Ben's Liquid Lube

Ian

Notorious member
Ben, I haven't said much because my results have not been nearly as favorable as those of others, which is likely my particular way of doing things vs. theirs. Lots of people are finding that it serves certain needs very well and that's what counts. I feel I have given it a really solid go and found that by and large conventional lube still fills my needs better (shrug). I have enjoyed the learning experience and BLL remains a useful "tool" in my handloading "toolbox of tricks and techniques".
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
It is almost like a presidential candidate running for office and thinking that EVERYONE loves him and he will get 100% of the vote. It won't happen.

I tried to tell everyone several years ago that BLL wouldn't be the DO ALL - BE ALL - FIX ALL bullet lube that would totally replace all other bullet lubes. Seems my prophecy was right. Shooters began using it on 454 Casull cast bullets with full power loads. I thought that was stretching the parameters of what I'd envisioned BLL to be about. A lot of shooters did things with the lube that it was never intended to do. Then when bad results occurred, the lube was criticized. ( Made me wonder if it was the lube or the people behind the lube that needed the criticism )

I probably use it ( personally ) as a " over-coat " lube for my nose rider rifle bullets as much or more so than I do as a stand alone bullet lube.

A lot of people use it as a stand alone lube for standard fact. dup loads in the 38 Spec. , etc......for that it seems to work real well. In magnum loads, they may get some minor leading at magnum pressures and velocities. If they do, they use a bristle brush to clean their revolver and they seem to be happy. A lot of people starting out don't have a lube sizer or the financial means to acquire one. Being able to mix a bottle of BLL and still be able to cast and shoot with acceptable results is appealing to them. I hope that young novice shooters will consider buying them a mould , sizer die, and make some BLL and start " rolling their own. " We need more young shooters in this sport.

Oh well, I guess all of us have different standards as to what will make us happy and what will not when it comes to the selection and use of a bullet lube for our cast bullets.

I think BLL has applications in which the lube really shines, it is up to each individual caster / shooter to experiment with bullet diameters, bullet styles, velocities, etc. to find a suitable application for BLL for their own individual needs. I can speak with authenticity that when you do discover that, you'll be happy with its performance.

Will it work in ALL situations , probably not.

Good shooting to all of you,

Ben
 
Last edited:

fiver

Well-Known Member
I have messed about with bore riders quite a bit.
one thing I found was that quite often a little lube on the nose would make them shoot more accurate.
it didn't replace engraving by any means but it would increase the accuracy enough it was worthwhile to add that extra little bit.
a soft non sticky lube seemed to work best, hydrous Lanolin [lisinopril the nipple cream] and bees-wax worked well mixed about 40/60, so did many other things.[brylcreem anybody]
I would load the rounds then swipe my fingers over the nose before putting them in the box.

but an over coat would work just about as well.
for a while there I would tumble them in nu-finish then run the dried boolits through the sizer to lube/check them.
about 50 in a baggie and a drop of the polymer wax mashed all around was enough.
they come out milky white until you wiped the top coat off then they sparkled in the sunshine.
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
I like the comments of both Ian and Ben in this regard. Over the years, I have never 100% agreed with much of anything. That said, I am a very opinionated. My wife says I don't have an opinion on anything, rather, I have an opinion on everything. That of course is the beauty of not being politically correct.

I probably have a 5 year supply of Lar's, and a 2 yr. supply of the green lube that I got from Brad. I have always had good luck with Lar's Can Red, but it tends to not shoot well at lower temps in my experience (about 40 degrees and lower). I have now switched to Ben's Red and Bll as an overcoat on every thing I cast, the exception being for cold weather, when I switch to the green. Have just not tried Ben's Red for cold weather, so don't know about that. I do use Bll as an overcoat over the green. I am happy with the results of Bens red and BLL, and like the fact that I have little if any leading with it, and nice shinny bores.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
hey,,, you gotta try stuff.
brylcreem works too.

believe it or not there are a lot of things out there we can use for casting and reloading that aren't even remotely meant for it.
Vo-5 hair conditioner is pretty good for sizing cases and swaging. [and rinses right off afterwards, I wouldn't bet against lee's case lube being a thicker version of it]
many under-arm deodorants contain some very useful ingredients for bullet lube. [hydrolyzed castor oil]
surf wax comes pre-tackified.
pledge makes your rifle stocks look super nice and keeps dust off them.
JPW works on the outside of your barrels too.

if your ever near a beauty supply house [big one] stroll in and read some ingredients on some of those jugs and jars.
acetone, and MEK's, tri-this's and di that's,,,, way better stuff than ACE hardware has.
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Fiver, I seldom stroll past much less in a beauty supply house (big or small), but will remember your admonition if and when I do.

Have used paste wax on outside of barrels, and it is good protection during lousy weather.

Now thinking along a different track, and as a potter whose hands require Cornhuskers or Bagbalm to keep them from cracking, I would bet Bagbalm would work as a case lube, not sure about Cornhuskers. May just have to give it a try!
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
bag balm has many wonderful uses.
I put an oil pump on one of my old internationals together with it once.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
if I had some one-step I'd probably have tried it by now.

I don't think your gonna help the 45/45 lube too much.
the one thing I have done and Ian has also gave a try is adding some beeswax to the 45/45 lube.
it helps the T/L make it across the throat a bit better.
he tried 10% I routinely use about 20% [mark-1 eyeball]
 

Ian

Notorious member
The thing about JPW is it's mostly paraffin, which adds to the smoke and doesn't help engraving all that much. The One Step is a huge improvement all across the board, it seems to take away most of the side effects of Alox while keeping the good properties. Also, like paraffin, the One Step goes liquid almost instantly and wipes out the bore consistently each shot so first-shot flyers are reduced, but One Step does so with less smoke and it dries and handles better. The problem with One Step is it DOES go liquid almost instantly, so adding some beeswax helps by keeping film strength up during engraving. As far as waxy liquid lubes go, I don't think you'll do much better than BLL plus beeswax.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I've been tickled pink with BR and have yet to try BLL. I'm considering it as a long term protection for exposed lead. It seems even a single coat would add some protection. I'm remelting my first attempt at BR(i scorched it some) and coating buckshot and slugs in it, via a fryerbasket lowered into the liquid BR. Seems to tighten my buckshot patterns. BLL may also work well on buckshot or slugs.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
Rally,

I hope you do try the Bll lube. I would love to see one of your cold weather reports on it.
I get the same great performance from it as I do Ben's Red.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Might be close? Might be worth investigating. Biggest concern to me is the solvent used. If water based it won't be of value to us.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Not even close :oops:
Chemical name

Distillates (Petroleum), Hydrotreated Light

"3(2H)-isothiazolone,

5-Chloro-2-methyl-, Mixt. With

2-Methyl-3(2h)-isothiazolone"

Bronopol


But as we see with this product someone bought the license Maybe another company will buy the Johnson'a One Step floor wax formulae
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
Another great use for BLL is a weather proofer for blued firearms. We got into hunting camp last fall and it rained cats and dogs for 7 days. I have a stainless Hawkeye in 358 so I was good with that. But my little blued Anschutz .22 for grouse was completely soaked.....stripped it and dried it in the wall tent and wiped it down with a patch soaked in BLL.....dried to a nice waxy finish.....not a spec of rust. Took it all apart when I got home as its such a cool little .22 and wanted to make sure it was good.....dry under the stock and no rust anywhere... Cool. Thanks Ben
 
Last edited:

popper

Well-Known Member
I normally HItek or ESPC but use BLL when testing alloys. No added BHN. So far it's good for 40SW, 30/30, 300BO mid fps. Tested 40sw 190gr HOT load with soft alloy (Pb/Cu/Zn). First half of barrel was nice & shiny, last half was trash. Yup, it goes liquid fast and will get blown off. Just melted a roof jack (they really stink) in the melt for pure, plan to add more Cu/Zn for testing. Seems like the combination hardens with WD, not sure as it's so soft. Roof jack is ~ 3# so I'm back up to 5# to mix alloy. Next test is 1% Cu/ 1% Zn. Forgot to ask what kind of lube star do you get? Mine is sort of white, just like ESPC.
 
Last edited: