Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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
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
Last edited by wquiles on 15 Feb 2015 15:41, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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:
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
[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?
Michael
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
I have not tried that method, but it makes sense - I need to try it one of these days.Ranch Dog wrote: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?
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
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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.
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.
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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,
Make smoke,
Curt... makin' smoke and raising my carbon foot print one cartridge at a time
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... highlight=
I seem to remember him pouring the still warm lube right into the lubrisizer.
Will
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
Thanks, Will.
Curt... makin' smoke and raising my carbon foot print one cartridge at a time
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Re: Making Ben's Red bullet lube ...
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..........
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..........
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North American Hunting Club Life member
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