Ben's red

[CaliContractor]

Hello fine folks,

I just got a Mp 452374 mold and will have my hands on the Mp 9mm 4 cav mold with all the pins very soon, like 2 weeks.
I just took delivery of 8 pounds of tin from roto metals and will be doing 15/1 for the 9 and 20/1 for the .45. I can get beeswax locally at 10 dollars a pound and its double filtered light yellow. I have never made lube before but it doesn't look to hard and I will be following the directions completely no changes. I will take the time to do it right, like all things you get out what you put in.
Anyways my question is this I want to have around 5k rounds lubed and reloaded for each caliber. I don't know how much lube an actual bullet will use but if I had an idea of how much beeswax to start with that would be great. Should I make one giant batch or stick to making 1-2 pounds of beeswax to start and add ingredients from there? I shot 3 gun and have need for alot of bullets. Ideally I would have 5k loaded and ready to go and another 5 k poured and lubed but not loaded.

Thanks for your time,
Pete

[DrtRacr09]

Not familiar with the 452374 but a single groove around that diameter holds close to 0.07cc. So with my backwoods math you should get about 422 boolits lubed with one fluid ounce. When making Ben's Red, if the whole tube of Red n Tacky is used it yields 3 lbs. So 20,000 out of a batch? Sound right to the more mathematically inclined?

[CaliContractor]

Thanks for the quick response DrtRacr09, Yes both molds are a single lube groove around. I can get all the ingredients locally and money really isn't an issue. Up until 3 weeks ago I owned no molds and in 2 weeks I will own 2 Mp molds now. I just need a good heavy 223 boolit for the Ar and a 12 gauge slug mold and I will be close to totally self sufficient in bullet making. I already have a a few k of Gold Dot bullets loaded for each handgun I can't help myself, I just love to shot and reloading and this casting is just the logical next step for me. Oh and I love this site I have been reading non stop for a few weeks now

[C.F.Plinker]

Welcome to the site.
I get 1200 -1500 boolits per stick of Javelina lube which weighs 1.6 oz per stick. That's about 4 sticks or a half pound of finished lube for 5000 boolits. I would start with a half pound of beeswax for the first batch. After you have made it you can see how big a batch you will need the next time. FWIW, I make small batches of 6-8 oz because I make lube sticks and only have 4 molds.