Glue Stick Boolits

[MO Fugga]

I'm spending too much time here!



Powder is hard to come by, and hot glue sticks and buckshot are pretty cheap. Much more time consuming to make a lot of these than pouring lead, but this should make a good short range, quiet critter round. The 5 on the left have 3 pellets of copperplated #4 shot in the nose. These came out fairly symmetrical. The 3 in the middle have 6 pellets, but were well out of balance, so I ****canned them. The 5 on the right each have a 00 pellet, but since it drops in and is larger than the meplat, came up short. Nothing a little adjustment of the seating die couldn't handle.

Lube:



And a trip through the turret, with only a primer.




Will test tomorrow! If it works out, I may get some magnum primers to try out. One more bit of versatility the 10MM offers! Wish I had a chrony.

[bangerjim]

I do this all the time. 30/38/45. Great quite load you can even shoot in the garage....just watch the fumes.

With a metal ball in the end, I add about 1-1.5gn of fast powder to give them better accuracy. Still are very quite. I use a slingshot steel ball (from WalMart) or a 32 cal lead ball I cast.

Watch out for primers baking out. I drill the flash holes out for these very low loads. Check it. Mark your "HMG" cases so you will NEVER use them for standard loads!!!!!!!! I use RED layout die to ID them.

Mag primers are the best from what I have seen.

You need to use a RN mold only to insure the metal ball is centered or you will end up with an off-balance "flier".

In casting HMG, you need to lube the mold with PAM and cool it with ice cubes rubbed on the bottom. The HMG boolits fall out! And do not worry about "grease in your mold". I have found I can go from HMG PAM casting right to lead casting with just a quick wipe of the mold with a paper towel.......no cleaning and scrubbing and scrubbing and cleaning! A hot mold (use a hot plate) prevents wrinkles....not a lack of grease/oil. Done it many MANY times with NO wrinkles.

HMG is fun!


bangerjim

[MO Fugga]

Thanks for the tips, Jim! Thought I'd get laughed off the site. What size bit for the flash holes? I won't reuse the brass, and all I have is 800X, so no idea how much to use, if any. I used the graphite on the mold, and put them in the freezer for a few minutes after casting. They didn't fall out, but no trouble. I made a few last night with no lube, and cleaning the sprue plate was a nightmare!

[mannyCA]

Man, those sure look good. I usually just use glue sticks and cut them to fit flush to the case mouth of a 45acp. They are the same diameter and just slide in. Prime up and shoot at a pile of clothes. They bounce!

[bangerjim]

I drill to 1/8"

Here are some ones I did the other day. The copper-look is from tumbling in gold colored mica I use for antique restorations. Silver-ish is moly. All are mold injected HMG.

Fun!

the PAM prevents ANY sticking to the mold cavities or sprue plate. The set-up glue just about falls off! You gotta lube.

I get far better long(er) distance accuracies shooting actual molded HMG's than just shooting simple glue sticks cut off in the cases. And you get to load just like real lead. Good practice for beginners!

banger

[MO Fugga]

I drill to 1/8"

Here are some ones I did the other day. The copper-look is from tumbling in gold colored mica I use for antique restorations. Silver-ish is moly. All are mold injected HMG.

Fun!

banger

Cool! The gold mica coating is interesting. Info?

[bangerjim]

You can buy metallic colored mica powders at most craft stores and professional finish suppliers. I use it for flash gilding along with real 24c gold leaf when I restore antiques.

I have seen packages of different colors (can you say rainbow!) at Michael's and Hobby Lobby used for various art and craft finishes. Check them out.

The package I have has 12 different metallics in it in small plastic jars.

What I used above I bought in 6oz jars years ago. Do you know how much volume 6oz of mica powder is?!?!?!?!? I also use REAL metal powders.

banger

[bangerjim]

Thanks for the tips, Jim! Thought I'd get laughed off the site. What size bit for the flash holes? I won't reuse the brass, and all I have is 800X, so no idea how much to use, if any. I used the graphite on the mold, and put them in the freezer for a few minutes after casting. They didn't fall out, but no trouble. I made a few last night with no lube, and cleaning the sprue plate was a nightmare!

By using PAM and the ice cube trick, you will eliminate that loooooong wait & trip for the freezer and crank out boolits MUCH faster! I just get a plastic tub of ice cubes next to me on the bench, squirt the glue in (trigger action gun only....you NEED the extra pressure to completely fill the cavities) and rub the cube along the bottom/sides of the mold for about 10-15 seconds and cut the sprue. You can cool the sprue the same way also. Apply PAM to the sprue holes with a Q-tip every so often.

banger

[sasquatch76]

I've been making glue boolits for 45ACP for a few months now. I use my busted old lee 2 banger for glue boolits only. Never thought about actually putting BB's or anything in them, think I might try it. Maybe add a grain of Bullseye and see what I get.

[HollowPoint]

The BB thing is a good idea. I made up some Hot Melt Glue bullets using an NOE 22 caliber mold that was designed to drop 35 grain bullets.

Cast from Hot Melt Glue, the finished bullets only weighed about 4 grains or so. I shot one out of my 22 caliber air rifle over a chronograph. The velocity was well over 1500 fps and the sonic crack nearly made me poop my pants.

I'll have to try it again with one or two BBs imbedded in the nose. Since standard BBs weigh about 5 or 6 grains apiece, If I can figure out a way to get them to sit symmetrically within the Hot Melt Glue bullet, it should give me a finished weight of about 10-14 grains; depending on how many and which BBs I use.

Along with the more efficient profile of these little slugs, (compared to the wasp-waisted conventional pellets I'm shooting now) and the slightly higher velocity, this idea might actually work out well because that higher velocity will be enough to keep the slightly longer cast-glue slug stabilized.

Ideally I'd like to keep the velocity just below the sound barrier to keep the neighbors from calling the cops on me and to enhance the external ballistics at longer ranges.

Since it's being shot out of an air rifle, there's really now powder or primers to consider so there's no reason not to give it a try.

HollowPoint

[bangerjim]

Standard .177 BB's will give you a lop-sided weight in the nose if you try more than one.

Use the 1/4" steel slingshot loads you get at WalMart in the little black plastic containers. They are great and work with any 38-45 cal ROUND NOSE mold. They sit perfectly in the nose while you squirt in the HMG. Flat nose molds will allow the load to move anywhere and give an unbalance.

bangerjim

[MO Fugga]

Standard .177 BB's will give you a lop-sided weight in the nose if you try more than one.

Use the 1/4" steel slingshot loads you get at WalMart in the little black plastic containers. They are great and work with any 38-45 cal ROUND NOSE mold. They sit perfectly in the nose while you squirt in the HMG. Flat nose molds will allow the load to move anywhere and give an unbalance.

bangerjim

I just got lucky using 3 of the #4's in my mold. There is a little play in it, but not too bad. Using several makes it very difficult to have them seated evenly. After further inspection, one of the buckshot rounds is slightly off center, likely due to the glue being forced in, getting around, and pushing the ball off to the side. If I had a RN mould, they would be near perfect. Nice to know there is an expert on just about everything here!

[dakotashooter2]

Definately drill out the flash hole (particularly for revolver loads). Unless you are adding powder you will find that priming after seating the gluelit is easier and works better. You are not fighting the air pressure that builds up inside the case and wants to push the gluelit back out.

[sasquatch76]

Definately drill out the flash hole (particularly for revolver loads). Unless you are adding powder you will find that priming after seating the gluelit is easier and works better. You are not fighting the air pressure that builds up inside the case and wants to push the gluelit back out.

I don't have that problem, I seat the glue boolit first, then prime. I also use a squirt of Hornady One Shot to lube the boolits. I've found an extremely light taper crimp helps too, at least with my 45ACP glue loads.

[bangerjim]

I don't have that problem, I seat the glue boolit first, then prime. I also use a squirt of Hornady One Shot to lube the boolits. I've found an extremely light taper crimp helps too, at least with my 45ACP glue loads.

The primer does not back out when you are loading! It makes no difference in what order you load. It backs out when you fire the cart in your gun. Due to different dynamic loadings in there, surprisingly a primer only will cause itself to back out and many times jams a revolver. That is why you drill out the flash hole.

Depends on what your gun is whether back-out is a problem. In a semi or long gun, you will not notice it. But in my revolvers..............OMG!!!!!! Can you say "wheelee no turnee"?


banger

[sasquatch76]

The primer does not back out when you are loading! It makes no difference in what order you load. It backs out when you fire the cart in your gun. Due to different dynamic loadings in there, surprisingly a primer only will cause itself to back out and many times jams a revolver. That is why you drill out the flash hole.

Depends on what your gun is whether back-out is a problem. In a semi or long gun, you will not notice it. But in my revolvers..............OMG!!!!!! Can you say "wheelee no turnee"?


banger

Yeah, I misunderstood. Never had a primer back out though, of course I'm shooting them out of a 1911 and I'm using small primer brass.

[MO Fugga]

Thanks guys. I already have 10 loaded, and wasn't able to get any trigger time in today. Shooting out of a Glock, and will keep an eye on the primers. Will drill them out next time.

[loaded303]

Thanks guys. I already have 10 loaded, and wasn't able to get any trigger time in today. Shooting out of a Glock, and will keep an eye on the primers. Will drill them out next time.

My question is will they cycle? Thx

[1johnlb]

Excuse me for asking, but does the glue leave any traces in the barrel. I am guessing if it did it would push right out. I ask because I sometimes play with 22 pellets in my 223 ar with 8" barrel.

[bangerjim]

My question is will they cycle? Thx

No

banger