wax wads ...???

[ra_balke]

Does anybody have any experience using over powder wax wads ?

What wax did you use, how effective was it etc..



In a bee keeping supply catalog, I have found pure bees wax called foundation, and it is said to be "thin " I wonder if anyone has used bees wax as an over powder wax wad.. ...?

X
Selling for:
2 pounds for 7 dollars, + 7.oo shipping UPS, from Montana to my state of Washington. They say it is enough to fill an entire bee hive,, that would make a hell of a lot of wax gas checks.

[mooman76]

I have never used them but there is a thing called soft checks. According to those that have used them they appear to be a sheet of wax maybe like those waffer shaped wax rolls you can get in craft stores used to make candles made of bees wax. I have never tried them because of the climate I live in.

[Ricochet]

Those candle wax sheets might be worth investigating.

For straight cases it would be simple to press the UPRIGHT charged case through the sheet to punch out a wad just prior to seating the boolit, which would push it on down in the case.

[beagle]

My dad kept bees when I was younger. I've thought about that "foundation" wax. It might work pretty well. It's worth a try and it was fairly reasonable as I recall.

As I recall, it comes in two sizes. The smaller for the "supers" and the larger for the frames for the hive bodies. The larger wax sheets have (or had) small wires in them for reinforcement and would be less desirable. For wads.

It's fairly soft and fragile unless used where it's pretty warm but should work for our application./beagle

[Bent Ramrod]

I've used IPCO graphite wads, which I don't think are made any more. The ones I've found at various gunshows came in .033" and .046" thickness. They are rectangles, 250 to a box, of a flexible wax composition with graphite incorporated. You press the neck of the powder charged case through the rectangle and seat the boolit.

Effectiveness is extremely specific to caliber and rifle; generally they are at their most effective with plain-based boolits. They seem to be indispensible for some rifles and to at least do no harm in others, but again in some others they make the shots fly wilder than if no wad is used. There's nothing for it but try and see.

You can make these things for yourself. Sharpe's handloading book said to melt your lube mix in a double boiler and dip a smooth bottle full of ice water in the melt for a measured number of seconds and pull it back out. In a few seconds you can cut the layer from top of bottle to bottom, peel it off and dip again. A slower, but perhaps more precise method would be to warm a pan of water, weigh the lube and let it melt on the surface, and let the whole works cool. Except for the meniscus next to the wall of the pan, the rest of the layer is pretty even.

Beeswax should be flexible enough to use by itself. You'd have to add some oil to paraffin candle wax to make it flexible or it will crumble.

[leftiye]

One could do the layer in the bottom of the pan thing with a layer of wax paper under the wax. When pretty solid , flip the whole thing out and over and then peel the wax paper off. At that point or a little solider, it seems easiest to cut it up in small squares for pressing into case mouths. It might be fine to just cut it up when still stuck to the wax paper.

So how do you compare this wax wad to COW filler?

[Maven]

ra b...., Aside from the beeswax sheets already mentioned, dental and jewelry supply houses also sell wax sheets of varying hardness and size. If you're on good terms with your dentist and/or jeweler, ask them for a sample. Maybe do a Google search for them or even try (gasp!) E-Bay too.

[calaloo]

Thin beeswax foundation works great. I've used it for a long time. I cut it with a press mounted wad punch and push it onto the compressed black powder with a dowel. I follow that with a grease wad, a .030 card wad then a waxed paper wad.

Bill

[DanM]

I have used the 'soft gas checks' with good results. Plain base boolits in .44mag to 1400fps+ with no leading in the Marlin '94 micro groove. I later discovered that the stuff was dental wax, repackaged as a shooter's product. You can Google 'dental wax' and find suppliers. I have played with melting beeswax and pouring over Al foil, then cutting into strips. This worked, although thickness was not exactly uniform. Have only tried it with straight wall cases. Cut the sheet into strips just wide enough to fully cover the case mouth and push it down over the charged case. Wax is cut like a cookie, and remains in the case. Then seat the boolit normally. It does take up space in the case, so load adjustment may be necessary. Maybe you could post a link to the beeswax supplier?

[runfiverun]

maybe that is what a lube extruder is for?

[Southern Son]

I use beeswax foundation in my 45/70. It is not there to act as a gas check, it is there to stop the soft black powder lube from contaminating my black powder. I trickle the black powder into the case through a drop tube, the powder is then compressed with a powder compression die before I use the case mouth to cut through the beex wax foundation. I then use a home made rod to push the sheet of beeswax down onto the powder charge. A grease cookie is then dropped in before I seat a .030 LDPE wad (this is the gas check). The bullet is then seated on the top. I started using this method after I read Matthews book (I have them all but I can't think of which one). He said that if he was going to use a wad between the grease cookie and the powder, it should be one that will vapourise when the powder detonates, letting the blast from the burning powder get to the grease cookie. He said you could use wax paper, etc, but the beeswax might contribute to the bullet lube where the wax paper would do nothing. I realise that it is pretty warm here in Queensland, but I have never had a problem with the sheet of beeswax cracking or crumbling.

[Leverluver]

An example of the dental wax. I notice that they only have "soft" in stock. I think that would be a little too soft.

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/knives/cavex-set-up-dental-wax-sh.shtml

I've used them in several calibers and different firearms but had the most success in revolvers with plain based bullets. One 32 mag went from a 2.5" gun to a sub 1" gun with just the wax checks.

One thing to watch, if they get hot or set around too long, they will kill the powder charge. I left some of the 32s on the truck seat in the heat and nearly all wound up as squibs that stuck the bullet in the barrel. They work well but use them quickly and don't get them hot.

I have made my own by melting whatever I was experimenting with on top of hot (nearly boiling) water. Turn off the heat on the water and let it cool. A sheet of perfect uniformity is left floating on top of the water in the morning.

[Wayne Smith]

maybe that is what a lube extruder is for?

Actually, Five, that's for the grease cookie. The extruder would have to be very stoutly made to hold up to beeswax.

[quack1]

Wayne- all you have to do is heat the resivoir with a hair dryer and wax or lube will extrude smoothly and easily without a lot of pressure. My home made extruder isn't real sturdy but has extruded strips of wax and various lubes for about 15 years.

[leftiye]

Southern, I don't think the gases have to get to the grease pad, plus the beeswax is just more lube. The pressure will liquefy the grease and push it against the base of the boolit, and into the interface between the barrel and the boolit. By itself a lube impregnated felt wad 1/4" thick is a hydraulic gas check. Worked extremely well for me with muzzle loaders. If wax paper would keep the lube out of the powder, it is enough. Actually the same goes for the card wad I would think it unnecessary with the lube wad. If you were talking smokeless, or If you have an air space, a filler of COW negates the need for a gas check, and protects the boolit base from hot gasses.

[BerdanIII]

I have used CF Ventures wax wads (they may be out of business) in .357 Magnum loads of 13.5 grs. of 2400 and a 158-gr. swaged HP LSWC with no leading. These wads will also clear leading from the bore and cylinder, so I usually load a few extra rounds with wads to use in case I run into problems. I don't normally shoot maximum loads, so a little increase in pressure over normal for the .38 Special isn't a problem in a .357 Magnum pistol.