Question On "Ben's Red" ....stored loads?

[JWFilips]

I have a question concerning Ben's Red Lube...I guess, maybe it is directed to Ben who is the formulator of this great concoction (which has improved my groups and improved & shortened cleanup time!) ....Is this a "lube & shoot" type formula, or can the loads be stored away safely???

Up to now ( I pan lube with the stuff) I lube a couple of hundred....Cut them out with a kake cutter then store them in plastic trays standing upright ( & covered from any dust) The lube after a few days seems to get a semi firm coating on it's outside ( which helps in handling while loading & I do wipe the bases before loading)
Just wondering how safe it is to load up a bunch of good loads for future shooting
Thanks

[Ben]

JWFilips

I've shot 38 Specials that are 5 yrs. old with Ben's Red in them.

They all fired 100% with zero problems !

I'm not certain how long you are wanting to store loaded rounds but I've seen no evidence to suggest there would be any greater problems with Ben's Red than there would be with any other petroleum based bullet lube.

[JWFilips]

Thank You Ben..... all I needed to hear is from the master! Super, I mean super lube!!!
Now if I only can figure out how to use in in my TL Boolits !!!

[Ben]

T/L,..........I've never tried Ben's Red on a T/L design.

You're on your own with that one.

Ben

[JWFilips]

Not that I haven't tried! The pan lube just won't stay in those micro grooves & no way to handle them when loading.

[Ben]

It has been my experience that T/L grooved bullets are best lubed with LLA or 45-45-10.

Ben

[JWFilips]

It has been my experience that T/L grooved bullets are best lubed with LLA or 45-45-10.

Ben

Ben, I use 45-45-10 ( Recluse's formula) now for all my TL boolits & it works very well....but just think of the possibilities:-D

[nekshot]

I use Ben's Red all the time on my rifle tl boolits. Works for me and leaves that nice shiney bore!

[w5pv]

I use Ben's Red on my TL's but I lube them by hand so far works fine for me.Little messy but I wipe the nose before I load.Good cold rainy day project.

[JWFilips]

I use Ben's Red all the time on my rifle tl boolits. Works for me and leaves that nice shiney bore!
Would you mind sharing your method?
I pan lube so I'm also cutting the TL boolits out with a cutter as I do standard lube groove boolits , however when loading the TL version I really get a mess at the top of the case when seating....of course this doesn't happen with traditional lube groove boolits. Also I'm using Ben's original formula ( ingredients by volume not weight) maybe your mix is slightly different? I know some folks use higher heat and more Beeswax I have been making it like Ben originally posted it and my results shooting it are great.

[nekshot]

I have a pan of Bens Red about 1 inch deep. I slice it to put in my sizer. I simply take tl boolit in my finger and work it up and down and rotate it 1 time and then push it thru a lee sizer. Works great for me and I even do this with other boolits if I am to lazy to change the luber/sizer. Heck I get that lazy sometimes I reach for the lee hand loader instead of dies for the press. I am all about taking the easy way since losing most of my hair to baldness.

[w5pv]

Would you mind sharing your method?
I pan lube so I'm also cutting the TL boolits out with a cutter as I do standard lube groove boolits , however when loading the TL version I really get a mess at the top of the case when seating....of course this doesn't happen with traditional lube groove boolits. Also I'm using Ben's original formula ( ingredients by volume not weight) maybe your mix is slightly different? I know some folks use higher heat and more Beeswax I have been making it like Ben originally posted it and my results shooting it are great.
Not one bit. I just hold the nose of the bullet and rub TL groves across the lube glob and then work it in with my fingers.It works great for me.

[JWFilips]

OK This Afternoon I pan lubed a bunch an cut them out with a larger sized Kutter. Got more lube on then now.... I'm sure I will have a mess in my seater die but it seems like I got more into those mini bands. It may be worth the mess.
I'm now itching to try them out but my weather just turned nasty and frigid I was going to head out late afternoon but the squalls came in with 3" of new snow and near 0 visibility! That sucks!

[nekshot]

How well I remember new years day in pa as a kid climbing up the silo's with it snowing and that o degree chill facter. We should have sprayed Ben's Red on the sides of the silo to keep the silage from freezing fast to the concrete.

[JWFilips]

Got a chance to try out the Ben's Red on the above TL style boolits. Even after cutting out in the pan of lube with the slightly larger cutter there sure didn't look like much lube was left in the TL grooves & I did seem to loose more during loading and it was, as expected, ...messy Just cleaned them up and went out to the range yesterday morning before our snow storm hit. Well all I can say it was worth the extra effort! This is a 12 shot test group I shot off the bench (Hand held on rest) at 20 yards

358-158 Lee SWC TL boolits /pan lubed in Ben's Red & 5 grains of Bullseye S&W Mod 19-3 ( 357 mag brass)
I guess there was enough lube....... Barrel cleaned up with one tight dry patch
92513

[Ben]

No more Ben's Red than those T/L grooves will hold, your supply of Ben's Red will last about 400 years.

Good shooting.
_________________

I'm experimenting with the NOE 358156 plain base right now, looks VERY promising ! The lube ring in this bullet is a " cavern ". It EATS Ben's Red , big time ! !

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/01178.jpg

Ben

[longbow]

You might try adding some stickifier to Ben's Red and then try pan lubing or "hot tumble lubing".

I came up with a lube recipe some time ago and planned to use it for pan lubing because I like to shoot PB boolits as cast (lazy).

My lube recipe was slick to the touch and worked without leading but did not stick to the boolits well so tended to pull out of grooves when pan lubing. Cutting the boolits out warm sort of solved that but the lube still came out of the grooves sometimes during handling. No good!

I decided to try some Bardhal oil treatment (similar to STP) to stickiefy my lube and that did it. I noticed that after reheating to pan lube several times the lube was getting less viscous so decided to try melting a thin film in a frying pan then "hot tumble lube" boolits in it. Believe it or not that worked and is what I do most of the time now.

Not sure what Ben's red has for stickifier in it but you might try increasing that a bit or adding some Bardhal or STP oil treatment. That would be changing Ben's recipe though.

It takes a lube that is thin when melted and that doesn't mind being remelted and run hot. I get mine just to smoking then add boolits, let them warm, roll them around then lay on foil.

Don't misunderstand, this is no criticism of Ben's Red or a claim that my lube is any better (probably not as good). I am just letting you know that you can tumble lube using something other than LLA or Johnson's paste Wax.

Also, as I worked out my recipe I ran into lube purging which appears to have been caused by too much oil treatment at one point. I was getting occasional fliers and I would swear (still do) that I saw spider web like strands in the air right after shooting. Gear pointed out that I was probably getting lube purging so too much of a good thing. I reduced the oil treatment a bit and am good to go.

Longbow

[w5pv]

Also when I load,I watch the coal and when the bullets set a couple of thousandths short back off the depth gauge a little to compensate.