Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...

[wquiles]

Thanks to Ben and others at the cast boolit forum who shared how they make it, I decided to try it today. This is the basic mix:
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



But a forum member was nice enough to describe that in other units, and using a complete Red Tacky Lucas Grease:
24 ozs. = 3 cups - melted beeswax
14 ozs. = 1 3/4 cups - Red N Tacky , heat it..it doesn't really melt
4.6 ozs. = 2/3 cup - Johnsons Paste Wax - melted
2.3 ozs. = 1/3 cup - Dexron II or III ATF
2.3 ozs. = 1/3 cup- STP Oil Treatment

Note, 1/3 cup = 5 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon


So I got several low cost supplies from Wally World, and from my local auto parts store:



I do my own electronics, so I have two hot ways to do surface mount reflow, so I tried one:



For the Red grease, I open the end, and squeezed it out like toothpaste (tip from a forum member here):



Then used spatula to get the other end (as much as possible):



I am waiting for beeswax from another forum member, but before I knew of him I had ordered a small amount through Amazon, which happen to come in little pellets. Here I got about 20 oz - I will add the rest later, as I was not 100% everything would fit in my container (it did):



The wax:

After I had the grease there for a while (while stirring it), I added the beeswax:





But I was never able to get enough heat, quickly enough:



So I tried my "better" hotplate:




The mixture got hotter, and the beeswax started to melt a little, so I added the Johnson wax, and the two liquids (using these to measure per the instructions above):



Although I got more heat, it was not hot enough to really melt everything:



Since I had everything mixed, I used my propane setup on the lowest level, and keep stirring it constantly:



That worked well, but it also worked fast!. As soon as you get the wax melted you need to kill the fire and keep stirring:



Since I knew I had the space, I went ahead and added the rest of the beeswax. Of course, I had to restart the fire for a short while, to get enough heat to melt the new beeswax:




After I had everything melted uniformly, with no clumps, I poured the contents on two pans:



I put them in the freezer for 1-2 hours, and then took them to my bench to cut up:



Since it shrinks, it is easy to get out:



Cut it with one of my small knives:



After cutting the two plates into triangles and strips of various sizes, I used the non-stick foil and set them aside for future use:



In a freezer bag for storage:



I hope to try this with pan lubing pretty soon (working now on a custom kake kutter!).

Will

[Ranch Dog]

Wow, thanks! That is quite an operation!

I'm actually gearing up to try Ben's LL mix (Liquid Lube).

[wquiles]

Thanks Michael. I have some of Ben's Liquid Lube as well, and for light loads it is working great on my H&R single shot rifle:

[Ranch Dog]

[bgcolor=][/bgcolor]On Cast Boolits Ben talked about "rolling" it on large bullets. You know how you do that. I assume a shallow pan is used will a layer of lube that is not deeper than start of the ogive?

[wquiles]

On Cast Boolits Ben talked about "rolling" it on large bullets. You know how you do that. I assume a shallow pan is used will a layer of lube that is not deeper than start of the ogive?

I have not tried that method, but it makes sense - I need to try it one of these days.

For my 45-70 RD bullets (355 and 300gr) I just do the standard "tumble lube" in a small container with a very small amount of the BLL. Set them to dry on waxed paper:



Will

[klr]

I also read where Ben "rolled " on the lube, but in a recent video he made he just swirled them with a small amount in a round plastic container. Then he picked them out with forceps and stood them on their base.

The first batch of Ben's Red I used a hot plate and it was hard to regulate the temp. The second time I bought a small Crockpot ($15) and dumped everything in. Set it on high and walked away. I think it took several hours, but everything mixed and melted perfectly.

[Ohio3Wheels]

Looking at the pictures it appears that Ben's Red is fairly thick and heavy has anyone tried pouring sticks and using it in a lubrisizer like the Lyman 450?

Make smoke,

[wquiles]

Search the original threads from Ben:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... highlight=

I seem to remember him pouring the still warm lube right into the lubrisizer.

Will

[Ohio3Wheels]

Thanks, Will.

[se3388]

Ohio3Wheels

I cut mine sort of like wquiles did and the sticks slide down in my Lube-a-Matic II fairly easy and I have lubed & sized several thousand bullets with it so far.

Steve..........