Last edited by DCP; 03-29-2013 at 08:26 AM.
LOYALTY ABOVE ALL ELSE, EXCEPT HONOR
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading." -- Thomas Jefferson
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt
NRA BENEFACTOR LIFE MEMBER
I recently bought some 45 Colt cases drilled out for shotgun primers, some C&R wax bullets and a bottle of cleaner to clean the bore with.
Intended for practice in the garage when I can't get to the range.
I was a happy little camper, shooting in my garage all nice and warm and stuff.
BUT, after firing about 30 of these wax bullets I checked the bore of my blackhawk.
GOOD GOD what a mess, I couldn't even see the rifleing because of the wax build up.
I finally got it cleaned out and decided to clean it after each 12 rounds fired, still a mess to clean up.
I spent more time cleaning than I did shooting.
Me thinks I'm going to switch to XRing rubber bullets.
I've shot manufactured wax bullets, rubber bullets, case punched wax bullets and gluelits.
IMHO they are a vital training aid.
Decades ago when I was a bodyguard I would burn through a box of 50 each night, reload them, and then burn through them again the next day. For draw-and-fire drills they are just the ticket. Of course my room had little dents everywhere and I did break a few windows and lamps, but it was worth it because I could have my duty weapon out and a bullet in the target faster than most of my coworkers could start to get their jacket out of the way.
Now that I'm old these loads are great for basement shooting competitions and eliminating small varmints.
BTW rubber/wax slugs are great for scaring bears away from trash cans, they don't penetrate but the noise and sting makes them move along.
[I]n 223 a primer and a 22 pellet in the case mouth works well.
//___//_//////////////////////////
Crayons/Crayolas are .30 caliber and are wax.
Just cut them off 3/4 inch long and load over a primer. Don't strip the paper sleeve off, it just makes the crayon stiffer for penetration although they crumble and shatter when they hit hard surface.
You may need to crimp the case neck slightly to keep it from falling in the case.I just use a little Crisco grease to hold it till it's in the chamber, or some soft wax from ho made bullet lube stuck on the outside of the crayon piece.
Saw this idea elsewhere on here.
My brother has nailed rabbits with this load.
Another thing, I like to put a piece of stiff paper disc on the bottom of home made wax boolit acting like a gas check.
That keeps the primer and powder blast from melting or chewing off the wax bullet and keeps both the cartridge case and the barrel cleaner and probably makes the wax slugs a little more accurate. IMHO.
Here is how I was shown to load wax bullets in pistol calibers.
Open flash hole up to .100-.105. on small primers I open to large primer so they cant be mixed in with regular brass. on large I sleeve to small'
A tray is made to cast a sheet of paraffin beeswax mix to the thickness to match the length of the bullet.
cases are deburred a little more to make a sharper edge.
push the sized case into the wax to seat and cut out the bullet. then prime the case. this order keeps the bullet from air locking and pushing out.
This is a nice light load for indoor use or pests up close. They will break skin and or leave bruises. and old sheet can be hung lose and used for back stop but it need to be able to billow out, so about a foot to 18" from the wall. Out doors draped over a close line is fine.
Be careful these do pack a punch and are just as dangerous as regular ammo
Round nose or hollow point?
My Anchor is holding fast!
Rubber bullets AKA boomerang bullets. They can come back at you from a hard surface.
The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"
Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!
Couple years ago I bought a box of Fiocchi Zeta Pi SPP's for this very reason. A nice non-toxic/lead-free primer to play around with, safe enough inside the house. Sure regular primers do the same job but im not a fan of dispersing breathable lead contamination in my house. Bought them just for playing with glullits, wax, etc. I have a couple boxes of the Speer 38 Special plastics too.
~ Chris
Casting, reloading, shooting, collecting, restoring, smithing, etc, I love it all but most importantly, God, Family, The United States Constitution and Freedom...
God Bless our Troops, Veterans and First Responders!
Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas
Accuracy, Power & Speed
The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"
Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!
I have heard of dumping some of the shot out and filling the rest with Molten Wax. They call them "Poor Mans Slugs?" Has anyone done Solid Wax Boolits for Shotgun Slugs.
Wonder how well a Solid Wax Slug would work for plinking and pest control? I have another thread on Non Lethal loads for shotguns running in the shotgun forum, maybe this should be there too?
Randy
"It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
www.buchananprecisionmachine.com
Another story. Was in VN in the tent one night and one of the gunners was messing with his M-14. He'd pull the bullet, dump powder and press neck into a bar of soap. Using the primer onlyhe'd shoot pop cans and the steel shaving mirror hanging at the end of the tent. Having fun. Along comes another gunner and sees what he was doing and thought it looked like fun so he picks up the M-14, chambers a ball round and let's fly at the mirror. He got it dead center. A full house load in a tent is LOUD and the shaving mirror was dead. Luckily a rubber plantation made a good backstop and no one was hurt but easily could have been. The Platoon Sergeant was not a happy camper over the incident. Be careful and be sure all participants are read into the act./beagle
diplomacy is being able to say, "nice doggie" until you find a big rock.....
Shooting wax boolits, I have begun using a small disk of paper as a gas check under the wax and always press the wax to bottom out in the shell for max power.
Some of these primers are more powerful than others in the same batch and those dig into the base of the wax boolit and it smears as it goes up the barrel and into the end of the cylinder.
The gas check paper protects the base and even leaves the shell case cleaner as well as the barrel.
It works for me!
I was playing around with wax bullets but quit with the current primer availability and cost. They do work well from .38 and .357 snubbies.
A friend had a problem with (introduced) Asian House Geckos in the house. Apart from crapping on everything, they get into air conditioners etc and short out the electronics.
Solution: BlueTac in the air rifle. No damage to the house and almost zero cost.
It'll be handy if I never need it.
Insomniac, agnostic, dyslectic - awake all night wondering if there is a Dog.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |