Wasp Rice Shot Loads: .38/.45LC

[salty dog]

Grits is finer and not as much mass, so should leave less of a mark. I use Walters wads as an over payload seal. Still should take out a wasp.

I made a "blanks" once for a fun shoot. I borrowed the idea of shooting ballons from the CAS mounted folks. Having not a single horse, we put a bunch of ballons on posts and shot them from riding lawnmowers. The recipe was much like yours, pretty much a case (357) of grits over a small charge of Titegroup, with a cardboard wad crimped over the top. Never tried it on any bugs, but one of the shooters wanted to see if he could shoot the string of five ballons from the side, maybe 10 feet to the furthest one, and they all popped easily. I shot one blank straight up and you couldn't see any grits come down, so it must have had a little more velocity than I had hoped for. By the way, burnt grits smells funny.

[steve urquell]

Do you prefer long grain rice or the “skeet size” jasmine rice?��
Oh my goodness, Don! I want a $350 K38! What a score!

I'm using long grain just cuz I had some old rice. My wasps aren't too particular about their choice of media.

Thanks for the advice. Love tapping into experience!!!

I have 3 lbs of Clay Dot left over from CAS loads that should be perfect. Will start at 1.5 gr and see how it goes.

I'm no expert, just playing around with it. Feel free to mix up the media as well. Walnut media would be good too.

[Barry54]

I’ve heard wasps are the #1 predator of brown recluse and black widow spiders. If they aren’t too close to the doors I leave them alone for the most part.

Still sounds like useful load data. I wonder if you could use coarse ground black pepper for a more spicy load??

[steve urquell]

I’ve heard wasps are the #1 predator of brown recluse and black widow spiders. If they aren’t too close to the doors I leave them alone for the most part.

Still sounds like useful load data. I wonder if you could use coarse ground black pepper for a more spicy load??

Can you imagine a face full of cayenne pepper at high velocity?

[1eyedjack]

Pepper spray with a bang ?

[steve urquell]

Pepper spray with a bang ?

[BABore]

Might want to try punching your wads from the top of a foam egg carton. No drill press required and they shouldn't dent anything.

[dverna]

Might want to try punching your wads from the top of a foam egg carton. No drill press required and they shouldn't dent anything.

Great suggestion!

[steve urquell]

In an effort to figure out what dented my porch post I loaded and fired several rice load configurations today.


1. Cardboard wad, rice, wax cap.
a. 1ft distance= circular dent with rice dents
b. 2ft= rice dents only

2. Foam wad, rice, wax
a. 1ft= circular dent with rice dents
b. 2ft= rice dents only

3. Foam wad, rice, foam cap
a. 1ft distance= rice dents only
b. 2ft= rice dents only

Below: 1ft distance: Cardboard wad, rice, wax cap:


So it looks like the wax is leaving the circular dents but only from 1ft away. The rice leaves dents as well but only in softwood. It did not dent the plywood ceiling under my porch roof from 2ft away but did leave marks from the rice hitting it.

I will continue to load the rice as in the original post and avoid 1ft shots with the wasp on my porch wood. I feel the load as posted is a good compromise of effectiveness to collateral damage. Just avoid point blank shots. Feel free to experiment and post your results.

[steve urquell]

Hmm, gonna work up some 9mm loads tomorrow and see if they hold enough rice. This would be good in my derringer

[steve urquell]

Getting ready to pattern 9mm cream of wheat, walnut shell media and rice.

[steve urquell]

Here's the vid. My consensus is that rice is best. I did make up some duplex loads with rice loaded 1/8" lower than the case neck and topped with COW. Will update when I get to shoot a wasp with those.

https://youtu.be/jdJ-NM8K-PE?feature=shared

[dverna]

I bought some 9mm biodegradable paper straws from Amazon. $6.57 delivered for 66 straws 7.75" long.

I figure I can make six 1.25 inch long capsules per straw to get me a 1.55" OAL. The straws will let me hold a bit more "shot". Planning to use tape to seal the bottom and top to avoid using wads. Not sure how the taper in the case will affect seating the capsule far enough down, but I can score a couple of slits in the straw using a simple jig if need be. 396 capsules for $6.57 works out to just under $.02/capsule, add in the $.05 primer and $.01 for powder. Works out to $.08/shot.

I think the straw idea would work for snake/rat shot loads too. I should be able to get a light crimp on the straw to prevent movement but with rice there is so little mass it may not matter.

There are three advantages for me. Increase in shot volume. Being able to load the capsule like a bullet - just need a .38 cal seating die set up for the capsule and can load them on the Lee 6 Pack easy peasy. I can make them watching TV and have them ready to load.

I am hoping the rifling tears the straw apart but will see how it pans out. I like how Steve tested his loads in his last post. It looks like rice is the best "shot" and I have a lot of rice. I will do my patterning at 6 ft to start.

I owe Steve a kick the butt for putting me down this rabbit hole...LOL.

[steve urquell]

I bought some 9mm biodegradable paper straws from Amazon. $6.57 delivered for 66 straws 7.75" long.

I figure I can make six 1.25 inch long capsules per straw to get me a 1.55" OAL. The straws will let me hold a bit more "shot". Planning to use tape to seal the bottom and top to avoid using wads. Not sure how the taper in the case will affect seating the capsule far enough down, but I can score a couple of slits in the straw using a simple jig if need be. 396 capsules for $6.57 works out to just under $.02/capsule, add in the $.05 primer and $.01 for powder. Works out to $.08/shot.

I think the straw idea would work for snake/rat shot loads too. I should be able to get a light crimp on the straw to prevent movement but with rice there is so little mass it may not matter.

There are three advantages for me. Increase in shot volume. Being able to load the capsule like a bullet - just need a .38 cal seating die set up for the capsule and can load them on the Lee 6 Pack easy peasy. I can make them watching TV and have them ready to load.

I am hoping the rifling tears the straw apart but will see how it pans out. I like how Steve tested his loads in his last post. It looks like rice is the best "shot" and I have a lot of rice. I will do my patterning at 6 ft to start.

I owe Steve a kick the butt for putting me down this rabbit hole...LOL.

Awesome. I look forward to your results with the straws. May be a great way to increase my 9mm case volume. Hey, one thing about this hobby--always keeps ya interested in shooting. You're welcome lol.

[catmandu]

I loaded 20 rice wasp loads. Used 44 Spl brass and my Bulldog.
Day 1 4 down in 5 shots.
Day 2 4 down then shot 1 3 times still flying. 2 more shots and they flew away.
Will be nice to see what media works best. The red wasps are tough.

Paul

[steve urquell]

I loaded 20 rice wasp loads. Used 44 Spl brass and my Bulldog.
Day 1 4 down in 5 shots.
Day 2 4 down then shot 1 3 times still flying. 2 more shots and they flew away.
Will be nice to see what media works best. The red wasps are tough.

Paul

Glad you are having fun with it. You may want to pattern it and see how tight it is as well as where it's hitting with the sights. When I get one within 2-3ft with the .45 they are blown apart. I shot a small wasp with the 9mm rice/COW duplex load yesterday and it was obliterated.

[steve urquell]

9mm rice/COW loads. I fill the case with rice 1/8" down from the top then top off with COW and shake it to allow it to fill between the rice grains. Final tamp is with the base of the Lee dipper which perfectly seats the COW 1/16" below the case neck. For safety I move the powder off the bench before capping with wax.

So this is strange. It seems like as the case volume decreases the need for powder significantly decreases. I had some 0.7gr 9mm loads and they rang my ears. Kept decreasing it and am now at 0.4gr.

I need to try these on a live subject to test effectiveness.

[jdgabbard]

Gave this a test today. Loaded up 4x cases with 2.0gr of Bullseye, over powder card, 15gr of Sweet Rice, a over shot card, then sealed with nail polish.

Tested at 5-6ft. Pattern was about a 4” circle. It just barely penetrated two layers of cardboard.

[steve urquell]

Gave this a test today. Loaded up 4x cases with 2.0gr of Bullseye, over powder card, 15gr of Sweet Rice, a over shot card, then sealed with nail polish.

Tested at 5-6ft. Pattern was about a 4” circle. It just barely penetrated two layers of cardboard.

That'll do it. 2-3' is a good distance to knock them dead and it won't hurt your siding.

[elmacgyver0]

I made a "blanks" once for a fun shoot. I borrowed the idea of shooting ballons from the CAS mounted folks. Having not a single horse, we put a bunch of ballons on posts and shot them from riding lawnmowers. The recipe was much like yours, pretty much a case (357) of grits over a small charge of Titegroup, with a cardboard wad crimped over the top. Never tried it on any bugs, but one of the shooters wanted to see if he could shoot the string of five ballons from the side, maybe 10 feet to the furthest one, and they all popped easily. I shot one blank straight up and you couldn't see any grits come down, so it must have had a little more velocity than I had hoped for. By the way, burnt grits smells funny.

Sounds like a hellova lot of fun shooting off of horseback, I imagine not so fun for the horses.
Although I would never do this to a horse, I can see where it would be fun. I do not have a lot of respect for the CAS bunch that do this.