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 (http://www.castbullet.com/index.htm) 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]

:grin: 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.:twisted:
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/archive/index.php/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

[SSGOldfart]

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.
I used a 44mag with wondor wads and cream of wheat for wasp nest this load is less damage then table salt. salt will cause your paint to pill off

[kf4zht]

Cream of wheat isn't popular around here so I didn't have any laying around. From the couple times I have eaten it the powder seemed finer than grits. Also less base taste. Don't want to do salt for fear of corrosion on the gun.

Wondering if these would work and I can toss them in on my next midway order: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/132320/walters-wads-38-special-357-magnum-35-caliber-360-diameter-0030-thickness-bag-of-1000

I looked at ballistic products since I need to make an order there but nothing looked small enough.

[Fergie]

I wonder how the walnut husk tumbler media would work as the "shot"?

[owejia]

Fergie, the large walnut blast media is what I use in my mini shotshell loads in 357mag,38 spl,45acp and 45 lc.Harbor freight sells it in a 25lb box. I live in a log house and have 4 barns to shoot them around. Been doing this for several years and they keep coming back every spring. Too old to swing a tennis racket, shooting is a lot more fun. The large gritsize 12 is used as blasting media, will polish an old revolver bore pretty good to. I just order the overpowder and oversht wads from circle fly out of Pa. That is easier than cutting them, because I shoot a couple of thousand a year.

[fastdadio]

I wonder how the walnut husk tumbler media would work as the "shot"?

I shoot tumbler media out of my Sheridan .22 pump pellet rifle. Load it with over & under wads of wadded up paper towel. 5 pumps. Works great on bugs.

[W.R.Buchanan]

We had Yellow Jackets here in Ojai. The best was when they went into the traps and the ants found them and took them apart piece by piece,,, alive! It was fun to watch.

We don't see them anymore for some reason.

Randy

[bhn22]

The competition black powder shooters use black powder blanks for mounted (equestrian) events, as do some exhibition shooters. They act like a short range shotgun load, but lose velocity very quickly so no innocents are harmed, but are deadly on balloons. This might be more satisfying than blasting away with table salt.

[Fergie]

The competition black powder shooters use black powder blanks for mounted (equestrian) events, as do some exhibition shooters. They act like a short range shotgun load, but lose velocity very quickly so no innocents are harmed, but are deadly on balloons. This might be more satisfying than blasting away with table salt.

Hmmm...I've got some old BP blanks in .38 S&W...might give that a try.

[kf4zht]

I wonder how the walnut husk tumbler media would work as the "shot"?

I like your thinking. I have a half a thing of the green junk that doesnt work and more walnut now that I wet tumble everything. Might give me a little extra range and knockdown power (valid in this case)

[44man]

I don't mind the bee holes too much, made .45 shot shells with shot and it didn't work good. The big problem is the big wood peckers tearing the wood apart to get the grubs.
I have an old Winchester gallery .22, smooth bore for shot and it works but I can shoot my .500 cheaper. I have more luck with a cheap butterfly net. Shooting is fun but even primer cost is crazy.
I used to use a flat stick to swat them, very challenging. Suckers move fast. They have eyes on their butt.
Neighbor has a log cabin that has been bored to dust. It was sprayed long ago and squirrels ate the wood so he covered the whole house in window screen, will not stop the bees from finding holes. They will go in treated wood or painted wood. I covered every piece on my house with aluminum or vinyl.

[Mauser48]

12 gauge all day long. My double barrel and pull both triggers of bird shot. That screams insect medicine.

[44man]

12 gauge all day long. My double barrel and pull both triggers of bird shot. That screams insect medicine.


[smilie=l::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[Tackleberry41]

I used to smack em with the blade of a handsaw. Had a hunting camp. You would hear em, see them hovering there, you smacked it down, then another would swoop in like they had a squadron overhead waiting for a slot.

[Golfswithwolves]

Most cast bullets will over-penetrate on bees.

[Tatume]

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!

This is excellent advice. Honey bees are in serious decline, and if we want to keep eating, we need pollinators.

[wch]

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.

I spray the holes with WD-40, that kills them and the prevents reuse of the hole.

[Tackleberry41]

We had fun with my sons cricket and a pack of 22shotshells my friend had been given. I prefer the all brass crimped type to the plastic capsule type, but they were free. Shot quite a few carpenter bees before we ran out of bullets. Tried some of the colibre primer only stuff I had, but their a bit more challenging to hit that way.

[44man]

I never seen carpenter bees at flowers. None I killed have pollen on them. Bumble bees and honey bees --Yes. i do not know what carpenter bees live on.

[BloodGroove4570]

bad mitton (sp?) racket works GREAT, but shootin'em with the 44 & homemade "Bee loads" is WAYYYY MORE FUN!!!!:Fire:

[Mal Paso]

I never seen carpenter bees at flowers. None I killed have pollen on them. Bumble bees and honey bees --Yes. i do not know what carpenter bees live on.

Like many carpenters it's probably paycheck to paycheck.

[kf4zht]

Upped the game the other night, began testing loads for the 12ga. Used some of that green brass media, stuff was horrible for cleaning anyway. Federal trash shells and some old red dot I don't trust for real loads. Works ok if I stuff it full and compress on the crimp but to get enough velocity it throws a fireball of powder.

I could probably move to Solo 1000 since it's faster but I don't want to waste it.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Like many carpenters it's probably paycheck to paycheck.

That's hilarious.

[Jtarm]

Don't use too much gun. I bet somewhere in the world they're a delicacy or cure for ED, and people will pay big bucks!

[Boolit_Head]

For Red Wasps get a silver water type fire extinguisher. Fill with water and a cup of ivory dish soap charge from a compressor. Only Ivory will work. It coats their shells and won't allow them to breathe. Range at first will be about 30 feet till pressure drops. Drops them in their tracks.