Made some bullet lube today...

[Swede44mag]

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

I've shot this lube in rifles and pistols for several yrs. now.
You'd think if I was going to have a corrosion problem, I'd have it by now.

My bores are spotless.

Life is full of choices..................

Ben

I have a couple of dumb questions to ask.

Found the Lucas Red & Tacky #2
-
What is Johnson's Paste Wax?
Is it a can of car wax like turtle wax use to come in?
Most of the car wax I have found is liquid.
-
Did not find the Dextron II Trans. Fluid. I have 3 Quarts of Dextron III Mercon.
Will it work?
-
STP shouldn't be a problem.
-
How much should I increase the Beeswax to make it harder?


I like the idea of making my own instead of having to order and wait.
I would like to use my lube heater so it is not to soft and sticky.
Dont like to have to wipe the bullets off after they are loaded.
But dont want to use a lube that is so hard that it is brittle like the stuff I bought from C&H many years ago.


Thanks for your help.

[Ben]

Swede44mag :

Here is what Johnson's paste wax looks like :

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...LAID=109343695

Dextron III Mercon should work fine.

I can't say exactly how much beeswax to harden the lube, you'll have to do a little bit of trial and error on your own to settle upon what your feel is the proper hardness for your own individual needs. Everyone's opinion in that arena varies from caster to caster.

Thanks,

Ben

[MikeS]

I just mixed up a lube based on Red and Tacky, basically it was half a tube of R&T, 1/2lb of paraffin, and 1oz of synthetic 2 stroke oil. After the paraffin finally melted, it all mixed together fairly well, but the R&T (and so the whole batch) never fully liquified, but rather was still really thick. Should I remelt it til it's all liquified, or is that not needed as long as all the ingredients are well mixed? It's currently in the fridge cooling, so I don't know what it's final consistency is going to be.

[Ben]

Mike,

If you slice into a piece of solid lube and find that the components are still not fully mixed into a homogeneous mixture, I'd say that it all needs to be re-heated until all the component parts blend into one.

If your different components that you used are mixed thoroughly , I'd shoot it and test the lube for performance.

[MikeS]

I just had something odd happen to me. I melted the lube again, and still couldn't get it to actually melt to a liquid state. I poured some into one of the Lee 4" lube trays, and tried to pan lube some 45 boolits I cast earlier today. The first time I reheated it on the kitchen stove (all my stuff that was outside for casting including my hot plate are semi packed away due to the hurricane headed our way), but it really smelled pretty bad, so for the second tray of boolits I went and dug out the hotplate, and set it up in a bathroom that has an external door to the back yard (which I opened to get lots of airflow), but I didn't have the pan I normally use on the hotplate, so I just put the little Lee tray directly on the heating element, and set it on low. I thought that if I let it sit on low for a while perhaps it would actually melt into a liquid. Well, after a while it started to boil sort of, while still not getting to a liquid state, then a couple of the boolits fell over (I figured that the boiling knocked them over), as soon as this happened I shut off the hotplate, and let it cool on it's own. When it was cooled I went to work cutting out the boolits, but found that a few of them wouldn't come out! It turns out that about 5 boolits MELTED, and soldered themselves to the pan! And still the Red n Tacky / paraffin mix wasn't liquid!

At this point, I'm going to say that this lube is a failure, as the few boolits that I did lube with it didn't hold the lube too well, when wiping off some excess the lube in the grooves came right out, practically falling out on it's own!

Does anyone have any thoughts on why I can't get the red n tacky to melt? I was thinking of maybe adding some beeswax to it, and maybe some lanolin. Either that, or just call it a total failure, and not throw good stuff into it, and risk ruining them too!

[Ben]

MikeS:

My thoughts for whatever they are worth to you is that I'd relegate what
you've made to use as flux for smelting, etc. I don't think I'd attempt
to add anything else to the mixture.
__________________________________

Many on the forum have made this lube , it seems to work just fine
for many of us.

You might want to try this on your next attempt. I'd also suggest that
you try a small batch, of maybe 2 lbs in total when all the components
are mixed together.

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

You may end up with a few clumps and lumps of red and tacky that don't
want to melt. To deal with this small problem, I've poured the liquid mixture
through an old clean cotton T shirt and ended up with some fine looking bullet lube.

Also keep in mind that many plastic containers will not hold the hot bullet lube,
they will melt causing a MAJOR mess and result in you loosing all your work.
I use the aluminum pans that you see in the photo below. You can buy them at
Wal - Mart , etc. Inexpensive and re-usable . You don't have to worry about
hot liquid lube melting them like you do the cheap plastic containers.

As you are well aware, if you're heating the lube to the point that the bullets
are melting, you've gone way beyond what is needed to mix the components.
You also run the danger of the mixture starting a fire at those temps.

My hot plate has an adjustable temp control dial. I mix the components above at the
Low - Med. heat setting. Works fine for me.



Once I've placed the pans in the freezer and cooled the lube so that it will release from the pans, I use a utility knife to cut the lube into strips and store them in hvy plastic gallon size plastic storage bags.

[kbstenberg]

I just did the math. If I am correct Bens The ingrediants for a 2 lb mixture would be.
50% BW 1lb = 16oz
30% RT .6lb = 9.6 oz
10% JPW .2lb = 3.2 oz
5% Dexron .1lb =1.6 oz
5% STP .1lb =1.6 0z
total 2lb =32 oz

[Ben]

kbstenberg :

Yes, that's good math.....I go by volume in the container, but If you're going by weight, that would all work out just fine.

An old Pyrex glass measuring cup from a thrift store is a pretty good way to measure and keep the components in their measured correct proportions.

I doubt that if any one of the ingredients was " off a little " that it would make very much difference down range.

When you make 2 lbs of this lube , You will end up doing a LOT OF SHOOTING with that 2 lbs. of lube.

When I use this lube with my .30 cal. SAECO # 315 gas checked hp, I only lube the bottom 3 lube rings, the remainer of the lube rings are empty. It shoots cleanly and very accurately at up to 2,000 fps.( although most of my shooting is in the 1,600 - 1,700 fps zone )

[SSGOldfart]

Warning don't use your wife's pans,NOT A GOOD IDEAL, we won't ask how I know Hummmmmmmmmmmm.

[rintinglen]

WARNING--WARNINGThe manufacture of this product results in fumes that SWMBO finds to be an extreme an-aphrodasiac and may incite her to violence if done in the kitchen. It is a good boolit lube though.

[Ben]

If you guys want to keep your marriage in one piece, you need to read my list of over 100 things you don't need to be doing in your kitchen....making this lube is one that is on that list !

Ben

[btroj]

My list isn't that long, yet. Then again, I try not to push the envelope when doing stuff in the kitchen. I know my limitations.

[6.5 mike]

The only thing I do in the kitchen is clean my new moulds, figured that out real fast lol.

[Slingshot]

Question: How is this lube for smoke? I would like to use it for indoor pistol (38, 44, 45 etc. ) Is it less smoky then 50/50 formula?

Thanks,
Slingshot / Jeff

[Ben]

Slingshot

I have no basis to answer you question on and I'm the one who invented the lube.
I've done all my testing with the lube in rifle and pistol outdoors.

Someone who may have used it indoors may be able to help answer your question.

Ben

[Slingshot]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am gonna make a batch of it this weekend and I will post my results a little later.

Thanks,
Jeff / Slingshot

[Ben]

Good luck,

One note, most people have to make minor adjustments with the ratios.

Not everyone wants their lube the same consistency. Some like it a little softer, some harder.
If yours comes out a little soft, the next day remelt & add a little more Beeswax, that will harden the mix.

[longbow]

A reply for MikeS.

Coincidentally, I was working on a lube very similar to Ben's red but using paraffin, Lucas Red 'N Tacky grease and ivory soap.

Mine behaved similar to yours in that it tends to "foam" if overheated and seems to not fully liquefy. Mine did mix well though and came out looking like Ben's Red after cooling.

I was blaming the "foam" on the grease but maybe it is the paraffin or the mix of paraffin and grease since you are getting foaming (boiling) too.

In any case, if I heat mine slowly it does melt and is suitable for pan lubing. It softens then seems to get lumpy almost like curdles then melts more or less completely but a bit "gummy". I do have to watch the heat though as if it gets too hot the foaming starts.

Next time I am planning to try an oil rather than grease as I want it less viscous when melted. However, it works very well for me as is.

Just thought I would pass that on.

Longbow

[DeanWinchester]

I love Lucas red/tacky grease. I use it on everything from the U-joints in my Toyota to the slide rails on my XD9. I've thought often of using it in a lube formula, then I found this thread and HAD to make some. I'd like to share how I spent my sunday morning, if you will.

Instead of a hot plate, I use an old toaster oven. It heats up slower but melts things faster as it holds in all the heat. It also helps contain fumes when the door is shut; a good thing in the small shop I have.


I melted my beeswax first and measured it in liquid form in a Pyrex© measuring cup. I converted Ben's percentage figures straight to milliliters so I measured 500ml of beeswax into a pan and added 300ml of Lucas red/tacky© and put it in the oven at around 325-350 degrees stirring every 15 minutes for 45 minutes until the clumps were very small. Using a metal spoon and mushing the clumps against the side of the hot pan will help render them down faster. While that was in the oven I melted 100ml of JPW© and then stirred it into the mix. Here's another advantage of the toaster oven, you can melt more than one container at a time. I made up my mind early (pretending I was smarter than I am) NOT to add the tranny fluid and engine treatment until last for fear stirring up more smoke. After the grease was as melted as much I thought possible I added 50ml of ATF and 50ml of STP© engine treatment. Stirred well and let it heat for another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once all was done, I filtered it through a clean t-shirt. This I have never done in my previous concoctions, but for this recipe, it is quite important IMHO. If you'll cut the center out of a stiff plastic lid and lay it across your pan, then anchor the t-shirt material on each end, this is fairly easy though it does take a minute or two. Gently rub the bottom of the t-shirt material in a stirring motion with a spoon to keep it from coagulating.


Toss the t-shirt material and cover the pan and allow it to cool. Freezing will obviously expedite the process but I won't be using it for a few days so I just left it (covered) on my shop bench.


I am red/green color deficient, so I don't see colors the way the rest of you normal folks do, but to me, my batch seemed to be a little darker than Ben's photo. Molten, it looks more the color and consistency of blood. I know you'all have been calling it Ben's Red but I have added it to my record book as Bleeding Benjamin. (If you don't like the band Breaking Benjamin, you won't understand the pun)




I have high hopes for this stuff. I plan to use it for .308 winchester (under 1800fps) and some pretty serious John Linebaugh .45 colt loads.

[DeanWinchester]

I meant to add, I sometimes have a difficult time understanding hard data, and it's a pain in the butt to make long drawn out explanations like this, that's why people don't do it often. I really enjoy reading posts where people (right or wrong) explain in detail how they do things. Maybe my detailing my work will help another thick head like me to understand.


AND...Thanks for the recipe Ben!!!!!!