Revolver Loads for Bee Hunting

[kf4zht]

We bought a foreclosure 2 years ago that sat for 5 years. As a result we have been battling wasp, carpenter bees and yellow jackets every spring and summer. Last year we armed ourselves with spray and tennis rackets. A very narrow margin was held but overall we won the battle. This year we started early with traps and taking out all previous nests. But it has not been enough to win the war for good.

So it was time for a more powerful weapon. One that could take out carpenter bees from a distance longer than a tennis racket. What better than revolvers

After some testing with different powders, charges and projectiles I found a pretty good load:

38 Special Brass
CCI SP Primer
2.5gn Red Dot (of the Hercules vintage)
Wad made from automotive gasket material and a spare case
Grits (Jim Dandy Quick Grits) filled to the top, tapped down and re-filled
Another wad on top
Crimped with Lee FCD to a pretty good roll

Results - at 1-4 feet it blows a carpenter bee apart, 5-10 it knocks them unconscious/dead, out to 15 it takes their wings off. Only issue I have found is that it will screw up the porch screen, which for now is fine as it needs to be replaced.

Overall it is turning the tables. Just need to find something for a wad that doesn't require me hammering them out, that is the current slowdown in the loading process. Also want to try and design some 12ga loads for taking out large wasp nests.

[scattershot]

I don't know if it would work for the top wad, but you could probably use .36 caliber Wonder Wads for your overpowder wad.

[lbaize3]

Yeah! Bee hunting at its' finest. Be careful, though, if ya only wound the rascals they will charge. Then you'll need a double barrel 12 gauge loaded with black powder and a half cup of grits!

[DougGuy]

If you want the wasps gone, take a paper sack and stuff it full of plastic store bags, tie it up around the house somewhere out of the rain. The wasps will think it is a hornet nest and they won't nest anywhere near it.

If you want any kind of a garden, leave the carpenter bees alone as they are excellent pollinators. Braconid wasps don't sting humans, but they will lay their eggs on a tomato hornworm and the young will lay waste to their fat a$$ in a heartbeat. Best thing ever for tomatoes!

[sundog]

Aha, just yesterday I used up the last of the 45 Colt shotshells I had loaded ala Junior1942(r.i.p.).

His web site is still up. Go visit and see how he made his shotshells. Really frugal. And they pack a punch, too.

I used legal pad cardboard for under and over wads cut with a serrated 45 Colt case screwed onto a handle as a cutter. Really nice, heavy, tight fitting wads. A 'scoop' of Red Dot, a wad down tight over the powder, and two 'scoops' #12 shot and another wad. 'Boy howdy' they do a number on those big ole carpenter bees! And only a few pennies per shot.

Gonna have to reload, as the bees are thick this year. What fun, and it keeps my barn rafters from being drilled full of holes.

[Tackleberry41]

Only issue I have with the carpenter bees is they bore into my porch and garage. Nothing deters them once a hole is bored. If inside some brake cleaner in there gets em, but then next day another bee digs em out and starts digging again.

I have been using the 22lr rat shotshells they sell. Put them in my sons cricket rifle. Wait for them to hover, no more bee, won't damage anything very far away.

[dragonrider]

For carpenter bees I use a can of spray foam. Wait until evening when it's dark and poke the wand in the hole and empty the can. They don't ever come out. Not as fun as shooting them but effective.

[Mal Paso]

I wear a baseball cap for Carpenter Bees. Just take it off and knock them out of the air. They aren't nimble and one good whack is usually enough. Rebuilt a historic cabin where the bees had bored over 8 feet into the handsplit redwood rafters.

Wasps and Hornets I'd like loads for though.

[scattershot]

Is there a bag limit? Sounds like a great time.

[woodbutcher]

Used to use a sling shot and beach sand.Out to about 5 feet,it worked great.And no NOISE for the neighbors to complain about.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Charley]

Don't leave ay unfinished wood available for them, and carpenter bees will nest elsewhere. Paint, varnish sealer of some sort. Female "tests" the wood by chewing first, before beginning to burrow in. Paint stops it, don't like the taste...

[osteodoc08]

A perennial favorite topic........gotta love blasting those critters out the sky.

There are the wasp/yellow jacket traps that work amazingly well. Just hang em up.

[OBXPilgrim]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/arch...p/t-30536.html

Been there, done that - got the t-shirt!

[FergusonTO35]

I dont mind wood bees and try to leave them alone as much as I can but every now and again one of them gets really aggressive and has to be dealt with. Hint: carburetor cleaner spray will kill them mid air out to 5 or 6 feet and is good for many other uses.

[hoosierlogger]

Cabelas sells a little shotgun that shoots table salt. Made for killing flys from a couple
feet, might just make a bee mad. I think it's called "bug a salt"

[GhostHawk]

Traps set out in early spring can really knock the yellow jacket population.
They are hungry for protein early in the spring, try a slice of fish in the trap and let it get ripe.

Late in the fall applejuice and something sweet like cherry Koolaid works great.

[dougader]

I finished off some aggressive bumble bees that moved in under a friends's deck one summer. Brake cleaner will literally melt them on contact.

[kf4zht]

The yellow jackets I usually just trap, they are too mean and aggressive to deal with.

There are holes all over my barn, fence and porch from carpenter bees. Anyone that says paint stops them needs to talk to the ones at my house, I have seen where they chewed straight through asphalt fence paint. PT doesn't stop them either.

Right now I have 12 carpenter bee traps out, when I checked sunday at least 4 of them were full, just need to wait for the ones in there to die and empty them. Ran out of loads late in the day and went to using the tennis racket. I think the count for me was 20 shot down, 32 with the racket and my wife got at least 10 more with the racket.

We also get mud dabber. Worst creature imaginable if you like to work on cars. Any open bolt hole, breather etc will end up full of mud. Fortunately they are really easy to kill and knock the nests down.

No gardening but I do have 3 dogs so I try not to go too heavy on the chemicals.

[FergusonTO35]

That's interesting about the mud daubers. They are very common here but I've never had a problem with them nesting on any kind of machinery unless it hasn't moved in years. Out of all the stinging insects we have, mud daubers are the only one that has never bothered me or given any kind of problems.

[bobthenailer]

For insects i use brake clean (auto section ) with a spray can trigger adapter , knocks everything in the dirt right now! except stink bugs even after several applications , amazing