Casting hot glue boolits

[inuhbad]

I just tried this last night with my wife's SP-101...

I used my Lyman 158gn mould, made about 12 Gluelits, and loaded them up...

They worked, but I fear some oil got into the primer pockets or something because the primers pushed out slightly when firing... It worked though.

Is it possible to do this with my 1911, and slightly taper-crimping the rubber gluelits in the case so I can cycle them from the magazine without significant problems with primers coming out???

I have to experiment with this stuff a bit more it seems... Once I've got it a bit more perfected I'll show it to a couple friends that were curious about how they can go about getting more practice drawing, firing, reloading, and malfunction clearing at home... This could potentially fit the bill for them.

In a rural area, they have no problem with neighbors hearing any noise either.

[jhalcott]

the primers back out often IF you don't drill the flash holes to let MORE of the primer power get to the glulets. This makes them UNSAFE for normal loads, so they MUST be kept separate.

[talaananthes]

Hello gentlemen! I recently ran across this, and decided it would be an awesome way to practice my marksmanship in my downtown apartment. Now, yeah, sure . . . I COULD just drive out to my Dad's out in the country 20 minutes away or to the range waaaaay out in the country 40 minutes away . . . but sometimes, it'd just be nice to be able to practice, well, right here. So . . . I have absolutely zero, none, zilch experience at casting or reloading and don't know about a lot of the stuff y'all have talked about in this thread.

What's the simple complete noob version of how to do this, and can it really be done indoors without making a huge amount of noise and damaging anything?

Thanks!

BTW--the calibers I'd be interested in are 9x19 and 7.62x39 if that matters.

[talaananthes]

And, is there anyone who'd be willing to help me put a starter kit together? Like, a few casings already drilled out, a few bullets already cast, so I know what the good stuff looks like so I don't screw something up out of just plain not knowing if it's wrong? I'd be willing to pay fairly for whatever that'd cost you.

[Trey45]

What's the simple complete noob version of how to do this, and can it really be done indoors without making a huge amount of noise and damaging anything?

I don't want to sound crass here, but there's 13 pages of thread here, did you read it? That's how you do it, the instructions have already been posted in this thread.

[Longwood]

I am experimenting with dog repellent rounds.
I found that I can fit a a .445 ball into a 45 Lee mold.
The ball is tight so it will not let glue run around the ball. The glue does not stick to the ball very well which lets it sometimes fall out of the end of the bullet.

I may drill the center of the bottom of the mold cavity so I can stick a smaller (3/8" steel slingshot), ball into the cavity and the hole will keep it centered in the cavity.
The glue should then be able to inject around it and hold it firmly centered in the nose of the finished bullet.
I am waiting on 4, 6MM drills I ordered from ebay so I can drill out the brass for a shotgun primer before i try to shoot them in the only 45 I own which is a rifle.
I may need to put a cardboard wad at the base of the bullet.
If all that does not work well, I will drilling a small hole in some of the .445 balls to see if the glue will hold them in place better.

I figure if it will put the bullets through both sides of a sheetrock wall like my slingshot will, I will be happy and the dogs will not.

[Jim]

I must have the IQ of a race car number. I've been working on this for six years and everybody else that does it once is an overnight expert.

[Longwood]

I have created a monster.

Tain't nuttin!
I was a country boy with lots of time and VERY little (none) money.
I could tell you some stories.

[talaananthes]

Ok, so I've read a bit more of the thread, and think I get the hang of how to do this. But, I've never cast anything that didn't have a hook on the end in my life. What's a simple and inexpensive mold I could use? I'd like one for 9x19 and one for 7.62x39, say a 115gn .355 and a 123gn .308 mold. Or, does anyone have some used ones that still work that they'd sell me?

[phaessler]

I must have the IQ of a race car number. I've been working on this for six years and everybody else that does it once is an overnight expert.

Yup, pretty much sums up alot of incedences......


Pete

[Hamish]

You ought to hear the story of the old pipe clothesline, the half pound of black powder, and the number 10 can of beans,,,,,

4+ firings out of a glue boolit?

[Hamish]

I still have some pages in the middle to peruse, but has anyone suggested Postal Gloolit Matches yet?

[Longwood]

I am experimenting with dog repellent rounds.
I found that I can fit a a .445 ball into a 45 Lee mold.
The ball is tight so it will not let glue run around the ball. The glue does not stick to the ball very well which lets it sometimes fall out of the end of the bullet.

I may drill the center of the bottom of the mold cavity so I can stick a smaller (3/8" steel slingshot), ball into the cavity and the hole will keep it centered in the cavity.
The glue should then be able to inject around it and hold it firmly centered in the nose of the finished bullet.
I am waiting on 4, 6MM drills I ordered from ebay so I can drill out the brass for a shotgun primer before i try to shoot them in the only 45 I own which is a rifle.
I may need to put a cardboard wad at the base of the bullet.
If all that does not work well, I will drilling a small hole in some of the .445 balls to see if the glue will hold them in place better.

I figure if it will put the bullets through both sides of a sheetrock wall like my slingshot will, I will be happy and the dogs will not.


"How sweet it is".

My experiment is a success.
First,, The 4 drills I bought for $6 on ebay turned out to be carbide instead of high speed steel as listed. Very nice indeed. They are sharper than razor blades.

With shotgun primers, I put a slight dent in a piece of plywood at 20 yards.
The report in the rifle is about like a 22 short.
I next tried the bullets with the big round ball but it lodged in the barrel of my 92 Carbine.
The bullets that I have cast a 3/8 ball inside the nose works best. They maintain a good velocity out to 100 yards. About the same as my slingshot will flip a 1/2" round lead ball.
I am pretty anxious to go out where I can shoot several more to see if the accuracy is as good or better than my sling shot.
I used a Lee mold for a 300 grain flat nosed bullet that I ever so slightly modified so the ball would stay centered in the nose of the bullet.

[DCP]

Its a dog killing round. Not dog repellent rounds. You may want to rethink this.




I am experimenting with dog repellent rounds.
I found that I can fit a a .445 ball into a 45 Lee mold.
The ball is tight so it will not let glue run around the ball. The glue does not stick to the ball very well which lets it sometimes fall out of the end of the bullet.

I may drill the center of the bottom of the mold cavity so I can stick a smaller (3/8" steel slingshot), ball into the cavity and the hole will keep it centered in the cavity.
The glue should then be able to inject around it and hold it firmly centered in the nose of the finished bullet.
I am waiting on 4, 6MM drills I ordered from ebay so I can drill out the brass for a shotgun primer before i try to shoot them in the only 45 I own which is a rifle.
I may need to put a cardboard wad at the base of the bullet.
If all that does not work well, I will drilling a small hole in some of the .445 balls to see if the glue will hold them in place better.

I figure if it will put the bullets through both sides of a sheetrock wall like my slingshot will, I will be happy and the dogs will not.

[Longwood]

Its a dog killing round. Not dog repellent rounds. You may want to rethink this.

Not hardly!
They are way too big to penetrate a dogs skin at the velocity the bullets are traveling. I figure it is around 250-300 ft per second.
The mutts I am conserned about, are wise to people in houses and they won't get within 150 feet of me.
The glue bullet is a 45 caliber with a large flat nose that weighs a meer 25 grains.
With the ball it weighs 75 grains.
The ball does not protrude, it is 99 percent embedded in the glue.
A bullet that size and that light weight that is also moving quite slowly, kicks up a tremendous amount of turbulence (drag) which will cause it to bleed off energy very rapidly and in a short distance.

[Michael J. Spangler]

so should the mold be cleaned before returning to casting lead boolits?

i just got a mold in a few days ago, and i'm waiting on the rest of the equipment to cast boolits. i figured this would feed the hunger a bit. it did

[mistermog]

This has to be the most interesting thing I've seen on this site yet! :)

anyone chrono any of these out of say a 9mm or the 45s?

[fcvan]

I chronographed .38, and .40S&W out of revolvers at about 400fps, 9MM and .40S&W out of semi-autos at about 440fps. The cylinder gap on the revolvers slowed them down. The last time I shot glueblits I dipped them in hot boolit lube and set them on wax paper. I was able to shoot them several times before they needed re-lubing. I will be making up some .45 glueblits from a 255RF mold in the near future and run them through my .45ACP 1911 and Vaquero in .45 Colt. We'll see how they do with standard and magnum primers. Frank

[scattershot]

[QUOTE=
Interesting concept. Would this be the most effective round for marauding woodworkers?[/QUOTE]

Dunno about woodworkers, but it would probably do the trick on a bird.

[Buckshot]

.............My one and only experience with Gluelits was to buy a bag of .450" glue sticks at Horror Fright for a couple bux. Back at home I used a single edge utility razor blade to slice off a piece about 1/2" long. Took a sized, flared & primed 45 Colt case with aformentioned hotglue cylinder in place, and deposited it in my Vaquero. The interior back wall of my shop is shiplap 1/2" pine, and probably older then I am. Standing 22' away with my back against the opposite wall I took aim at a knot and let fly.

The flat faced hotglue cylinder smacked the wall a resounding crack, and spent a few seconds happily rebounding around amongst some sheet iron and steel pipes I had leaning closeby. About an inch below the very knot I was using as an aimpoint I found a very nice round flat indentation ~1/16" deep in that old hard pine. Getting hit by one at that range would sting smartly 8-)

..............Buckshot

[Rangefinder]

Not sure what they're booking at, but for my .357 I bored and reamed a handful of .38 brass to take a drop-in shotshell primer. It's a lot easier to reload that way. But I'll tell you--those shotshell primers really push 'em. My shop is a steel building. At 21' I've dented it a couple times by missing my quick-draw target--nice little dimples in sheet metal tells me I really don't wanna get hit by one.

[DODGEM250]

Has anyone tried the Glow-In-The-Dark hot glue sticks (http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-GLOW-Dark-Mini-5-16-Hot-Melt-Glue-Sticks-4-Long-Halloween-Supplies-/280754678324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415e486a34) ?

[delmar]

Has anyone tried the Glow-In-The-Dark hot glue sticks (http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-GLOW-Dark-Mini-5-16-Hot-Melt-Glue-Sticks-4-Long-Halloween-Supplies-/280754678324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415e486a34) ?

That might make them easy to find, I guess!

[Jim]

Not sure what they're booking at, but for my .357 I bored and reamed a handful of .38 brass to take a drop-in shotshell primer. It's a lot easier to reload that way. But I'll tell you--those shotshell primers really push 'em. My shop is a steel building. At 21' I've dented it a couple times by missing my quick-draw target--nice little dimples in sheet metal tells me I really don't wanna get hit by one.

Back in '06 when I first started experimenting with gluelits, I was using .45 Colt cases in an old 1917 Colt New Service revolver. I smeared a little grease on the gluelit, seated it in the bottom of the case over a large magnum pistol primer and promptly put it through the back rest of a plastic patio chair.

I was amazed at the bullet energy in that. I took aim on a medium sized terra cotta flower pot and broke it. I thought the same thing you did. I wouldn't wanna get popped with that!

[sledgehammer001]

Has anyone tried the Glow-In-The-Dark hot glue sticks (http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-GLOW-Dark-Mini-5-16-Hot-Melt-Glue-Sticks-4-Long-Halloween-Supplies-/280754678324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415e486a34) ?

Didn't know they even MADE em! Hmmmm, gotta check this out :bigsmyl2:

[reddoggm]

Started reading back in the 2007 posts and got me so into it I had to try it took a Lee DC 45 cal mold pamed it up filled em with glue drilled some 45 LC cases with an 1/8 inch bit in the primer holes and AWESOME reloaded 6 cases 10 times shot em in my 7 and 1/2 inch Blackhawk and like I said AWESOME my neighbors think I,m nuts shootin into the garage from the middle of my driveway but you,ll have that shootin around 25 ft and blasting thru 2 LFR boxes with a welding jacket behind and everyone went clean thru the cardboard and collected ready to reload in the jacket AWESOME!!! To much fun you guys are to cool with the crazy $hit ya come up with for fun Thanks for shareing this I,ll be doing alot of it By the way the mold is ready to do lead boolits with no problem I thought that it would get messed up but ---NOT
Thanks The DOGG!!!

[minimotos95]

i recently attempted w209s in my USP45 pushing hot glue WC and wax WC rounds, they were too loud for inside city limits, it was about as loud as a p22 when i tested them in the desert.
i have a round nose bullet mold on the way, if it's still too loud i will just use small pistol primers and I'll use the 209 modified brass for some wax-birdshot hybrid rounds for pest control

[edsmith]

I found out to not use rifle primers, made my first glue bullets today, could only make 8, ran out of glue sticks, though I would use rifle primers, they were handy, my target is a card board box filled with wadded up kraft paper then on top a square of carpet the size of the box.shot one round, went thru the carpet,the paper and out the back of the box and bounced around the shop. pistol primers stay in the box.:bigsmyl2:

[minimotos95]

^ 209 primed rounds will do almost as much damage to a pop can as a real round...

what do you guys do with all your scraps? i have a made 150 gluelits so far and have a small pot 3/4 full, i was considering melting it down on the stove for glue slugs....

edit: i have found that a 230gr mold makes 21gr gluelits, so a gluelit weighs roughly 9% of a lead bullet

[edsmith]

has any one made round hot glue boolits? if so, how was the accuracy? making round balls has to be better than the regular boolit moulds. I like casting boolits, but making hot glue boolits suck.:bigsmyl2:

[rfd]

a very interesting and fun read thread. a decade or so ago i'd used cut off glue sticks into a 45acp case with primer, single shot outta my 1911. fairly accurate and good training at 10-15 feet. these dayze i can walk to my indoor pistol range, however, i really like the idea of casting the glue and will give it a go with an old lee mold i have.

NOW, wondering how this would work with rifle rounds? i've got a s/s h&r buffalo classic 45-70 that would be a hoot to shoot at home without having to deal with the hour's drive to the range.

[Jim]

Done it many times. I've shot gluelits in 30 caliber up to 45-70. Put a thin coat of automotive grease on the gluelit, seat it and shoot it.

If the gluelit is greased and seated and put away, the grease will dry out. An unlubed gluelit has a very high friction factor. This will cause glue 'leading'. It's not so hard to clean out, but I see no sense in causing a problem when there's a way to avoid it.

With a long rifle barrel (as opposed to a handgun barrel), you'll get the full effect of the energy of the primer. First time I tried it, I put a 30 caliber gluelit through the bottom of a metal coffee can at about 10 feet.

Wanna see something cool? Take your rifle outside, fire it and watch the gluelit go into a long cork screw trajectory.

[rfd]

Done it many times. I've shot gluelits in 30 caliber up to 45-70. Put a thin coat of automotive grease on the gluelit, seat it and shoot it.

If the gluelit is greased and seated and put away, the grease will dry out. An unlubed gluelit has a very high friction factor. This will cause glue 'leading'. It's not so hard to clean out, but I see no sense in causing a problem when there's a way to avoid it.

With a long rifle barrel (as opposed to a handgun barrel), you'll get the full effect of the energy of the primer. First time I tried it, I put a 30 caliber gluelit through the bottom of a metal coffee can at about 10 feet.

Wanna see something cool? Take your rifle outside, fire it and watch the gluelit go into a long cork screw trajectory.

thanx for the good scoop, jim.

i was kinda concerned as the buff classic has a 32" barrel.

as i've read within this large thread, i should ream out the primer hole to .125"-.140", correct?

a regular large rifle primer ok in the 45-70, or go with a magnum?

much obliged, sir!

[Jim]

There's no need to drill out the flash hole for use in a single shot rifle. The problem of primers backing out manifests mostly in revolvers. A magnum primer will give you a bit more velocity than a standard, especially in a barrel that's measured in meters. :bigsmyl2:

A wet lube like grease or heavy oil works better than a dry lube. You might also experiment with a thin coat of oil in the barrel to give the gluelit a nice slick barrel to ride down.

Bad going to worst, you might stick a gluelit. Big deal. Push it out of the barrel with a dowel or ram rod, clean the barrel and get back in the saddle.

Just to give you an idea of how much energy there is in a gluelit pushed by nothing but a primer, here's a photo of a plastic cat litter box I shot. You're looking through the exit hole at the entrance hole in the opposite side.

The load was a gluelit cast in a Lee 430-230 RN mold. The gluelit was loaded in a .44 Special case with a standard large pistol primer and fired from a Charter Arms 3" Bulldog at about two feet. Don't think for a minute that this wouldn't sting the doo doo outa' somebody.



60658

[rfd]

good advice, jim - much obliged, sir!

[fcvan]

I have shot a lot of glue out of my guns and it's been a lot of fun. The first time I shot glue, it really fouled up my barrel something fierce. Right now, I'm not wasting any primers shooting glue as primers are kinda scarce. But when I do, I plan on coating the glueblits with Lee liquid alox and see how that works. Dipping them in wax seem to work okay but it was more of a pain than tumble lubing. I'm also curious to see how a gas check would work on the glueblit, probably a plain based soda can check.

[rfd]

what about revisiting paper wraps for glueblits? didn't someone work all that out and just about stopped the glue fouling?

[Jim]

I'd be very interested to see the results of these experiments when they're done. The older I get, the more I appreciate the 'KISS' principle.

[40Super]

I dug some 9mm , 40S&W, and 45acp aluminum cases out of the brass bucket at the local range. I'm going to do some playin :Fire::Fire::Fire:


I hadn't known they had .40 cal in aluminum, they have to be strong enough for a couple reloads, if I needed to. But I don't

[Silver Eagle]

Anyone tried replacing the lead core in a swaged boolit with hot glue? Might make for a very interesting lightweight round.
Probably would have to be very careful on working up the powder charge to keep them from disintegrating in flight.

[Jim]

I have fired 30 caliber gluelits cast in a 150 gr. mold from a .308 Lee Enfield tanker rifle and was barely able to track it with my eyes. This was propelled with nothing more than a large magnum rifle primer. I had to prelube the barrel as the lube on the gluelit ran out before it exited and I found glue 'leading' in the muzzle. I'm just guessing here, but I imagine a powder charge as small as one grain might push a gluelit beyond visual tracking speed.

I will say, through all my experiments, I've never been able to achieve any acceptable accuracy beyond 'basement' range.

[350Gr]

Amazing Thread...

[Capn Jack]

Haven't tried the hot glue yet, but those Speer "Target 38" plastic bullets sure make good garage bullets.
I believe they also make them in .44/.45.

jack...8-)

[leeggen]

reloaders definantly "think outside the box"
don't ya just love us!

[TexRebel]

I have shot a lot of glue out of my guns and it's been a lot of fun. The first time I shot glue, it really fouled up my barrel something fierce. Right now, I'm not wasting any primers shooting glue as primers are kinda scarce. But when I do, I plan on coating the glueblits with Lee liquid alox and see how that works. Dipping them in wax seem to work okay but it was more of a pain than tumble lubing. I'm also curious to see how a gas check would work on the glueblit, probably a plain based soda can check. Try Pam it works great

[destrux]

Didn't have time to read through the thread... but what if you took fine lead shot and mixed it in with the glue when you melt and pour it? Then put gas checks on the bottom and load them with powder instead of just a primer.

Might be interesting to see what they'd do.

[Jim]

Didn't have time to read through the thread... but what if you took fine lead shot and mixed it in with the glue when you melt and pour it? Then put gas checks on the bottom and load them with powder instead of just a primer.

Might be interesting to see what they'd do.

If you read the thread, you'll find the answer to your question.

[snowshooze]

As an alternative... wax bullets.
Just pour a layer of wax on a cookie sheet to whatever thickness you like, take your primed case and stuff it in there cookie cutter style.
I shot one of these into a fir tree and the wax slug flattened out into the bark nicely.. I am certain they would hurt like heck at close quarters.
Dad used to pop the seagulls off the roof to get a rise out of them. With a charge of just a primer, as I recall they shot quite well.. but at 20' or so they parted trails with point of aim..
I should try this again... burn off the mystery primers.

[leeggen]

would like to thank all those that brought this fun to the rest of us shooters!!!

[ghh3rd]

"burn off the mystery primers"

Thought I was the only one who had some of them :-|

I found out early on that I really can't reliably remember what kind of primer I put into a sandwich baggie, unless I mark it. Now I tear a corner of the primer 'box' off and stuff it into the bag.

I've skipped around in this thread, and need to read it entirely... I'd like to make a batch of wadcutter glutlits for my SW 642 and see how they shoot.

Randy


ps - I did find out that I could launch an 'unknown' primer from a slingshot against the front porch support and make a very loud bang (wore goggles)... however I also found out that they can launch fast enough to pass through a nearby window :shock:.

[Capn Jack]

DANG! If that don't sound like the time I wanted to see if I could fire a 12 GA. shell with my old Red Ryder.


Yup it did :holysheep and the primer went by the side of my head so close it moved the hair over my ear.

Didn't think it needed a second try.[smilie=1:

Jack...:cool:

[Psypher]

You folks are awesome! I'd heard of this years ago and just got into casting this year, reloading over the past 18 months. Fortunately, I now have NEW excuse for the heavy duty glue gun I recently purchased and told my wife it's a "hand's-off, guy tool".

[Capn Jack]

Just cast up my first batch of Glulits 150gr. HP .357 mold. I have an extra plug I made to use it as a solid mold.

I sprayed the mold with PAM and started casting. First used a small "craft" glue gun. Took about 40 pulls of the trigger to fill the mold, but the Glulits were hard almost immediately. Next I tried a "commercial" sized glue gun. Two squirts and the mold was full, but dam! That thing got hot and the glue took longer to harden up. The Glulits are sticky out of the mold, hopefully that will go away as they age.

I'm going to try these Glulits in a 9mm. I have been using black plastic .38 bullets from Speer, but they're getting harder to find.

Jack...8-)

[bangerjim]

Just cast up my first batch of Glulits 150gr. HP .357 mold. I have an extra plug I made to use it as a solid mold.

I sprayed the mold with PAM and started casting. First used a small "craft" glue gun. Took about 40 pulls of the trigger to fill the mold, but the Glulits were hard almost immediately. Next I tried a "commercial" sized glue gun. Two squirts and the mold was full, but dam! That thing got hot and the glue took longer to harden up. The Glulits are sticky out of the mold, hopefully that will go away as they age.

I'm going to try these Glulits in a 9mm. I have been using black plastic .38 bullets from Speer, but they're getting harder to find.

Jack...8-)

Use an ice cube to cool the mold!

It will not hurt it. I do that all the time. Just hold the freshly filled mold over a plastic pan and rub the cube on the bottom and sides for a short time. I normally get 3 mold fills (6bangers) per ice cube. Just wipe the water off and go again. Pam makes the water bead up and roll off the cavities. I re-Pam the cavities and sprue plate about every 8 fills using a Q-Tip only. Spraying the Pam lays waaaaay too much down.

I use a commercial gun also and they fill fast (especially those 300gn 45's) and put out really hot glue. Those toy craft guns are worthless for our needs.

banger

[Capn Jack]

Thanks BangerJim,

I'll give that a try. Haven't tried shooting any yet. The Speer plastic bullets are good out to about 15", but that's out of a 3" barrel. A little better out of a .38 Spl. with a 4 3/4" barrel. I haven't drilled out any primer pockets yet as I didn't want to waste the brass.

Jack...8-)

[bangerjim]

Thanks BangerJim,

I'll give that a try. Haven't tried shooting any yet. The Speer plastic bullets are good out to about 15", but that's out of a 3" barrel. A little better out of a .38 Spl. with a 4 3/4" barrel. I haven't drilled out any primer pockets yet as I didn't want to waste the brass.

Jack...8-)

I quit drilling out pockets a while back. I now put about 1.5gn of ANY fast powder in there. It add a real zing to the glulit and is still very quit......at least out of my long guns.

I use a 100 weight paper disk of the appropriate size for the cal against the small powder load to insure full burn.

I have found the primers do not back out any more.....no wasting brass.

I have about 70 cases of 4 different cals I drilled out early on and have marked the ends with bright red die.

banger

[Capn Jack]

HELP ! JIM !!

OK, so I cast up about 2 dozen Gluelits in my .38Spl. mold. Things looked good until I tried to push one into a case. OOPS! Wazzzup a? Wouldn't fit. The Gluelit mic'ed out .360 and wouldn't go into a .38Spl., or a 9mm case.:? I checked a couple of the Speer Plastic bullets and they Mic out at .345.

Just for grins, I pushed a couple of the Gluelits through my .357 sizing die. Waste of time....All it did was leave a mark on them. Bugger!! This is beginning to look like a "Trash Can" project.

Am I missing something here?

Jack...:?

[bangerjim]

I cast 5 different 38's and they all work perfectly! As do the 9's, 30's, 40's, and 45's.

I do not know what is going on with your mold process. Glue should fill out the cavities perfectly and not expand beyond the sized cal diameter.....at all!


And no, a sizing die will do NOTHING!

I use Lee dies and have them flare (with the powder-thru die) the case just a bit so the glue goes in tightly, but not as to shave off any! I seat and crimp the gluelits just like lead slugs.

Try expanding the mouth a bit more!

banger

[boltons75]

Are you possibly not holding the mold together tight enough.

[Capn Jack]

Have any of you guys mic'ed your gluebits. My mold is closed tight. Been using the same one since '62. It's not a GC mold and I open it by cutting the sprew, just same as a lead boolit.

The cases have all been full length resized with a slight flare. Would someone please mic one of their gluebits and see if it is less than .360 ?

Might point me in the right direction.:?

Thanks, Jack

[bangerjim]

Have any of you guys mic'ed your gluebits. My mold is closed tight. Been using the same one since '62. It's not a GC mold and I open it by cutting the sprew, just same as a lead boolit.

The cases have all been full length resized with a slight flare. Would someone please mic one of their gluebits and see if it is less than .360 ?

Might point me in the right direction.:?

Thanks, Jack


I just checked several (different molds) and all are 0.358-359 and load in the 38 and 357 cases just fine. I have never noticed any side shaving occurring when I load them with my press.

In looking at spent rounds removed from my "target box", I can see very slight rifling grooves in the sides, as should be there. I reuse most of the slugs at least 3 times.

Have not found any glue "stringers" in the barrels. No so with my S&W 9!!!!!

I use only Lee 2 & 6 banger molds for 38's.

banger

[Capn Jack]

Thanks Banger,

Looks like my Gluelit diameter is within range. I'll have to see if my brother has a few fired, un-sized cases. 38Spl., or 9mm.

Too cold and wet to go popping caps at the range just for the empties.:(

Jack...:coffee:

[douglasskid]

I'm out to buy a glue gun. Have to try in my rifle!

[bangerjim]

I'm out to buy a glue gun. Have to try in my rifle!

Make sure you buy a GOOD one! The ones where you have to push the stick thru with your thumb will not work.....pressure is needed to quickly fill the cavities for successful boolits. And those "hobby" toys will not work.

Get one that has trigger feed action and is a hight temp class. And make sure it uses the BIG sticks not those tiny skinny ones.

Harbor Freight sells one but I have no experience with it.

banger

[Capn Jack]

OK.Here goes.....

Shook brother down for some un-sized 9mm cases this morning. The Gluelits I had made were with two different guns, each using a different glue. The little "Hobby" glue gun has a white glue that seems to cast truer to mold diameter. While, the big glue gun has a yellow colored glue in it that casts slightly larger.:holysheep

Both colors will go into an un-sized 9mm case, abet, one is tighter. Tomorrow, I'm going to lube a couple with a heavy grease and give them a try.

Jim, You can use the large triggerless glue guns for casting, but you can sure burn your fingers trying to start a new stick "One handed".:-(

[Pinsnscrews]

Hmmm...me thinks I have found a new fire forming tool ;-)

[Alferd Packer]

Haven't tried it yet, but for those with too large Gluelets cast out to.360.
I would try a shaving outside cutter make from a resized .38 special case with the primer drilled out for a push rod.
I would sharpen the edge of the case-outside edge -and push it down over the round end of the Gluelet and thereby shave the bullet to fit a resized case.
Push out the gluelet and see howit fits in a fired case.
Remember the cases get thicker toward the web and the gluelet should fit.

[Bull Shoals]

Saw the thread about chasing off bears. If you prime an empty shell, push a wad down as far as it will go, put in a cotton ball and a paint ball on top then carefully crimp you get a fast moving paint ball that will "mark" your target. Good for "marking garbage-can animals.

[MaxJon]

Old thread, but whats the best priming method in the .303?? 209 shotgun modified case, or large rifle primer, std/drilled case??

[bangerjim]

I shoot cast HMG boolits in 30-30 and 30-06 with standard primers, no drilled pockets, 1.2 or so grains of fast pistol/SG powder, and tuft of Dacron to keep the teeny bit of powder back against the primer.

Decent performance. For a piece of cast plastic.

[35Whelen]

45-70 in a Ruger number one.....420 grain super wide meplat. Cast her up with a high temp gun,...never thought about lubing it. Loaded the case with a magnum rifle primer and pushed the round into place. Had the common sense to stand behind a wing chair in my man cave to protect the family jewels in case of a ricochet ;). very heavy waxed cardboard box, with the local phone book about a 1.5" thick inside. Placed in on the other wing chair at the end of the room about 12-15 feet away and let her rip.....cleaned the box, phone book ,out the back of the box and a nice hole in the fabric of the other wing chair. Got the " you're and idiot " look from the better half. Be careful folks these could easily kill at close range. They're a hoot to shoot, but I had better come up with a better backstop, or I'll be sleeping outside with the dog.

[bangerjim]

I put one 30 cal thru our steel garage door! Told the wife a piece of brass rod flew off the metal lathe and hit the door. (I am safe.......for now!)

Yes, they do have a punch as short distances. Be careful. You are NOT shooting Airsoft here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Knightflyer]

......absolutely correct sir, and a very important caveat to my dissertation. I too often assume that folks would have the foresight to have proper ventilation if popping caps, molding, painting, laquering, or anything else with dangerous vapors, indoors, and I appreciate your bringing it to the page...apologies for my omission............ and reminding me not to assume............

To be honest, I didn't know the primers gave off fumes. :oops:
But I definitely know what I'm doing the next time wifey and daughter leave me alone to my own resources...

[Knightflyer]

I put one 30 cal thru our steel garage door! Told the wife a piece of brass rod flew off the metal lathe and hit the door. (I am safe.......for now!)

Yes, they do have a punch as short distances. Be careful. You are NOT shooting Airsoft here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But if you were hunting an invasive species like collared dove... hmm. I may have just found what I can use while my son uses his air rifle!

[Capn Jack]

I used to shoot those< "Cowboy Action" plastic/wax bullets out of my 45/70. When the case lips would start cracking, I would drill the primer flash holes to 1/8th " and
practice from the driveway, into the garage. They were very accurate out of a rifle and deadly on small pests.:shock:

[RICHP]

I had cast some round nose .41 cal. gluelits a couple years ago and had gotten sidetracked. I have had a rat problem, caught a few in traps but seems some were too smart for traps, so I drug out the gluelits and loaded a few with primers only in .41 mag. brass. I managed to nail one large female so far at about six feet. She kicked around a little and expired pretty quickly.

[Capn Jack]

Nice work. :drinks:
I hope you remember to carry a Zip-Loc bag with you. When it starts to cool, anything living on that critter will jump to the next warm body.:twisted:

[Alferd Packer]

I find its best to let the glulits cure overnight before use.

[Rubino1988]

Ha sounds like fun

[Alferd Packer]

Well ,here we are in 2019.Where is everybody?
I sure enjoy reading this about the hot glue boolits or gluelits.

[Alferd Packer]

People could have fights with them like airsoft or paintball. ;) or is it too lethal??

Don't shoot glue bullets or wax bullets at anything you don't want to wound or kill including humans or animals !
For Real!
Shooters on this thread have shot these things thru closed garage doors. If you shoot someone in the butt or in the stomach, it will mean a trip to the ER and a Police Report of a shooting.
A shot to the eye even from a richochette, well it can't be reversed.
Treat the wax and glue bullets like the real thing. Because they are the real thing!
Be safe or be sorry.

[PS Paul]

wow. resurrection of a 12 year old thread!!!!

I sure do miss Jim around here. shame he left. what a character.
Paul

[Cast_outlaw]

Resurrection not so much but more like the thread that just won’t die (not that is a bad thing). I’m going to have to try this in my SBH and Dakota buntline although being in Canada I will have to go to the range as discharging any hand gun for any reason not at a aproved facility is a felony and I’d loose all my guns

[JBinMN]

Yes, it might be an old thread, but it is a good one. I have been shooting wax boolits on occasion & I was going to try the glubits after reading this topic some time ago, but could not find my glue gun & glue sticks to try it, so I put it off. Besides it was in the late Summer when I last read it, and my focus was more on shooting real boolits.

Now that Winter is approaching it is a good one to think about. At least up here where I live anyway. So the timing of it being resurrected is not so bad.
:)

[Conditor22]

Good price on glue sticks

Surebonder DT-2010 Made in the USA All Purpose Stick Glue Sticks-All Temperature-Clear 7/16" D, 10" L Glue Stick-20 Sticks per Bag $5.69
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00627G6QC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have an old Arrow hot glue hun that still works great.

I put an ice chest with some ice packs next to my reloading bench
lightly sprayed the cavities with cooking spray (Pam) and wiped out the excess (q-tip and rag)
stuck hot glue gun in sprue hole (holding the gun lightly) and pumped the trigger until the tip started pushing out the hole [make sure you are pumping the trigger when you remove the tip from the sprue hole.
set mold in an ice chest on icepacks, wait a few minutes until the glue has set up, cut sprue (if the cut is not clean 1) you cut the sprue to early 2) the edge of the sprue hole is not sharp enough)

my 2¢

[AllanD]

I've never been inclined to cast bullets of soft thermoplastic, but I've used similar techniques to cast bullets of paraffin (canning or candles) wax and intend to eventually take it to the next step and cast in bronze or brass. ("Lost Wax" method)

I think a Lyman 12Ga Sabot Slug cast in "Classic Bronze" (Cu88% 12%Sn) should have some interesting effects.

And NO I would not pour that alloy into an Iron mold!

[calm seas]

With the price of 3D printers today, printed boolets (ploolets?)....yes, an old thread, but man I had some laughs tonight!!

[bangerjim]

I have a 3D printer and it takes forever to print anything! Casting them from HMG is far faster and more productive, unless you want to print a boolit ever 3-4 hours! With a 6-banger mold, I can crank out several hundred HMG slugs in just a few minutes.

Sometimes, new technology is NOT the answer to a very simple old process.

banger

[bangerjim]

I've never been inclined to cast bullets of soft thermoplastic, but I've used similar techniques to cast bullets of paraffin (canning or candles) wax and intend to eventually take it to the next step and cast in bronze or brass. ("Lost Wax" method)

I think a Lyman 12Ga Sabot Slug cast in "Classic Bronze" (Cu88% 12%Sn) should have some interesting effects.

And NO I would not pour that alloy into an Iron mold!

More power to ya! You sure must have a bunch of time on your hands to try casting lost wax investment slugs! I use LWI techniques for casting one-of-a-hind gold and silver items. But it is really slow and time consuming. I prefer to cast using Al or Brass molds using Pb alloys (or HMG for fun stuff).

Let us know how your bronze age slugs work!

bangerjim

[PHyrbird]

With the price of 3D printers today, printed boolets (ploolets?)....yes, an old thread, but man I had some laughs tonight!!

I enjoy the old 45c plastic projectiles in cut off 410 shells, work fine in a 45 Colt revolver, with shotshell primers.
But I think we could call them Plastic Shooting Target(s) Devices, & we have another acronym.:bigsmyl2:

[calm seas]

Bangerjim, my nephew has a 3D printer. The thought crossed my mind...you saved me wasted R&D time. Thank you!![smilie=s:

[megasupermagnum]

I decided to give this a go in my 327 federal revolvers. I tried a couple molds I had been using, and they were horribly inaccurate. Tumbling right away. I found the Lee 311-93-1r to stabilize, and it's a 6 cavity to boot. I had to drill the primer pockets, but with a magnum primer, I was getting right at 500 FPS with these. Accuracy was around 2" across the house, which was around 10 yards. Unfortunately they stick just 2" from the end of my 16.5" barrel rifle. I even had a steel deer silhouette in the backyard, that I was shooting off the deck. It's about 40 yards away, and I was hitting it almost every time too. Very fun.

They do go through a cardboard box. I doubt they would cause a person any real harm, but I would rather be hit with a paintball than one of these. I would treat them with care.

[GONRA]

Ricochet - GONRA reminds ya'll to purchase "lead free primers" more-or-less "as needed". Do NOT "stock up" for SHTF stocks! Crappy shelf life issues.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Looks like Hot Glue Boolits are off and running! Great opportunity for a special "Hot Glue Product just for casting boolits!"
Dope usual "hot glue" gunk product with metal powder to get boolit weight up! More practical shootin' really lite weight boolits from Seecamps, etc.

[Conditor22]

https://i.imgur.com/smHH4Qf.jpg

[mozeppa]

i'm shocked!

ya mean more than half ya'll didn't know about hot glue boolits?:shock:

fun enuf when ya can't get to the range!

[bangerjim]

Ricochet - GONRA reminds ya'll to purchase "lead free primers" more-or-less "as needed". Do NOT "stock up" for SHTF stocks! Crappy shelf life issues.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Looks like Hot Glue Boolits are off and running! Great opportunity for a special "Hot Glue Product just for casting boolits!"
Dope usual "hot glue" gunk product with metal powder to get boolit weight up! More practical shootin' really lite weight boolits from Seecamps, etc.

Easiest way to up the weight is drop a steel sling shot or metal BB in the nose of the mold cavity B4 injection. Gives a very nice added weight. I use 1g+ of fast powder in the casing on some, along with Dacron fluff to keep the powder back against the primer. Really gives a nice shot! And they WILL go thru steel garage doors as I mentioned years ago in this thread!!!!!!!!

banger

[Conditor22]

Use magnum primers or Drill out the primmer pocket and use shotshell primers

[Alferd Packer]

Acronymity of gluelits etc.

[Huvius]

I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and they have little glue bath warmers that are used for gluing artificial flower arrangements together.
May be an alternative to a glue gun - using a ladle to pour.
Also, any cracked or damaged gloolits can be thrown back in the melt and reused.

[Huvius]

Got around to trying some.
Super Fun!!

Casting with a Lee 375”-130gr aluminum mold and loading in 38spl cases lubed with petroleum jelly.
Using a small rifle primer.

Glue sticks are AdTech brand from Joann hobby store. They seem very durable.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg312/Huvius/Mobile%20Uploads/5A51F9D0-E414-4F5D-87B2-84FA4760143C.jpg (http://s251.photobucket.com/user/Huvius/media/Mobile%20Uploads/5A51F9D0-E414-4F5D-87B2-84FA4760143C.jpg.html)

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg312/Huvius/Mobile%20Uploads/66C47D48-9FF8-4FAC-934C-3376FCD352D4.jpg (http://s251.photobucket.com/user/Huvius/media/Mobile%20Uploads/66C47D48-9FF8-4FAC-934C-3376FCD352D4.jpg.html)

[MaxJon]

I like the idea of boring the case out to suit a 12g primer, as apposed to drilling flash hole out. Easily identified as a glue boolit case, and never be mixed up with full house ammo.

[R-71]

What's the longest rifle barrel that any of you have shot these out of? I want to try a few in my 32' barreled sharps.

[MaxJon]

What's the longest rifle barrel that any of you have shot these out of? I want to try a few in my 32' barreled sharps.
25 inch 303 barrel shot ok.

[JohnChrysostom]

LOL this is hilarious and sounds fun, probably something fun to do for guys with all local ranges closed

[R-71]

I had my son make a bunch for me and now he's thinking he might try casting a real lead bullet, He's 16.

UPDATE: I tried a couple of the glue bullets today, I'm using an Lyman 50 cal mold, the lead bullet goes about 530 grains. The first couple I tried didn't make it out of the barrel with either a standard rifle primer or Magnum. I had them lubed with baby oil. I cut the large driving band of the base and shortened them by about .25 and now they will exit at least. Tomorrow I'll shoot a few at paper to see if they group.

[Alferd Packer]

A more harmonious outcome will be had if you wet the rifle bore with an oily patch before shooting.

The glue bullets will make it out of the bore and with better performance.
Also, always press in the primer after you load in the glue bullet.
No air compression to fight and in a straight wall case, you always get better performance, the deeper you can seat the bullet, on the bottom next to the primer is the best.
The cases tend to get narrower closer to the bottom except in 45/70 and some 44 Marlin cases.
The brand is the decider I think.Your mileage may vary.
A good way to blow the Covirus blues away!
Best performance if you let them cure overnite after casting them.
The next day they aren't sticky and they firm up quite a bit.

[MaxJon]

Yeah I'm keen to modify some cases to take shotgun primers.

[StuBach]

So I finally tried casting some of these today, man those are fun. Totally need to do more of that.

Anyone have the best way to modify brass to accept shotgun primers. Hopefully without a lathe?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200423/2065d8c1606b6b98bac2daea83e12540.jpg

Classic HG#68 (MP clone) never fails to impress even when made out of glue.

[Bwana John]

Anyone have the best way to modify brass to accept shotgun primers. Hopefully without a lathe?


Size "C" drill bit (the easy part), then counter sink with a 5/16" bit "just enough" to make the primer sit flush.

[StuBach]

Size "C" drill bit (the easy part), then counter sink with a 5/16" bit "just enough" to make the primer sit flush.

Perfect, thank you. Sadly don’t have any size C bits but was able to find one dang close and tried it. Very fun.

[StuBach]

I have been reading this thread with a lot interest, but have not seen any reference to velocities produced by these primer-powered hot-glue boolits.

Has anyone taken the time to run a few of these little plastic creations across a chronograph?

I am curious simply because I am left wondering if one particular brand of primer produces more speed than another.

Was on my agenda for this week during my staycation (was supposed to be on a cruise but sadly that can’t happen). Will update the group with details.

[Scrounge]

You guys are all crazy! I like that! Now I have to go back and read the whole thread, or maybe I should go clean my shop and see if I can find my glue gun, first. Anybody got a brand name for non-toxic primers? Mi casa doesn't have all that good a ventilation system, and there is no basement here.

[Bwana John]

You guys are all crazy! I like that! Now I have to go back and read the whole thread, or maybe I should go clean my shop and see if I can find my glue gun, first. Anybody got a brand name for non-toxic primers? Mi casa doesn't have all that good a ventilation system, and there is no basement here.

Umm, from my testing I would say be VERY careful if you shoot these inside, especially with 209 primers.

When it is warm out these things can display an almost totally elastic collision. (Rick O'Shay!)

[slim1836]

For the sake of others (and yourself), please treat these as any live round. While nice to play with, they can be deadly.

I've had lots of fun with these in .45 cal.

Slim

[Alferd Packer]

I have been keeping up with this thread for a while now and just had to give it a try this morning I had an old lee 160 gr TL mold in 31 cal. and cast up some gluits and came out perfectly they weighted in at a svelt 12.5 grs! I had the 03A3 standing tmi inhere so that was my test bed. drilled out a primer hole to 7/32 and lubed with balistol oil . primer was a CCI regular LR pushed the gluit into the neck . Now the moment of truth!!!!!!!! Puffffff!:( my little gluit never made it half way down the tube! so I added .5 gr of red dot and it worked well and still very quiet. But that kinda defeats the purpose of this whole thing . Whats size must I drill out the primer hole to accept a shot shell primer?
Next step is to cut the base of the bullet shorter and to trim the nose off some to make it shorter and less weight in hopes it will atleast exit the barrel. Any other ideas from the Gluit wizards.
Old thread, but you always have to wet the barrel inside with an oiled patch for lube.
Just enough to wet the bore.
Also good idea to let a freshly cast glue bullet to cure overnite.
Otherwise the surface can be sticky and a little plastic may be in bore.
It is easily brushed out with a little mineral spirits paint thinner.
It comes out very easy contrary to what some of the naysayers seem to say. LoL on them.
N'other thing. If you provide soft landing like some old rags in bottom, the gluelits can be reused many times.
Use paper targets.

[StuBach]

Sadly, my chronograph was not working for me last week so I wasn’t able to chrono these.

I did build a fun trap for these that collects the bullets in the bottom once fired so their ready to go again with little to no damage.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/7461e3f42a6a0059de82851dc114bea2.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/81344d8d795044093bfac8fa9eaea506.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/a0b94635feed3eaa92af93ad16c11d55.jpg
Built out of old Walmart cabinet panels, old carpet, and a clear rubber material we use at work.

Stopped HG 68 and 78 Gloobits fired with W209s, SPPs, and LPPs.

[MaxJon]

Sadly, my chronograph was not working for me last week so I wasn’t able to chrono these.

I did build a fun trap for these that collects the bullets in the bottom once fired so their ready to go again with little to no damage.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/7461e3f42a6a0059de82851dc114bea2.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/81344d8d795044093bfac8fa9eaea506.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200506/a0b94635feed3eaa92af93ad16c11d55.jpg
Built out of old Walmart cabinet panels, old carpet, and a clear rubber material we use at work.

Stopped HG 68 and 78 Gloobits fired with W209s, SPPs, and LPPs.
That's a great set up! Think I need one!

[Alferd Packer]

March 2007 this started
now Dec 2020
13 years old!

[popper]

Plastic Shooting Target(s) Devices Plastic Target(s) Shooting Devices. PTSD? How noisy are these? Did shoot a 12ga primer only, would be noticed in my neighborhood.

[bangerjim]

Some worry too much about velocity. Believe me (and my steel garage door!), at 15 feet, they can a d do penetrate sheet metal! I had to explain that to my wife when she found the hole!

Yes, this thread is very old.....................No, shooting low load HMG boolits in the garage or basement never gets old!

[StuBach]

Plastic Shooting Target(s) Devices Plastic Target(s) Shooting Devices. PTSD? How noisy are these? Did shoot a 12ga primer only, would be noticed in my neighborhood.

The shotshell primer definitely has a noticeably louder crack but not horrible. I like the shotshell primer concept more for the safety aspect of not getting brass confused but I found that my 45s did perfectly well with normal LPP with a drilled out flash hole. Sound on the LPP was quite a bit lower. At garage distances I don’t think you’ll notice a difference.

This is a very fun little side hobby and I recommend it to anyone looking to try something new.

[Monobill]

Holly crap, this thread has had me reading all morning. Oh well, got the rona and not much to do. Need to dig out my old .38 special plastic cases and bullets.

[green mountain boy]

i made some in a 158 grain lee mold, oiled the inside of the barrel, a model 28...and shot across a room through a paper target sitting on a fridge top. it went through the paper...back out the paper and smacked me it the forehead across the floor.15-18 feet i would guess. i pulled the trigger and it hit me it seemed....these are not toys please have a backstop that will catch it. i walked around a couple days with a small goose egg that i tried to cover with my hat.

[StuBach]

Holly crap, this thread has had me reading all morning. Oh well, got the rona and not much to do. Need to dig out my old .38 special plastic cases and bullets.

Rona, if you have the mild version, makes for some interesting down time. Take breaks often cause your body is still fighting a virus even if you don’t realize it so rest and fluids are your friend. Good luck.




i made some in a 158 grain lee mold, oiled the inside of the barrel, a model 28...and shot across a room through a paper target sitting on a fridge top. it went through the paper...back out the paper and smacked me it the forehead across the floor.15-18 feet i would guess. i pulled the trigger and it hit me it seemed....these are not toys please have a backstop that will catch it. i walked around a couple days with a small goose egg that i tried to cover with my hat.

What I found that worked nicely was a couple layers of cardboard behind target. Works like a gel block on a normal bullet and I found my 38s went though about 9 layers of cardboard (SPP loads). For a better system for recovery of bullets see my earlier bullet box design which uses scrap carpeting and some flexible plastic/rubber sheeting as a backstop to help keep bullets from deforming.

As stated, these can do some harm so treat as you would any real bullet cause bad shot placement and one of these can make for a bad day for someone.

[calm seas]

Had a friend turn me onto Kinetic Sand, in the toy dept. at Freddy's/Kroeger. It's a non-drying sand for building sand castles, etc. Put some in a plastic dish, push a 290 gr 358 bullet into it to make a hole, and fill the hole with glue. This thing pretty much fills a 357 brass. Sand is reusable. The friend uses it to cast aluminum parts. I ran the glue too fast, and didn't get good fill on some slugs. Gonna try to run them through the gun and remelt them, cuz I'm cheap that way...:holysheep

[bangerjim]

Had a friend turn me onto Kinetic Sand, in the toy dept. at Freddy's/Kroeger. It's a non-drying sand for building sand castles, etc. Put some in a plastic dish, push a 290 gr 358 bullet into it to make a hole, and fill the hole with glue. This thing pretty much fills a 357 brass. Sand is reusable. The friend uses it to cast aluminum parts. I ran the glue too fast, and didn't get good fill on some slugs. Gonna try to run them through the gun and remelt them, cuz I'm cheap that way...:holysheep

HMG glue sticks are absolutely dirt cheap - - if you get them at Horrible Freight. How are you gonna make them back into sticks for your HMG gun to injection mold new boolits? The key is using the HMG gun to force the hot glue under a lot of pressure into the boolit mold to capture all the design characteristics of the mold.

Just pouring melted glue in a hole will not give you any fill pressure and probably VERY poor boolits. Try it, but I sure would stick with a HMG gun and glue sticks and not worry about recovering spend rounds of HMG. Being frugal is one thing, but trying to reusing HMG spend slugs is NOT!

banger

[slim1836]

I've re-shot glue stick bullets recovered from hitting a tree and galv. metal with no issues, the shape was retained and slip fit a .45 just like it was made for it.

Now trying to re-melt glue sticks, ain't gonna try it, yet.
Now, Hold my beer and watch this. :drinks:

Slim

[StuBach]

I built an entire shooting box for recovering gluboolits (see earlier post) and found they retain their shape and elasticity for several shootings before they finally split into pieces. Spent an afternoon testing them and found that out of the 50 I made only lost 10-15 of them. Think most lasted at least 6 firings.

[calm seas]

So, the 358 gluboolits are too small to run through the large stick glue gun, and too big to run through the small stick gun, and not worth the effort to experiment further...toss the bad ones, and cast better ones. :D Bangerjim, I'm only looking for 'minute of squirrel' at about 5 yards. It may turn out that the sand doesn't work, time will tell. I 'remake' the mold after I pull a gluboolit out. I thought to try it, because I don't own a mold to cast this boolit, I buy the lead ones from a seller here.

[bangerjim]

So, the 358 gluboolits are too small to run through the large stick glue gun, and too big to run through the small stick gun, and not worth the effort to experiment further...toss the bad ones, and cast better ones. :D Bangerjim, I'm only looking for 'minute of squirrel' at about 5 yards. It may turn out that the sand doesn't work, time will tell. I 'remake' the mold after I pull a gluboolit out. I thought to try it, because I don't own a mold to cast this boolit, I buy the lead ones from a seller here.

I really think the sand will stick VERY well to the HMG. Try it an see, but you do not want to shoot sand jacketed boolits down your barrel!!!!!!

I have recovered many HMG boolits from my target boxes and most were in waaaay too bad a condition to reuse. (I use primer + a little powder, so they hit PRETTY DARNED HARD!) So I just throw them away.

[calm seas]

I agree, I don't wanna scour my bore with sand. Zoomed my cell phone camera to 8X, and took a close-up. You can see sand imprint, but I didn't see any sand.281121

[bangerjim]

I agree, I don't wanna scour my bore with sand. Zoomed my cell phone camera to 8X, and took a close-up. You can see sand imprint, but I didn't see any sand.281121

More power to 'ya! Hope they work for your purpose.

I personally can cast a ton of HMG's in a very short time using my standard molds. I spray the cavities with PAN......YES greasy, oily, slimy old PAM (!!)....to act as a release agent. Then pump the cavities full of HMG with my industrial-grade glue gun and COOL the mold on the bottom and sides with an ice cube. Once the HMG sets up, I open the mold and the boolits almost fall out due to the PAM. I can cast hundreds of the plastic things just about as fast as casting with hot lead alloy.

Once I am done, I just wipe the cavities out lightly with a good absorbent tissue and put the mold up to use for casting Pb. No cleaning and scrubbing and scrubbing and cleaning to get the little PAM left out! A pour or two of 700+ F Pb will do the trick! Every time! Never had a wrinkled boolit yet in doing this procedure many MANY dozens of times with several standard and NLG molds. I have made wrinkled boolits in the past due to low temps on my molds and alloys! But never from greases or oils in the molds.

Good luck with your sand castings.

banger

[StuBach]

I agree, I don't wanna scour my bore with sand. Zoomed my cell phone camera to 8X, and took a close-up. You can see sand imprint, but I didn't see any sand.281121

Just saying, sand works as a good temporary to see if you like Gluboolits but if your going to be doing them a lot, invest in a mold. It will save you a ton of time having to keep re-forming sand and than inspecting to make sure none went in the glue. Just a cheap 2cav Lee will be all you really need.

That or see if another member lives near you and is willing to let you use one of their molds for making a bunch using the ice trick mentioned above.

[Huvius]

One thing I've changed in my process is to skip using the sprue plate on the mold and instead, fill the mold cavity with glue to just over the top and cut the base flush with the mold using a razor blade.
This allows you to see the gloolit as it's drying - so you never open the mold prematurely, it makes for a nice flat flush base and prevents the little air bubble I was occasionally getting with the pump fill method.

[DanInCt]

I gotta try this with the 500 mag :)

[Charlie Horse]

Don't know if this has been suggested - but why not just inject the hot glue directly into the case? Why not dispense with the molding process entirely?
I'm thinking you could drill out the flash hole, lube the inside of the case, fill it with hot glue, prime, and fire away.
Maybe put a wad at the bottom of the case.
Maybe size the case first.
Once again, I haven't read all the posts so excuse me if I'm out to lunch.
Has anyone tried this?

[bangerjim]

Don't know if this has been suggested - but why not just inject the hot glue directly into the case? Why not dispense with the molding process entirely?
I'm thinking you could drill out the flash hole, lube the inside of the case, fill it with hot glue, prime, and fire away.
Maybe put a wad at the bottom of the case.
Maybe size the case first.
Once again, I haven't read all the posts so excuse me if I'm out to lunch.
Has anyone tried this?

You MIGHT get it to work.......if you only want to push a slug of ill-formed plastic out of your barrel and make noise!

I cast using REAL molds in various designs and cal's I have to get the accuracy that comes from the REAL boolit design.

And you would have absolutely NO aerodynamic design or flat base on your "glob" of plastic.

Casting plastic REAL boolits is fun, fast, and rewarding................at least it was........back in the days of plentiful and cheap primers. I have not wasted a primer on any HMG boolits in over 2 years now. I use them in the REAL thing now.

[StuBach]

Don't know if this has been suggested - but why not just inject the hot glue directly into the case? Why not dispense with the molding process entirely?
I'm thinking you could drill out the flash hole, lube the inside of the case, fill it with hot glue, prime, and fire away.
Maybe put a wad at the bottom of the case.
Maybe size the case first.
Once again, I haven't read all the posts so excuse me if I'm out to lunch.
Has anyone tried this?

Gluboolits cast in actual molds also have the benefit of being somewhat consistent in size and weight. Casting direct into the case would mean some would be the entire volume of the case some would not leading to inconsistency. Also, there would be the risk of the glue adhering to the case and being pulled apart in the firing. Would likely lead to lots of stray shots, and given that these bounce a ton when hitting a hard surface, you don’t want them straying when firing in an enclosed space.

Feel free to give it a shot and report back on results so we all know the success/failure but I’m thinking I’ll stick to “casting” then process for myself.

[Charlie Horse]

I might try it. It would be similar to the old practice of pushing a 38 case into a block of paraffin.
Like I said; I would lube the case.

Just remember, they laughed at the Wright Brothers.;)

[Cosmic_Charlie]

With primers in such short supply who would mess with poofy loads?

[ourway77]

Let us know your findings better you than me LOL

[Charlie Horse]

With primers in such short supply who would mess with poofy loads?
Not everyone is feeling the crunch.:wink:

Let us know your findings better you than me LOL
Don't know why it wouldn't work. It's not like we're shooting for score.

[bangerjim]

Not everyone is feeling the crunch.:wink:

Don't know why it wouldn't work. It's not like we're shooting for score.

I started out years ago doing the old school way of pushing casings into a custom brew of "shooting wax" in a flat pan. It did fire. It did go bang. It did have wax flying down range. However, there was very little accuracy achievable, and not what I was hoping for.

Then I read about HMG casting on the net and tried it. Amazingly accurate (for a piece of plastic), since it is was the actual aerodynamic shape of a real boolit. Since then, I have played around with a steel slingshot ball in the nose and even adding a grain or so of powder the fun.

As far as accuracy, I at least strive to "hit the side of the barn" with my HMG slugs, and using real molds allows that very easily.

I use only 6 cavity molds in addition to an industrial glue gun which forces the HMG out under high pressure and after cutting the sprue with the mold's sprue plate, perfect cast HMG boolits rain out very fast. The only slow-down is cooling the mold with an ice cube rubbed on the bottom and sides. PAM is the mold lube and once done I just wipe the mold out with a paper towel soaked in lacquer thinner to remove any residual PAM. No scrubbing and cleaning required!

Good luck! Experimentation is always fun. Let us know how your mud dauber approach works and what your accuracy ends up being.

[Alferd Packer]

A glued paper case with one end open using a wooden dowel or steel rod as a mandrel sized to slip in a properly sized cartridge case could probably be made up to be slipped in the case and injecting the hot glue into this paper sabot.even loosely fitted to slide in easily this would allow a person without the casting moulds to make suitable primer powered glue slugs.
Better than fooling with sand casting I believe.
Excuse the run on sentences, but there it is.
Once again, it is advisable to let the glue bullets set up overnite to let the glue 'cure' and stiffen up about for best accuracy.

[Alferd Packer]

Just checking back on this.
I guess primer prices have ruined shooting plastic slugs.
No one trying this or posting about it any more.