Made more Ben's Red

[Ben]

The weather was pleasant today. About 60 degrees and bright sun. I thought it would be a good day to get outside and make some Ben's Red. ( I have always begged people not to make Ben's Red inside their home ! )

The usual recipe was used today with the exception of the 50% Beeswax was increased to 55%.

The usual formula :

50% beeswax
30% Red, Tacky Lucas High Temp Grease
10% Johnson's Paste Wax
5% Dexron II or Dexron III Trans. Fluid
5% STP Oil Treatment

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MIX THESE INGREDIENTS TOGETHER INSIDE YOUR HOME !



I used an old wisk and gently stirred the mixture for about 20 - 25 minutes. No smoke, it is more about time and stirring than about high heat. High heat IS NOT your friend.

Here are photos :

[Nueces]

Did the extra 5% beeswax come at the expense of any other ingredients, or did you just increase the beeswax by 10% over the original amount?

[jmort]

Please don't take this as rude, not intended as such, but it is kind of like Yogi Berra saying baseball is 90% mental and the other half (50%) is physical. Some part of the 100% had to be decreased in order to allow for and increase somewhere else, and like you, I would be interested to know what.

[Ben]

Fellows, it isn't quite that critical.

I started out with 55% Beeswax, each one of the other components were cut a " smidge " to get everything to work out to 100.

Summer is right around the corner, I felt that
a mixture that was a bit harder might be in order
for the summer months.

I've always told everyone......" If you want Ben's Red harder, add more Beeswax, if you want Ben's Red softer, add more Lucas Red and Tacky."

What is that old saying ? ...." Gee, it isn't rocket science."

[94Doug]

I just want to know how you get it to be 60 degrees in January!

Doug

[Ben]

Doug,

Actually it wasn't 60, it was 57.

But , it felt good out there.

We are to have snow flurries in a few days, go figure ?

[fryboy]

gee 3 days ago we set records at 82 ...current high for the day may hit 34 ( may ... ) talk about shock - from shorts to long handles with added layers ( btw ? the wind puts the felt temp around 16 -ish yeah it's windy and wet today )
most lube is fairly forgiving a lil more wax to harden a lil less to soften it as needed and it usually still works great ( great foto's as always amigo ! love the red in the pan before it hardens !! )

[94Doug]

34 is when we wear shorts in Wisconsin.

Doug

[wlc]

34 is when we wear shorts in Wisconsin.

Doug

So ya'll wait till it gets really hot huh???

[94Doug]

That's awesome.

[35 shooter]

Looks great! I've got to get it together and make some more soon too. I made a 1 cup version of it originally and am just about out of it. May have enough left for a few hundred rounds, but with a new gas check and boolit to test, it won't last long! Lol my brother shoots the boolits i cast too and the Ben's Red, so it goes quick around here.

[Ben]

Ben's Red is like $ that is my checking acct., real nice , but just doesn't last very long.............

Ben

[Top]

hello Ben i am in processes of making your lube but today
up here in the great nord woods it was 3 with a wind chill of -18 not much happening outdoors!! except those who sled and ice race

[**oneshot**]

I'm just jealous, it was 5.7 or 6.0 this morning. I need to make some of this in the spring.

[35 shooter]

Ben this is what i like about Ben's Red. 1st shot from a clean bbl. reliability. I had to adjust this load down the other day to keep another load i was working with on the paper @ 100 yds.
The load is 54 gr. imr 4350 and a 358009 gc boolit @ 2200 fps. and Sagebrush7's new .010"hard checks in a 35 whelen.
I only shot 4 shots in the group and used the last shot to put it back to a close 200 yd. zero.
The first two shots cutting each other in the group and centered are why i use this lube. The bbl. was cold and clean...no other shots had been fired for 1 hour. This is not a "picked" group and in fact is larger than usual, although it always stays in 1.5" or better @ 100 yds. First shots stay in the group for me and are most often centered as these were. This is why i go hunting with Ben's Red!


Group size was 1.426" @ 100 yds. center to center. Old man couldn't hang after the first two. Got back on the horse for the 5th shot though lol. Should be set for some 200 yd. testing at that sight in.
I swab the bore with one wet patch of atf oil followed by one dry patch before shooting or hunting and this is ALWAYS the result....first shots in!!! Hope that little trick helps others too.

[Ben]

35 shooter

As long as you're shooting like that, someone in your group needs a sharp knife and needs to know exactly how to skin a deer.

Good shooting,

Ben

[DeadWoodDan]

Ben,

Thanks for all your information again! I just filled the RCBS LAM2 with my first batch yesterday. Looked like I didn't use enough bees wax for my liking, followed the original recipe ( knew about adding more, but had to learn the hard way ). I Got the most of it out and heated some more back up and added another chunk of wax. Loaded a few this a.m. and looking better. I had over 400 boolits of the Lee C359-158 SWC to lube and check. All of them but the last 100 I finished off with BAC lube that was in the RCBS. I made 50pcs with BensRed and the other 50 are getting it without the check just to see how they will do minus check. I TL those with Bens LL just to see if it will hold the lube in better. I still think I can get it alittle harder, we just got hit with a snow storm and in the single digits, but my equipment is in one of the warmer rooms right over heat register and lube is coming out smooth as silk.

Can you offer some suggestions or technique on how you fill your lube a sizer? How long do you wait before you can start using once poured in hot? I'm just looking for tips and tricks. All seems good thus far.

ON a side note I cast up a bunch of RD TLC311-165 and doing some work ups with it using BensLL. Will post that in your thread once some testing gets done.

Thanks
Kevin

[Ben]

Kevin,

See if this helps.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Melt-and-Pour

As to how long to wait. I wait 1 hr. after the hot lube is poured into my lube sizer. Never had a problem of any type.

Ben

[DeadWoodDan]

I just changed dies from .359 to .314 and having a hard time getting lube out now? Wondering if I need to remove the BAC completely before using my softer Bens Lube?

[DeadWoodDan]

I think I may have found a problem on my end....the o-ring has been damaged on the LAMII. thinking air might be by-passing and not putting the pressure needed to push lube out. will replace and see what happens.

Really upsets me when stuff like this happen! Factory shut down due to snow storm and I wanted to do as much cathching up as possible.