Lee Loader

how do you experienced reloader maintain the ram and the joint of your's presses? before asking I did some reserches on community an the most voted lubricant seems to be dry lube. personally I don't swear too much for dry compound's because thei don't stick very long on air esposed polished surfacesl. may be some light dense fat would fit and protect the pivots and bushing but for the ram, exposed to primers gunk and debris coming from the brass trimming, any lube that can catch and hold this abrasive mixture should be avoided. Does factory gave any sort of instruction or did any one found a solution? i am also thinking about making a hole just a tad smoller in diameter from the ram in a thick piece of hide and seure it at the base after having lightly oiled. this could deflect some debris and catch others avoiding having them dripping down the cast castle and start scrubbing
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I just use dry lube spray I give a squirt right before loading or sizeing. I've not had issue. If you are high volume loader then I'm sure there is better options. Keep us posted[emoji15]

I tried Teflon spray on the ram of my pro1000, but it didn't last long. Every 100 rounds I had to relube.

So I took a little dab of some ball bearing grease I got here, and don't use anything alse since then anywhere on the press.

It's a quite viscous grease that stays in place, and does its job even in very small amounts. Two dabs the size of a pin head are enougth to lube the press, one is applied to the ram, one is applied on the underside of the shellplate.

Whatever grease you use, sticky, non running ones usually are best, because they stay where they should, don't mess your desk, floor, laps and hands as much, and last for a long time. Oil is less desireable, it'll drip on the floor and goes everywhere on your desk.

A couple of my presses have zerk fittings and thus a grease gun with what ever is cheap. I think Mobil 1 is in my oil can right now but I won't swear by it.

I'm not to concerned by all the lube advertisement so this is my take on all the claims being made in the gun world. Unless you use this exact lubricant, made of purified fat from virgin baby seals, your gun (or press) will rust between shots and that’s if it doesn’t seize up on you first.

I queried RCBS some years ago ,I've never had but 1 new in the box press of any sort,about ram lubes. Their answer was that every press in the plant was lubed with Lubriplate . It is a medium weight white grease. That works very well ..... except that I'm in the desert and decomposed granite dust picked up with every breath of wind may as well be valve grinding paste. My solution is a little more complicated than most would like I imagine. I've tried graphite Teflon and moly based lubes at different times and it seems like about once a quarter I'd be washing the crud out of the presses anyway . Now I alternate between Kroil and a light machine oil ,3 in 1 or Singer, and was all the crud out and off each spring. I do keep a drip bucket but it only takes a few drops at the frame with the ram all the way up. I've had the load master almost a year ,admittedly I haven't used it to its fullest only having run a couple 100 Colts,but with just the Singer oil it has stayed free and smooth without collecting any real visable dirt. I do give my presses a quick wipe top and bottom at each session because of the DG dust so that may help too.

Lee said to use motor oil on the ram of my 4 hole turret but don't like the smell so been using 3 n 1 oil. I like what Fyodor is using and will give that a try. Should work fine as no rock dust in my area I think, lol.

Ranch Dog wrote:

What I've been using is an Aviation oil, Aeroshell 50. All my presses are in a controlled, conditioned environment. Honestly, I don't clean them often.

I was draining what was left in the bottles from my oil changes when I owned an airplane and still have a bottle or two. I use it very sparingly. I've used it a very long time and what surprised me a few years back is that Lee was using this very same oil in some of their videos. I remember seeing it used to lube a turret plate.

Since Now I too have used light oils, singer tipe, on the rams and light whiate grease on the leverage and pivots. When not in use my presses stays under a thik cloth bag so my only concern was about the grit coming from depriming and trimming. Since I have bought the quick trim set I have that little tray to fit under the shell holder that catches most of the grits. But this apply only at the resinzing tasks. Depriming out of the press with the the lle universal depriming die(something I often do with the Lee hand Press before cleaning the brass) it is probably the best way to preserve the CC press bein sanded by the junk. I too have some moly oil and greas in my motorbike box, as well as teflon dry spry wich is the only lubricant admittedn for the H.D: rear belts. Will test and report. With time

I just use a little 3 in 1 oil or something thin, have even rubbed a little Ed's Red on the ram a time or two. Now with that said, I used to work on industrial embroidery machines (car and truck floor mats) and they didn't want oil stains on the carpet so we used a vegetable oil. I really don't see why it wouldn't be press friendly if it was used on very fast moving sewing machine parts.