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Brettitt41
01-18-2021, 11:47 AM
Well after reading the last thread on making bee loads with walnut media I just had to try it out. I loaded them up in .38 special cases with 1.5gn of bullseye, a card wad, fill the rest of the case with media to about 1/32 from the case mouth, another card wad and then a healthy crimp at the case mouth. The shot pattern was fine but the primers backed out, probably from lack of pressure to expand the primer case. So how to fix that problem. Up the powder charge or something else such as hot glue the case mouth after the wad?

GARD72977
01-18-2021, 11:49 AM
Drill the primer holes larger

ReloaderFred
01-18-2021, 12:18 PM
Yep, use a 1/8" drill and enlarge the flash holes in the cases you'll use for these loads.

When a primer explodes (and lead styphnate is an explosive), it drives the primer out of the primer pocket and back against the pressure plate. Normally, the pressure generated by a standard regular load would be enough to drive the case backwards and reseat the primer into the pocket. However, loads without that pressure can't do that, which is why cases used for blanks, wax bullets and ground walnut hulls need to have a way to relieve the pressure of the primer so it won't back out of the pocket.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Martin Luber
01-18-2021, 12:49 PM
Clever! What's the max range? I use air pistols on house flies and wasps. You can get close enough

para45lda
01-18-2021, 12:54 PM
I use grits. Similar setup. I dont use a card wad. Grits over powder and drip some wax on top.

Do not shoot at them under your vinyl soffits. It will put a hole in it. Ask me how I know.

SSGOldfart
01-18-2021, 01:26 PM
Cream of wheat is your friend here ,I did rim the primer hole just a little,don't use magnum primers

owejia
01-18-2021, 01:46 PM
Have shot several thousand of the walnut media loads in 38 spl, 357 mag, 45 Acp and 45 Lc but have never drilled out the primer holes or put a crimp on them, just used a overshot card pressed into the brass over the walnut media and used clear finger nail polish to seal them. I only crimp the shot shell loads in 45acp,9mm and 380. But have never used Bullseye either.

sharps4590
01-21-2021, 07:53 AM
This is a fun thread! I use my case forming loads for rifles for the same thing, using corn cob media and toilet paper for an "over shot card." With the larger cases and powder and "shot" charges I've occasionally knocked them down, dead, at about 15 ft. I might have to try a revolver this summer. 45 Colt should make a dandy bug gun...

dale2242
01-21-2021, 10:49 AM
I didn`t drill out flash holes for bee loads in my 44 mag contender.

John Boy
01-21-2021, 11:16 PM
https://opticsandammo.com/product/cci-22-lr-shotshell-per-20-mfg-39/

Brettitt41
01-22-2021, 02:04 PM
https://opticsandammo.com/product/cci-22-lr-shotshell-per-20-mfg-39/

Thanks John Boy. I have plenty of those for snake management. They are just a little too much for carpenter bee management, and costly. The lead shot loads could possibly damage vinyl siding and give the wife further ammunition against me that shooting bees is ridiculous.

Baltimoreed
01-23-2021, 10:42 PM
I have used a badminton racket to ‘swat’ ‘em. Good PT, couple years ago I swatted 600 plus. Wasn’t as many the next year.

unclemikeinct
01-23-2021, 10:49 PM
I've used 410 shotgun, half dose of powder & millet bird seed load...Fun Stuff...unclemikeinct

Jim22
02-05-2021, 08:04 PM
A bit out of place but I used to have trouble with a neighbor's dog coming over to crap in my yard. I yelled at it and chased it off but it came back. So I took a 20 ga shotshell, poured out all of the shot and almost all of the powder. Put the wad back and filled it with either popcorn or dry beans. Either will work. Aim for the back end. Twice was all it took to make him stay away.

sharps4590
02-06-2021, 07:42 AM
Ahh...similar to the old "rock salt" loads. They also worked.

Adam Helmer
02-09-2021, 12:18 PM
Shooting bees in the city limits of the nearby town would get the gun confiscated and a night in jail for the shooter. When it comes to carpenter bees and hornets, I prefer bee spray with a 25 foot range. LOL.

Adam

owejia
03-31-2021, 08:31 AM
Have spotted a couple of carpenter bees the last warm sunny day we had. Time to break out the bee loads, when the red bud tree in my back yard is in full bloom they will be everywhere around here. They seem to come just as we are eating lunch. Can see them on my south porch through the double windows, sometimes they make it into their holes before I get there to shoot them. Have several hundred 38 special and 357 mag loads ready to go.

DougGuy
03-31-2021, 08:44 AM
Those bees are more good than bad, they fertilize everything in your garden, I have only been stung once and that's when I picked up a female and she was quite angry by being picked up. The males don't have stingers.

I get great enjoyment out of "bee boxing" if you wave your forearm at them, they will fly in close then perform their evasive maneuvers, you can keep this up for hours.

dogrunner
03-31-2021, 11:42 AM
Those bees are more good than bad, they fertilize everything in your garden, I have only been stung once and that's when I picked up a female and she was quite angry by being picked up. The males don't have stingers.

I get great enjoyment out of "bee boxing" if you wave your forearm at them, they will fly in close then perform their evasive maneuvers, you can keep this up for hours.


I have a live and let attitude relative to the wildlife on my place........deer, the occasional bear and I'm somewhat overrun with the small stuff.......still, I gotta draw the line on those damn bees!

Everything from my front door to wooden trim on my home has been 'bee'd',,,,,had to replace cedar trim that in truth looked like honeycomb.............THEN come the damn pileated woodpeckers to act like Sousa's drum section...........last loads I cooked up were using rice or grits...whichever is handiest. Wife made me stop after I sorta trimed her amarillis (sp).

Anyway, you CB shooters keep up the good work, need be, I'd testify in your defense! (I can supply damning photographic evidence!)

10-x
03-31-2021, 06:54 PM
$1.97 can of wally world carb cleaner with straw in nozzle works great, get close and douse bee and down it goes.

Rick R
03-31-2021, 10:26 PM
I loaded steel cut oats in a .410 with a primer, shot cup and over shot card glued in with Elmer’s.
Knocks down Carpenter bees at 20’, pulverizes wasp nests. Just a “pop!” of sound actually less than my pellet rifle. It might actually be a good reason to own one of the Judge style revolvers.

longbow
04-02-2021, 09:12 PM
I like bees! They are good.

I don't like yellow jackets, black faced hornets or many of those other aggressive and eager to sting insects though. I guess they have their place in the eco system too but there seems to be increasing populations of these guys... and they kill bees! However, when I have to take care of a yellow jacket nest there is no mercy! No .38 special or .44 with salt, grits, Cream 'O Wheat or anything wimpy like that it is a shotgun shell loaded with birdshot! I wouldn't use it for a single yellow jacket but it sure eliminates a nest quickly! Been there, done that! The carnage is very satisfying for a guy who was swarmed with yellow jackets and stung a couple dozen times when he was a kid!

Longbow

Rick R
04-03-2021, 11:28 AM
I like bees! They are good.

Longbow

I like honey bees, they are practically endangered. Carpenter bees are very destructive to houses and fence posts.

Wasps and hornets get sprayed with insecticide from a distance or shot with steel cut oats.

Yellow jackets get a 20 oz soda bottle 1/2 filled with gasoline shoved neck first down their hole. Since I usually find them by getting stung while mowing it takes some resolve to not light the gas fumes but it works best to just let the fumes suffocate everything in the nest.

longbow
04-03-2021, 11:55 AM
Yeah, I guess I am not real familiar with carpenter bees. Bumble bees and honey bees I like! Been stung by both but not often and not usually the bee's fault. Not sure about carpenter bees though I have heard of them. It seems some species like yellow jackets are on the increase and possibly due to man's interference in the environment. Now we have the Japanese murder hornets in B.C. and Washington state to deal with! Those might take a little harder hitting load than grits, cornmeal, salt or whatever. They are big!

Longbow

beagle
04-04-2021, 10:04 AM
Adam, probably you're right but it's about shooting and the sport of it. Not the end result but the process./beagle


Shooting bees in the city limits of the nearby town would get the gun confiscated and a night in jail for the shooter. When it comes to carpenter bees and hornets, I prefer bee spray with a 25 foot range. LOL.

Adam

dougader
04-07-2021, 12:12 AM
Friend in Ohio uses rice for his carpenter bee loads.

No such flying, boring/drilling monsters here. Yellow jackets get the brake cleaner treatment, or even wd-40 flame thrower... but don't do that around the house. You'll set it on fire!

TNsailorman
04-09-2021, 02:40 PM
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, my wife just a few minutes ago put me in the shade. I was using a Red Rider BB to shoot at boreing bees behind the house. Distance was usually around 8 to 10 feet. Well, I took 6 shots and "nadda". My wife reaches for the BB and on her 3rd shot brought down one at about 8 feet. You talk about humble pie, I just had a great big ol piece. james

dale2242
04-23-2021, 08:33 AM
They are back here in SW Oregon.
I got a few yesterday afternoon with my 44 walnut shell loads.
I have some super small lead shot coming for bee loads.

Bobbers
05-02-2021, 12:48 PM
I think I might have to try some of these in my back yard since the carpenter bees and out again.

Tommygun2000
05-02-2021, 05:51 PM
As difficult ( or impossible ) as it is to get primers I'm not wasting them or powder on carpenter bees, a badminton racket works fine.

jim147
05-03-2021, 05:33 PM
As difficult ( or impossible ) as it is to get primers I'm not wasting them or powder on carpenter bees, a badminton racket works fine.

My daughter doesn't think so. She got stung once using the badminton racket.

slim1836
05-06-2021, 07:43 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6K6esiJgdk

This guy makes simple traps anyone can make, save your primers unless you are really bored. You Tube is full of carpenter bee trap ideas.

Slim

jim147
05-06-2021, 09:59 PM
The Amish east of me make a bunch of traps but I enjoy looking like a crazy man waving my .45 around. If someone can see me they are over a quarter mile on my land so they can't say anything.

trails4u
05-06-2021, 10:09 PM
I go old school with BP revolvers. 6-8gn 2F, cylinders full of uncooked rice, newspaper wads seated to hold it all in. 10-12ft range. Good stuff.