Made more Ben's Red today.

[Tom_in_AZ]

Heck, I make a big enough mess in the kitchen just cooking food. I'd never ever try to cook lube in the house.

Same here! Definitely going to try this recipe

[Toymaker]

Great thread repeating a number of experiences and ideas in one place. A couple of things I've done: First time making Ben's Red I used a pot with a hand-towel in the bottom filled with water and a metal coffee can on top of that. The water was just barely at a boil. Melted the bees wax first, stirred in the JPW, then the Red N Tacky, then the trans oil and STP. No boil, no smoke, no hurry and just enough heat to do the job = no odor.

Second time I used a heat gun, same order of ingredients and got the same results. I'm thinking the secret to controlling the odor is controlling the heat. Melting may take a little longer but it's odor free (for me).

The second batch was for pan lubing, and it set up too fast. So I turned the heat gun on it to make it flow through the pan. Worked great!!! Maybe making the bullets a little warm helped because the grooves were nicely filled. Let it cool, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes and the bullets popped out like PEZ (if you're old enough to remember them).

I did try to hand lube some, but just got sticky and not really good results. Pan lube or lubri-sizer is the way to go.

Anybody play with the temperature range for the lube?? How cold before it gets so hard it won't lubricate anymore?? How hot before it starts running??? I think I might play with that. Thinking polar bears in January might be safe, but I bet its pretty wide.

[35 shooter]

Toymaker 4 hours with the top lube groove lubed and exposed above the case mouth couldn't make Ben's Red run today at the range at about 100* in direct sunlight. I shot it down to about 20* last winter and groups remained the same.
LOL i'm not too sure those polar bears are too safe, or African game either.
I'm totally sold on Ben's Red in MY rifle.

BTW i have found it to hold cold and clean bbl. shots at or VERY close to poi! I use atf to oil and clean the bbl. and swab with one dry patch before shooting....works for me. I'd go hunting with a clean bbl. after using the atf and one dry swab any day with this lube.
These comments come after using Ben's Red for almost a full year now and i do a LOT of shooting. I realize different rifles react differently to things sometimes but i bet Ben's Red is gonna be a good performer all around anywhere imho.

[Toymaker]

No, 35 Shooter, those polar bears are safe from me. I grew up on an island in the western Pacific and anything under 68° F is avoided however possible.
Ok, so we have 100° as a high and 20° as a low. Anyone from Arizona? How about North Dakota?
How about you, Ben? Anyone report on the temperature spread of Ben's Red to you? I know it gets humid down your way, but heat's not so bad. (Huntingdon College - Montgomery; class of '66)

[taco650]

I've got to make some of this!!!!

Ben, can you give me the formula in volumes? 16oz of this, 8oz of that sort of thing? Thanks.

[Ben]

taco650

If I convert the % to "parts" ( VERY ROUGH CONVERSION ) I came up with a 10 being everything you'd need for Ben's Red - - - You would mix things in a - - 5.5 - 2.5 -1 - 1 ratio. Parts being a volume measurement, so Tbs or Cups or even gallons as long as these " units " are kept constant .

beeswax 5.5units ( A hot summer time mixture of Ben's Red could use as high as 6.0 units of beeswax )

Red & Tacky Lucas High Temp Grease 2.5 units

Johnson's Paste Wax 1 unit

Dexron II or Dexron III Trans. Fluid
STP Oil Treatment The Trans fluid and STP would be combined to = 1 unit.

[gwpercle]

I've got to make some of this!!!!

Ben, can you give me the formula in volumes? 16oz of this, 8oz of that sort of thing? Thanks.

Here is the amounts in cups, Ben's recipe is by volume and I use a cup to measure ;
50% beeswax...........5 cups
30% Red-N-Tacky.....3 cups
10% JPW..................1 cups
5% ATF....................1/2 cup
5% STP....................1/2 cup

Total.........................10 cups

Hope this helps...gary
I'm going to try the making it in an old crock pot method, too much heat is not a good thing slow and low might be the ticket.

[taco650]

gwpercle,

Thanks for the "recipe" using a known measure. I'm going to need a bigger pot than I currently have to mix up 10 cups of this magic substance (LOL!) but at least I'll have enough to last me a while.

[725]

I bought a cheap sauce pan from the dollar store and made 10 even scratches on the inside. The I just filled it up according to the portions needed. ie., 2 units of X, 4 units of Y, etc. Works like a champ to get the right mix.

[Ben]

I bought a cheap sauce pan from the dollar store and made 10 even scratches on the inside. The I just filled it up according to the portions needed. ie., 2 units of X, 4 units of Y, etc. Works like a champ to get the right mix.

I've done the same thing for years. Your system is super simple, yet it works 101% ! !

Ben

[gwpercle]

Guy's, just cut the amounts in half and you will make 5 cups:
Beeswax..........2 1/2 cups
R-N-T..............1 1/2 cups
JPW.................1/2 cup
ATF..................1/4 cup
STP..................1/4 cup

Total................5 cups

Now you don't have to get a bigger pot and to be honest this will probably make enough to last a while, unless you do a LOT of shooting.....then get a bigger pot.
Gary

[35 shooter]

I've done the same thing for years. Your system is super simple, yet it works 101% ! !

Ben

Ben i thought i saw in one of your posts not long ago that you had made a new batch of Ben's Red with the 5% extra bees wax added in.
If so have you tried it yet or noted any difference in performance?
I've read about folks making it that way but so far i've seen no need to change from the original version.

[oldfart1956]

Fellers I realize this should probably be posted in the Wanted to Buy section but...if any of ya'll are making up a batch of Bens Red and end up with a lot more than you want to keep on hand or just want to recover some of your material cost please contact me via p.m.! I'd love to try some with all the great posts and working 6 nights a week don't have much free time to make it up. I'm thinking if one lined a small flat rate box with a large length of Glad Wrap one could simply use it as a mold/shipping container. (?) Laying the wrap in 2 sections (imagine a large X of Glad Wrap) then poured/cooled and securely wrapped it should ship. I'd very much like to have an unmodified recipie exactly as Ben designed. I assume it would be legal to ship and not a flammable or hazardous item. Not looking to break any shipping laws here. Please inform me of the price to include shipping, not looking for a handout or freebie and wouldn't accept either. Mods if this is wandering too far out of the t.o.s. please relocate to the WTB section. Thanks to all. Audie...the Oldfart..

[Ben]

35 shooter

Whether or not an exact 5%, I can't say.
I have definitely used more than 50% b-wax with zero problems.

Simply makes a bit firmer lube, not so soft.

Ben

[35 shooter]

Ok thanks Ben. I need to make some more soon. Think i'll make a small batch on the side with the extra wax. And make another full batch of the original as i liked the way it performed for sure. It's good to know it worked for you.....Thanks again...35shooter.

[nekshot]

when working up loads with this lube and things are not working out to my plan, questioning the lube is never even considered. It works in hot or cold for me! Some time soon I am gonna try this with BP.

[nekshot]

I have another confession I must admit to. Since using Bens Red I rarely use me Lyman luber, Nope I stick gc on with fingers and rub the boolit around on a nice softish clump of BR and shove it thru lee sizer and finish every thing by wiping my hands on my jeans! That is why all my work jeans don't get perfectly clean any more! Wifey finally got over it and stopped complaining of grease spots on jeans. Truth is I don't even size much anymore, I just push them in neck and go shoot providing they chamber. I guess I am a bad caster but I love shortcuts and life is to short for all the details!

[htuong95]

This is my first time making lube. I added too much beeswax. Instead of 55% beeswax that I was planning to use, I ended up putting 62.5%. Hopefully the 62.5% will not have any adverse effect on the lube. Worst case, I can just add 7.5% to each of the other ingredients right?

[JWFilips]

I bought a cheap sauce pan from the dollar store and made 10 even scratches on the inside. The I just filled it up according to the portions needed. ie., 2 units of X, 4 units of Y, etc. Works like a champ to get the right mix.

Well every other one has got to "Mess with It" but You got it down the way Ben intended it....That is the way I make it too!

Jeeze everybody has to try something new....just make it like "Ben" then you have the "Real" ..".Ben's Red" ......Don't go messing with perfection...you're not going to change the world! Well that is just my "JABOR" (Just A Big Observational Rant!)

[35 shooter]

I haven't leaded my rifle bbl. yet with the original Ben's Red with my gc boolits. Didn't chrono it, but according to a lyman manual, i was well over 2500 fps. The rifle groups tight and consistent and first shots from a cold bbl. are in the group or so close as to not make a difference for hunting. I guess extra beeswax would make it less sticky but it sure works like it is.
I like the way the original "flings" off right out of the bbl. (thus the tight groups). I set my chrono at 10 ft. in front of the muzzle and so far it doesn't have lube all over it. Haven't shot over it a whole lot, but it's still clean so far so it has to be shedding the lube quickly.
I will try the extra beeswax, but i'll be surprised if there's any improvement in performance. If it doesn't group better i'll be going right back to the original!