Wax Bullets

[sinclair]

Anyone here ever fire wax bullets ?

http://www.gunfighter.com/waxbullets/

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364006

[Chuck]

Many times. More often back in the days I carried a revolver full time.
I still have some .44's loaded I need to shoot up soon.
I use canning wax (its more likely paraffin) but have heard that toilet ring wax is good for this too.

How about you?

[sinclair]

How about you?

Brings back memories. When I was in high school, used to spend a saturday morning pulling the lead out of 22 shorts, stuff a small construction paper spacer over the powder, then fill with melted candle wax to the case brim. Those things were potent at close range.... go thru a small telephone book.

Back in the 80's, Speer came out with plastic bullets and plastic cases, in 44 special/magnum, 38 spl and 357 magnum, and 45 ACP. They were powered with large pistol primers, so the thinking was that going to large pistol magnum primers would be even better. This tended to blow out the primer hole rapidly in the plastic cases. Also caused a bit of blowback in the cylinders and had to be cleaned after only a few cylinder loads. The plastic bullets were supposed to be re-usable but I lost most of them with the mag primers (I did not have a backstop to catch them).
Due to lack of recoil, they would always hit below the aim point. I figure the same for wax bullets, which I have never tried in anything but 22 caliber. But it does look like a fun thing to try.

Not sure about your idea of toilet ring wax. That stuff is soft and gooey. Would that gunk up the gun barrel ?

[Chuck]

I have never used the toilet ring wax myself. It was something I heard about from someone that had more time and energy to experiment with it. I suspect that wax by itself would not work well but maybe it can be mixed with something else like canning wax or brittle candle wax?

I have the Speer plastic rounds for .38 and .44. They are much harder than the paraffin bullets I make and require a tougher backstop. I can stop a paraffin bullet with a piece of carpet hung inside a box. The plastic bullets need a piece of sheet metal or plywood.

In the mid 1980's, before I was a firearms instructor, I was taken through a decisional shooting course that used the Speer rounds, shoot/no-shoot targets, and a 'donga' type path through one of our fire stations. The targets were taped to the walls in strategic locations so the shooter would not see them until rounding a corner or opening a door. Some of the targets were mounted on radio controlled turning target frames that worked only on occassion.
The instructors had not tested the plastic rounds before having the shooter before me go through the course of fire. Everyone was surprised when they could not find the plastic bullets on the floor under the targets. After inspecting the holes in the targets, holes in the drywall behind were found. Those holes have been patched but there are still some plastic bullets inside that fire station wall.

Back on the topic of wax bullets, have you tried hot melt glue bullets? This is another idea I have only read about. I have not made them yet. Maybe if the rain continues tomorrow, I'll make a few.

[sinclair]

+1 Chuck ("Maybe if the rain continues tomorrow, I'll make a few.")

This does sound like a good rainy-day project. I have a few primed 357 cases sitting around waiting for a bullet order to come in. Now if I can just find my old hot glue gun. How are you planning to form the bullets ? I figure to try gooping a blob on waxed paper and just pushing the case down on the glop, then cleaning off the excess. I do not plan on drilling out the flash hole or otherwise ruining the cases. What is your plan for this experiment ?

[Chuck]

I have not made glue bullets before but what I read was to use the same molds you use for casting lead bullets. No sizing or lube is used. They are loaded on a primed case just like wax bullets.
They should be somewhere between the wax and the Speer plastic bullets in hardness. I'll have to build a backstop for testing also.

[sinclair]

Just saw this. These folks beat us to the punch and seem to be having way too much fun there. (I still haven't located my old glue gun yet.) It's a funny, long read. These guys are experimenting with hot glue bullet lubes, drilling out rifle cases to add shotgun primers, and one guy has photos of his first successful game hunt with glue bullets. Definately some serious development going on here. I wonder how hard it would be to convert a few 357 cases to shotgun primers ?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=17577

Its a looooong read but I found it to be really entertaining as well. I am for sure going to try some of this. How is your effort progressing, Chuck ?

[Chuck]

Those folks at castboolits are a wealth of knowledge on their topic.

I made up a dozen .44's and 5 or 6 for a .303 to test. The .44's I'll just load onto a speer plastic case so I don't have to modify any good .44 brass. If they are properly lubed, they should at least pop out of the barrel.

I worked on the .303 cases for a while to set a 209 primer inside. It was difficult to form a shelf in the enlarged hole to accomodate the flange on the primer so it seats at the same depth as a standard primer.
Lacking a drill press they are not perfectly square but they should chamber without a problem. If I make up any more, I will visit a friend to use a drill press and a bottom mill to do them better next time.

I have to wait until late tonight to test them.

[sinclair]

Chuck, can't wait to hear the "Range Report".
Or should I say the "Back yard test report" ?

[Chuck]

I took those glue bullets to the range and was very disappointed. After setting up my chronograph and targets for the test shoot, I lubed them with lithium grease. Every one I tried stuck in the barrel.
I need to figure out how to size these consistently.

[OM44]

I tried a couple of wax bullets in a .357 revolver once. I fired one which was
propelled only by the primer at a door. It punched a hole through one side of
the hollow core door from about 10 feet. I decided there was no reason to
use any more of them.