hey, could you expand on how you use the wet tumbler to lube your cases? Do you put water in with the spray? Do the insides of the cases get lubed as well?

I don’t use water. I load the brass and spray the lanolin and 99% alcohol mix into the tumbler and then run it so it gets spread around. It does find its way into the neck naturally as it spreads. I lube a lot of loads one after the other so it gets pretty coated inside the tumbler. A guy could get a second tumbler drum for just this process and clean it once and a while. I assume the lanolin will turn bad and need to be cleaned out periodically.

I used to do the large ziplock freezer bag trick that worked well, I just couldn’t do as much brass at the same time as I can with the tumbler.

Ok, good to know. I've really had issues getting lube into the necks and pulled a bunch of case heads off on 7mm Rem mag brass.

I'll have to try this when I get home.

Not sure of the dies your using or how much lube you apply, but you may have to occasionally squirt a little lube into the die to keep that from happening.

I use the homemade lanolin/alcohol mix in the spray bottle, too. I have a small plastic bucket; I put some brass in there, spray some lube on the top, mix it around with my hand, spray some more, mix some more, etc. until I'm happy.

Then I pour the brass out onto something (I use a piece of cardboard) and let the alcohol dry off for a few minutes before I start loading with it.

I would use ammo cans for storage too if I could afford them but since the clear cookie/biscuit tubs are free and otherwise would just wind up in the garbage......I too do the lots in quantity and stages. I put a post it note inside the clear container with my notation of caliber and at what stage the brass is in so I can tell at a glance. I wish I had the funds for a second progressive but I just have to make my one Load Master, Rock Chucker. MEC Jr and Lee Load All do the job. Heck I even use those opague coffee creamer bottles to hold my shot gun shot. I just can not see messing up the inside of a tumbler with lube when five minutes is all it took for 1k .223 in that dog biscuit tub. I do most of my brass cleaning by soaking in a bucket that I keep in the bathtub. Every trip to the john the bucket gets a shake. I am just using a bit of laundry soap as I have given up on shiny for just clean. I have replaced the motor on my Lyman vibe tumbler three times so I mainly use it for pistol brass. I did tumble 5.56 in corncob twice.....never again.

I'm a little puzzled about what you were doing with a ziplock bag that 5 minutes of shaking around is less hassle? How was using a bag more effort than that?

Seriously. I just dump the cases in a bag and give a short spray into the bag (I want that aerosol spray floating around in there, not just a smear of lube in the bag). Then just zip the bag up and shake it around for 15-20 seconds, and the cases are ready to size. That's it, it's super easy, and it sounds way faster than what you're doing.

Yondering

I was doing 1000 .223 at a time in the tub. If you tried that in a ziplock bag you would break the bag.

It sounds like you have found ways to do what you need with supply’s that work. I did what you do now for years before I moved out of Seattle. Now that I don’t pay so much in taxes and just in general save money on everything since leaving that rat infested city, I am able to buy a few things I have always wanted. I got lucky and bought both my presses used for good prices.