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Thread: Made some bullet lube today...

  1. #181
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Thanks Joe M

    I'm here to help.

    I have no interest in making a single penny from Ben's Red. It is a good lube and " It is Free for the Taking and Making ."

    I want to offer credit to several other shooters ( I would begin naming names but I fear that I might leave someone out ) here on the forum who have fine tuned Ben's Red and worked with simpler ways to measure out the ingredients. They should be given credit for helping Ben's Red along also.

    I get a lot of satisfaction out of the many shooters kind words who make it and use it.

    Ben
    Last edited by Ben; 04-02-2012 at 10:47 PM.

  2. #182
    Boolit Master Just Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben View Post
    My usual blend :

    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

    This is some good stuff !

    Here is a photo of the Lucas Red & Tacky # 2 Grease :



    The mixture is heated on low temp setting ( melted very slowly ) on my electric hot plate until all the ingredients are mixed. The mixture is poured through an old T-Shirt, to be certain there are no impurities in the mixture. Then everything is poured into metal pans that have been lubed with Pam Spray Olive Oil.

    Once the lube is room temp., it is placed in the freezer. The lube stays in the freezer for 5 hrs., It shrinks and easily falls from the metal mold pans.

    I will cut this into 2 " wide strips with a sharp utility knife and place in large gallon size storage bags. I melt my lube and pour it into my 2 lube-sizers.

    I hope this is a help to some of you.

    By the way........there will be a lot of shooting that will come from these 2 pieces of bullet lube.

    See link below to see how I pour my lube into my lube sizer :

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=146302


    Ben






    And YES, this lube has provided me with some very accurate groups from some of my .30 rifles, here is a 5 shot group shot with the 210 gr. HCB group buy bullet, Ruger # 1 stainless, 308 Win., 18.5 grs. IMR - 4198 :

    Good info.

  3. #183
    Banned
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    So, how does this break down as far as ounce measurement? Do you for example start with 8oz of beeswax?

    Also can soy wax be substituted for beeswax?

  4. #184
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    I pour my lube into PVC pipe with a cap on the bottom of it and simply let it harden up. Once its hard I simply pull the cover off the bottom of the PVC pipe and push the perfectly formed stick out and cut to desired length. My tubes are long enough to make 3 lube sticks that will fit nicely into your Star/Magma or Ballisti-Cast Mark VI sizer.

  5. #185
    Boolit Master
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    Page 5 has the breakdown in ozs. for you. On a crappy day, read the whole thread. Its worth it. Over a coffee or beer just don't keep it close to the lap top so when you laugh you don't spill your drink into it.
    Some Married men will never learn and others will read the whole thread and keep on being married !
    ****I will share this note with you incase you don't read the thread, MAKE IT OUTSIDE, NOT IN THE KITCHEN [ or bathroom]*** you just cant make this stuff up what guys try to do, its great !!

    I just got my order from white label lubes yesterday. After reading here I might just make some for the fun of it to try. Thank you Ben and all the others for making it easy for us non-chemist types to do. After all, we cast our own, reload our own we lube our own we make our own. Just saying.

    Merry Christmas to all,

    Mike

  6. #186
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by myg30 View Post
    Page 5 has the breakdown in ozs. for you. On a crappy day, read the whole thread. Its worth it. Over a coffee or beer just don't keep it close to the lap top so when you laugh you don't spill your drink into it.
    Some Married men will never learn and others will read the whole thread and keep on being married !
    ****I will share this note with you incase you don't read the thread, MAKE IT OUTSIDE, NOT IN THE KITCHEN [ or bathroom]*** you just cant make this stuff up what guys try to do, its great !!

    I just got my order from white label lubes yesterday. After reading here I might just make some for the fun of it to try. Thank you Ben and all the others for making it easy for us non-chemist types to do. After all, we cast our own, reload our own we lube our own we make our own. Just saying.

    Merry Christmas to all,

    Mike
    Merry Christmas to you also Mike !

    That's pretty much my view also.
    If I'm going to cast my own, reload my own, why not make my own lube also ?

    Ben

  7. #187
    Boolit Master
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    Well I think I am going to try some Ben's Red. One little thing I made up that really seemed to help making lubes with the lumps/clumps with Moly. I took an old coat hanger (remember the metal ones) and made "T", 1/8" welding rod would do. Bent 90% for 1/2", then back 180 for an 1", then back a 1/2" cut making two rounded ends. Cut shaft about 4" and stuck in Battery drill and playing for correct speed whip around in melt. No more lumps. Gtek

  8. #188
    Boolit Buddy
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    Just discovered that the local Walmart stocks the Lucas Red & Tacky # 5 if you are looking for a source. afish4570

  9. #189
    Boolit Bub hogstad7's Avatar
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    I want to try some Bens red. But I live in Norway, so i have to substitude some ingrediences.
    Can I use regular wheel bearing grease or any lithium grease as a substitude for Red n`tacky?
    Can I substitude STP with Lee Liquid Alox?

    I will be using Liberon Black Bison as a replacement of JPW.

    Im now using BAC and loving it, how will Bens Red compare to BAC?

  10. #190
    Boolit Master Digger's Avatar
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    Okay ....
    the time has come to make another batch of Ben's Red here , thought my first would last for ever ..
    Doesn't help having three lyman 45's ,one seaco , one Meepos and one Star ...
    Have really enjoyed the results with my rifles and hand guns , most enjoyable now that I top off with a coat of BLL !
    It is much easier to fool people ,
    than to convince them they have been fooled !

    If you can read this , thank a teacher ...
    If you can read this in English , .. thank a Vet !

  11. #191
    Boolit Master 35 shooter's Avatar
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    Wow, that reminds me i've got to make some more Ben's Red too. I've been using so much of Ben's BLL lube since it came out, i've run completely out of Ben's Red.

    Ben hit a homerun with both of these great lubes!

    One big batch of Ben's Red does last a long time, but yeah, there does come a time to make more!!

  12. #192
    Boolit Master
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Thanks Ben for all of this. I used to cast a LOT of bullets and am now getting back to it. My Savage 12BVSS in .308 is well broken in and was cleaned of all copper. I started with some commercial cast bullets from Montana Bullet Works to see if there was any promise in this endeavor. There was. So, just for something to get going I bought a Lee C309-180 mold and have some hardball alloy melted up.

    I needed some lube so went ahead and made some Ben's Red and some 45-45-10 LL.

    The above were some of the first loads shot with the lube. The Blue Dot load I use for plinking at 100yd (it recoils less than a .22 rimfire) and the 'heavy' load is for longer distances (I don't hunt).

    To say I am pleased is an understatement.

  13. #193
    Boolit Buddy
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    Bit of an older thread but I feel it’s better to keep relevant info in one place...
    I’m in Australia so not all ingredients are available so my questions are about substitutes:
    1- JPW is flat out unavailable here - is any canauba/beeswax based polish suitable?
    2- Lucas red n tacky is very hard to get, is any HP lithium based auto grease ok?
    3- I can’t find STP but do have Morey’s oil stabiliser, is it suitable? https://www.moreyoil.co.nz/moreys-he...il-stabilizer/

    Many thanks - looking forward to trying this highly recommended lube in 222, 303, 30-06 and 45-70 both very light and medium/high loads

  14. #194
    Boolit Master
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    By volume or by weight?

    In post nine Ben was explaining that he was measuring the different components by volume rather than weight. A number of those posting were of the opinion that weighing the components was easier than measuring by volume. The Red n Tacky is very difficult / dangerous to measure by volume due to the high temperature of the liquid grease when melted. Probably easier to measure it in the tube and use the pi times radius squared x ht formula but then you have to dig down in the tube to some not easily determined point and dig the grease out with a spoon or whatever’s laying around.
    Anyway, I went to the different components material safety date sheets and found the specific gravity of each and then calculated the error if the components are weighed rather than measured by volume. It ain’t much…..


    Bees wax Sp. Gr. .96
    Red and Tacky. Sp. Gr. .90
    Johnson’s paste wax Sp. Gr. .80
    Devcon 3 ATF Sp. Gr. .86.
    STP oil stabilizer. Sp. Gr. .885.

    Total weight will be 1000 grams but the volume will be 1093.7 ml or 1.094 liters

    500 grams of beeswax yields 520.8 ml
    300 grams of Red and Tacky yields 333.3 ml
    100 grams of Johnson’s paste wax yields 125 ml
    50 grams of devcon ATF yields 58.1 ml
    50 grams of STP yields 56.5 ml

    Instead of the 50/30/10/5/5 % by volume, we wind up with 47.6/30.5/11.4/5.3/5.2 % by volume. Like Ben and several others said, not enough difference to matter, but it had been bothering me since Ben posted the recipe that some of us jumped in and weighed the components without taking the specific gravities into account. Turned out it didn’t matter!
    Last edited by wmitty; 09-08-2023 at 11:55 AM.
    Decreed by our Creator: The man who has been made able to believe and understand that Jesus Christ has been sent into this world by the Father has been born of the Spirit of God. This man shall never experience spiritual death. He will live forever!

  15. #195
    Boolit Master
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    Went back today and checked the weight and volume of the Red and Tacky grease in a cylinder with both ends removed. The specific gravity worked out to be .916 rather than the .90 shown by Lucas ( the manufacturer). Negligible difference as far as weighing rather than determining volume.
    Last edited by wmitty; 09-08-2023 at 10:52 PM.
    Decreed by our Creator: The man who has been made able to believe and understand that Jesus Christ has been sent into this world by the Father has been born of the Spirit of God. This man shall never experience spiritual death. He will live forever!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check