Anybody els shooting wax bullets?

[Swampcrawler]

Out of boredom and curiosity, I drilled out the primer pockets in some 357 mag brass to fit a 209 primer and tried some wax bullets. I have some questions here. I used a regular drill (no press) to do it. It works but primer is loose enough to just dump out of the shell. In a "real" load this is obviously a problem but shouldn't be an issue with just 209 and wax right? Also, how accurate can they be? Out of my 10 inch contender barrel I can barely hit a 1 foot square box at about twelve yards.

Thanks guys!

[mac60]

I just drill out the flash hole and use standard spp's. I push the case into a block of paraffin wax then prime. I staple a target on a cardboard box and stuff it with old towels. I don't have any problem keeping them in the black at about 15 ft. I used to do it sitting on the couch with the box on the other side of the room until the wife came home one day in the middle of one of my shooting sessions. Nowadays I do it out in the shop. I shot a lot more of them before primers became scarce. They make a mess out of the gun (S&W revolver).

[Swampcrawler]

Thanks! I went with the 209 primer idea just because I can find them. I'm still having a hard time getting them to go anywhere near the same place. Oh well fun none the less!

[mac60]

They're fun to shoot for sure. I think they're best at close range (I think you're stretching it at 12 yds.). What size bit are you using to drill the primer pocket out? Maybe you could just use a bit .001 or .002" smaller.

[country gent]

I made a bunch of (200) 38 spl cases for wax bullets according to what I read in Bill Jordans book. I drilled the flash hole to .100 and cut the primer pocket to Large pistol so even if they were mixed in with my "regular " brass they would stand out. I made a derlin tray with lips 5/8" deep and poured wax into that to make the cake. Press sized case mouths into it to cut out the bullets then prime. Putting the primer in first allows an air lock and the bullets push out. I used a mix of parafin and beeswax. I used these with a heavy sheet on a stand to learn to shoot instictive with my J frames.
Your 209 priimer may be producing to much velocity and pressure for the soft wax slug. Also the 10" barrel may be more than the wax can take and is stripping out. I did it with 2" barrels. Speer made some plastic bullets for this also that may work better in the longer barrel. Play around with waxes and primers maybe even cases.
In my scandium 340 J frame this is the only load Ive found that is comfortable to shoot. With the contenders 10" barrel this would be a really fun load. Please keep in mid out of my J Frame on small critters they were leathal, at close range the will break skin and raise nasty bruises. These are light loads but not toys. Also make sure there is no real ammo where these are being used. I used to shot 45 colt in the basement with wax loads. Younger brother came in saw me a little later he piked up the gun loaded it with 255 grn pin loads and touched one off. Didnt do the block wall any good. No real ammo where these are being used. Unload gun else where go shoot these have fun. Remove firearm to another area clean sit down and relax, when your done having fun if its a defense piece reload and store.

[Swampcrawler]

Thanks for the answers guys. So iv shot my 3 drilled out cases about 50 times. The random wax mixture I'm using (tea light candle with a little vaseline) is smearing wax down my barrel BAD. Also I can still only get about an 8 inch three shot group at 15 feet or so. It seems that the production cowboy action wax bullets are way harder yet not brittle. No clue how to make mine like that.

[country gent]

Try Parffin beeswax no vasaline. Vasaline will soften the wax. I was using them with fairly good accuracy out to 21 feet or so. Maybe just the tea wax candles.

[bangerjim]

Formula for shooting wax:

8oz paraffin ( not tea candles!!!) Gulf wax from the grocery store caning isle.
4oz beeswax Available from any Woodcraft or woodworking store.
2oz non-lithium grease Get the Mystick JT-6 grease at Walmart or auto stores. That is the BEST grease for everything you will ever find! Slickest grease I have ever found. Vaseline does not work nearly as well.


Works great no crud in barrel.

I cast them in the molds! Don't use the sprue plate. Use light coat of Pam as release agent. Far more accurate than just "cook cutting" them into the case.

If you want a harder wax boolit, add about 2-3 tablespoons of carnauba wax to above mix.

Better yet is hot melt glue. More accurate and no mess. And you can REUSE the boolits, unlike wax. Again, I mold them just like real lead slugs, except you want the mold COLD, so use an ice cube to cool after injecting the HMG.

Drill out ONLY the primer hole and use either SP or mag primers. If you do not have precision tooling (5C collet lathe and boring bars) hand drilling out the primer pocket is absolutely impossible. I have BORED (not drilled!) a few out and see nothing gained over SP primers.

Good shooting!

bangerjim :guntootsmiley:

[Swampcrawler]

Thanks for the help guys. I found the solution! Hot glue. Tried with the hk45 first, 209 primer with the stick just shoved in and cut off. After consistently hitting a soda can at 30 feet, I decided it needed to be done in the contender. Lacking a mold for such, I got creative (well creative by my standards) drilled out the primer pocket bit enough to fit some sort of punch through. Stopped up the hole with paper and squirted the case full of liquid hot glue. After it solidified I fired up the crawfish burner (it is south Louisiana after all). Taking the case full of solid glue in a pair of channel locks I held it in the flame for about 2 seconds, just enough to losen the bond to the case, and used a chainsaw file as a punch to pop the "gloolits" out of the case. Trimmed them all to match (9 of them) and loaded and fired. I put about 20 shots into a 2 inch hole at 14 feet.

I'm extremely happy

[Ernest]

Just a quick note. Be careful . these are lots of fun but are very lethal on small animals at short range. you do not want to horse around with these loads. They will knock off hunks of hide an leave nasty bruises.

[Swampcrawler]

Ernest, trust me buddy I know! If it will blow through both sides of a cardboard box at 30 feet it counts as pretty dangerous in my book! It's being fired into a cardboard box filled with towels inside of a large wire cage, against the shop wall. :)

Now, to find someone to let me shoot rats in their barn.

[Ernest]

They are lights out on rats and mice! Don't ask me how I know about how bad they hurt.. Never been accused of exquisite smartness!;-)

[mac60]

swampcrawler - You might have already seen this. If not you might find it good reading.

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

Kinda pricey but 1000 will go a long way and all the work is done for ya.

[bangerjim]

Thanks for the help guys. I found the solution! Hot glue. Tried with the hk45 first, 209 primer with the stick just shoved in and cut off. After consistently hitting a soda can at 30 feet, I decided it needed to be done in the contender. Lacking a mold for such, I got creative (well creative by my standards) drilled out the primer pocket bit enough to fit some sort of punch through. Stopped up the hole with paper and squirted the case full of liquid hot glue. After it solidified I fired up the crawfish burner (it is south Louisiana after all). Taking the case full of solid glue in a pair of channel locks I held it in the flame for about 2 seconds, just enough to losen the bond to the case, and used a chainsaw file as a punch to pop the "gloolits" out of the case. Trimmed them all to match (9 of them) and loaded and fired. I put about 20 shots into a 2 inch hole at 14 feet.

I'm extremely happy


The HMG sticks that Harbor Freight sells are EXACTLY the size of a 45LC case....saves you tons of time if that is the size of your gun. All brands are not that size, so buyer be ware.

I still inject them into the mold to form perfect-looking boolits in 9mm, 38, 40, and 45!

Avoid the yellow heavy duty sticks, as they are harder and tend to coat.

They will NOT cycle semi's, so you gotta do a little work between rounds. But they fit in the mags perfectly & work perfectly, unlike cut-off glue sticks.

bangerjim

[joec]

I got 50 cases in 45 Colt a few years ago by http://www.waxbullet.com/ and a couple thousand bullets. Brass still after the total bullets first ordered as well as another 1000 since. It is still going strong with no problems with the brass. These are made for 209 primers by the way. I also found them pretty accurate to 30' though I've never tried them further so can't say what their max. range would be.

[fcvan]

For wax boolits I use a wax ring for closet flange (toilet bowl ring) some paraffin, and some olive oil until I get a decent consistency. I used to shoot straight paraffin that I melting in a tin lid at 1/2" deep. Whenever I wanted to load cases I would take the wax cake and heat it under warm running water until it was soft enough to push the case in and then prime the case. I also put red chalk line powder in the wax so it would leave a mark on hard surfaces like steel plates.

I had a bunch of cases that were almost black with tarnish so I drilled the flash holes to 1/8" so the primers didn't back out. The dark cases don't get mixed in with my regular cases.

After reading about glueblits on this site I cast a bunch using a hot glue gun. The mold cavities were lightly lubed with olive oil every 5 or so casts so that the glue didn't stick. I got to where I could fill the cavity to a consistent level so that as the glue shrunk during cooling I had a decent base. The first few glueblits fired stuck like the dickens in the bore. Liquid alox works great on glueblits. With primers being scarce I haven't shot much glue lately. I am tempted to modify some cases for shot shell primers and have set aside some aluminum cases for the task. Shooting glue and wax is a lot of fun and a good training aid.

[bangerjim]

Lubing HMG.....I have found thru much experimentation, that any liquid lube will slightly dissolve/soften the surface of HMG, so you need to let them dry for at least 24 hours! Have tired LLA, 45/45/10, straight Johnson's wax, beeswax, silicone spray, and just about anything else that lubes and dries. Even used graphite but it is waaaaaaaay to messy.

Recently I have found tumbling them in a ziplok bag with a light dusting of mica powder works the best! Do it while they are fresh out of the mold when they are still slightly soft. Mica sticks and is an excellent lube! You can buy mica powder on line or use the colored stuff sold at craft and hobby stores. COLORED BOOLITS! Michael's and HobbyLobby sells it.

Still you need to let the cast boolits "rest" for a day to allow the glue to return to it's hardest state.

Wax needs no lube if you formulate it properly. Straight paraffin will not work well. You need an alloy wax/grease combo.

bangerjim