Made some bullet lube today...

[JCherry]

Ben,

Thanks for the details on your lube. I'll have to make some up and try it.

What do you call your lube? For my notes I've noted it as "Bens Red".

Your group with Aladdins HBC is great. I also got into the buy on that mold and tried it out a bit in a 17 Enfield. I had strong indications that it was capable of very good groups but got busy on other things and did not really wring it out. I think I needed to run it a little bit slower and it would have been a tack driver. I was using heat treated bullets but I shot them within a few days of treating them and I might have been better off had I let them "time" harden for a month or so.

Have Fun,

JCherry

[Ben]

Umm.........." Ben's Red "........Now that has got a nice ring to it. I like it ! !

Ben

[StarMetal]

Umm.........." Ben's Red "........Now that has got a nice ring to it. I like it ! !

Ben

I like "Ben's Blend"

[257 Shooter]

I like Ben's Red best but you can call it whatever you want Ben.

[geargnasher]

Thanks for the extra info, Ben. I normally don't shoot rapid strings, either, but sometimes it happens and the lube can fall apart accuracy-wise. Looks like yours "has what it takes".

Gear

[303Guy]

Mmmm .... looks pretty good. I wonder where I might get that Red "N" Tacky stuff in my parts.

My own 'waxy lube' has 33% STP in it and 33% candle wax (and 33% of any boolet lube I could find lying around) but then it was intended to hold a J-word in the case mouth with the aid of a paper towel cup instead of sizing the neck. I got no copper fouling.

[Ben]

303Guy :

Most all Auto Parts stores carry it here. Not certain if it would be available in N Z ? ?

Ben

[longbow]

I have been using the Lucas Red "N" Tacky grease in my lube as well though mine is much more basic than yours and I haven't sorted out proportions nearly as nicely either.

~ roughly 4 parts by volume Lucas Red "N" Tacky grease to one part Ivory soap
~ roughly 3 parts parffin wax by volume to 1 part of the grease/soap mix

I would have preferred beeswax but didn't have any and needed lube. I have also been planning to add some STP.

I have only made a couple of batches so far. The first was small and worked well so I made up a larger batch batch but wound up adjusting the amount of parffin to make the lube harder because I wanted a hardish "hot" tumble lube.

So far so good. It is hard but slick and I am getting no leading with .303 British (314299) and .44 mag Marlin with H&G #503.

Nice shooting by the way and I like that boolit. It looks very similar to the Lyman 311365 but maybe even less bearing surface. I have been thinking of getting in on the NOE group buy that is going now.

Thanks for sharing.

Longbow

[Ben]

Longbow :

The Lucas Red and tacky is some good stuff. There may be components out there that work as well, but I've had good luck with it, so..." If it isn't broke...don't try to fix it."

[longbow]

Ben:

I guess I think of my simple lube as modified Felix lube though Felix may not appreciate it. I didn't invent anything, I just took a few ideas and a pinch of whatever was available then mixed.

I should start by saying I am lazy and always look for simple and easy.

When I decided I wanted to make lube I read through lots of lube recipes and Felix's recipe appealed to me most ~ especially since it is highly regarded. Why then didn't I just make Felix lube? Well... I didn't have some of the ingredients and couldn't get them quickly so I decided to improvise.

Long story short, rather than wait to get stuff I decided to look for things I thought would make a decent lubricating goo. I figured the Ivory soap is slippy on its own and helps hold stuff together so that's available and in, I was looking for an appealing grease and saw a tube of lucas Red "N" Sticky grease (just the name is appealing!) and to make it "hard" all I had was paraffin.

So far it has worked for me but I can't claim it is better than any other lube I have tried and I haven't pushed velocity either... yet.

I do plan to use beeswax and add some STP. Not sure why I didn't in the first batches but that lazy (and oh I forgot ~ cheap) bit may have come into it.

I am of the opinion that the soap and grease do well as lube and I did try to get more soap mixed to see if I could get the hardnes I wanted without paraffin but I couldn't seem to get more soap in the mix easily.

Anyway, I am rambling on here.

Once again, thanks for sharing. It is always good to see what others are working on and more important when they have success.

You said it "If it isn't broke...don't try to fix it."

Longbow

[Lloyd Smale]

only thing i notice and wonder about is that grease says it contains anti seize and anti seize contains abrasives. at least thats what ive been told.

[StarMetal]

First let me start off that I doubt there are abrasives in the Lucas grease, after all it's a lubricating grease, why would they put anything in it that would cause wear?

Ben there is no doubt your lube works, but I'm along with Longbow in that you don't need all the other stuff you put in your lube. One lubricate is enough in bullet lube. I'd bet you could remove the STP, Dexron, Johnsons Wax from it and still have the same results.

357 Maximums lube is similar. He uses cheapo Walmart Lithium grease, paraffin, and soft micro-crystalline wax. His too shoots good and at high velocity also.

The idea is to keep it simple. Most everyone starts dumping everything in their molten lube mix to almost the kitchen sink. It's not needed. The idea is to keep it simple, like 357 maximums lube and my beeswax, Castor Oil, Ivory soap lube. With that said I believe just about anything waxy or lubricate wise can be used for bullet lube. I think you could probably get good results with ear wax if you could gather enough of it, although ear wax really isn't a wax as we know it ( The primary components of earwax are shed layers of skin, with 60% of the ear wax consisting of keratin, 12–20% saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids, alcohols, squalene and 6–9% cholesterol.[3] ) Felix lube is good, works, but in my opinion has too many ingredients, and not as simple to make as Maximums or Bens lube.

I'm thinking of trying Maximums lube and I was going to make it right to the T, but might substitute Lucas Red. Where did you buy that grease at Ben?

[Ben]

StarMetal :

Ben there is no doubt your lube works, but I'm along with Longbow in that you don't need all the other stuff you put in your lube. One lubricate is enough in bullet lube. I'd bet you could remove the STP, Dexron, Johnsons Wax from it and still have the same results.

You may well be right. I may make up an alternate small batch and see ? ?

Ben

[StarMetal]

StarMetal :

Ben there is no doubt your lube works, but I'm along with Longbow in that you don't need all the other stuff you put in your lube. One lubricate is enough in bullet lube. I'd bet you could remove the STP, Dexron, Johnsons Wax from it and still have the same results.

You may well be right. I may make up an alternate small batch and see ? ?

Ben

Worth experimenting. You may find out you don't need all those. I was too there is such a thing as too slippery a lube and too smooth of a bore, both which can affect accuracy. In my lube of beeswax and ivory soap, I add the Castor Oil for the lubricate. Let me tell you that there isn't very much of it in my lube because too much Castor is simply too much lube.

Ben I know how it is making lube. You feel really good and it's cool it has all these ingredients in it, but it's better to find out what you don't need in it. Where did you buy you Lucas Red N Tacky? I may substitute it for the lithium lube 357 Maximum makes. His lube by the way is very good, it's the reason it sold or gave away all his other lube he had in stock. Just to humor you I've shot cast with just filling the grooves with Irish Spring merely by rubbing the bullet against the soap and they shot really excellent. I couldn't get Irish Spring to melt like I can pure Ivory soap.

If you do eliminate things, do one at a time to see. Then go two at a time and so forth to see where lies the truth.

[Ben]

My Lucas Red & Tacky is bought locally at Auto-Zone parts stores.

Ben

[StarMetal]

Ben,

I was just at Auto-Zone about two hours ago and I did look for it. They didn't have it. May be different state to state.

[Digger]

Okay boys .....I ran a little batch of ben's red here (actually a little more brown than red cause i had some local bees wax on hand ) but neglected to tell the wife what was in the freezer ....
Something along the lines was said....WHAT THE **** !! IS THIS ! .....as she was preparing dinner and found it very quickly.... , it was still a little warm.
Ah yes , life's precious moments to cherish , one of those I don't think she will let me forget now .
digger

[Ben]

digger :

What you say is........." Honey , which container in the freezer are you talking about ? "

Let us know how it all works out ( The wife and the lube )..................

Ben

[Ben]

StarMetal :

I went to Lucas Oil's Web site. This is what their web site says about retail dealers in your area........Sorry you're having difficulty locating the product.

Lucas Oil Products are available at Auto Zone, Advance Auto, Napa, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Carquest, PEP Boys, Checker, Shucks, Kragen, Murray's and CSK Auto Parts Stores nationwide.

[Digger]

Maybe should have mentioned " research for a new beauty product !! "