Hello all,

I was reading a story about Bill Jordan in a Skeeter Skelton book recently and I read that Bill would make paraffin wax bullets for his shooting exhibitions.

I did some research and ordered up .38 caliber was bullets from two different outfits. I also ordered a few .38 Special cases that have been modified to use #209 Shotgun primers.

Although I realize these are mostly used by fast draw and cowboy action folks, I thought it might be fun to try.

I may order up some .44 and .45 wax items if this goes well.

I am reading that the accuracy can be good out to 30 yards or so.

If you shoot or have shot wax bullets feel free to pipe in with your results or thoughts.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

I used to shoot wax bullets some in the 1960s, when I was in high school, but have given the idea up as not worth the effort. The whole idea was that they can be shot in the basement using a simple bullet trap that can be no more than a cardboard box with a few pieces of old carpet inside. Accurate to 30 yards, get serious! Reasonably accurate at 15 feet. I doubt a paraffin bullet will even go 30 yards, but I never had reason to try.

You don't buy wax bullets, you cut them from sheets of paraffin, aka canning wax. Warm the paraffin enough to soften it and use the cartridge case to cut the "bullets" out. Paraffin is available at the grocery store. You have to load the bullet first and then prime the case, otherwise when you cut the wax bullet it will just be pushed back out by the air compressed in the case. The only modification needed to the cartridge case is to drill the flash-hole out to 1/8" so the primers don't back out and bind a revolver

You do not need shotgun primers, standard pistol primers give all the velocity needed. Wax bullets are not playthings, they are still dangerous. Shotgun primers will make them even more dangerous! One time I fired a .38 wax bullet at a WWII Army helmet liner thinking it would just splatter on it. The shot penetrated the helmet liner just like a wad-cutter! The range was about 15'.

If you actually paid good money for wax bullets and cases modified for shotgun primers you have been had!!

Speer made, or makes, what they call "Target .38" bullets and cases. They are plastic and intended for the same use as wax bullets and are re-usable. They also sold .44.and .45 versions. They may still be available, but you will have a hard time finding them if they are still available.

You wanted experiences and opinions, these are mine! I haven't known any of my shooting acquaintances to still mess with wax bullets for a very, very long time.

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

I bought a couple of thousand red 38 cal wax bullets and modified some 357 cases to take shotgun primers.
Lots of fun to practice close range target shooting real cheap.
It was pretty easy. I got a 6mm drill bit off eBay and drilled through the primer pocket. Then I used a 5/16" drill bit to bevel the hole so the rim of the primer would sit flush with the case head.
They sound about like a 22LR and are decently accurate.
FWIW, I tried shooting these same wax bullets with SPPs. They were VERY underpowered. Only accurate to around 15 yds as others have said.
But when I tried using the 209 shotgun primers that made a BIG difference.
The shotgun primers are a lot more energetic and make shooting the wax bullets a LOT more fun.
Also, keep in mind that the pre-molded wax bullets are a lot harder than the old paraffin bullets. Kind of like the difference between soft lead and hard-cast bullets.
With the commercial wax bullets and the 209 primers my wax loads are pretty accurate out to around 30-40 yards.

Attached Images

	Primer.jpg (31.5 KB, 83 views)
	Loaded.jpg (33.0 KB, 83 views)

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

Messed with them in the distant past. Works as advertised. Still have a few hundred commercial wax .38's. At that time the instructions were to drill out the flash hole of .38 Special cases (otherwise the primer would back out and lock the gun up). Accurate to maybe thirty feet, not thirty yards IME. Definitely clean the barrel before reverting to full-power bulleted ammunition.

Tried wax bullets a long time ago. They work well, but once you try the Speer plastic bullets with plastic cases you won't want to mess with wax.

Long ago, I fired prodigious numbers of wax bullet .38 Special loads in my basement during the Winter (that was in Cleveland). I pressed cases through blocks of canning paraffin as described. I enlarged the flash holes by drilling and used regular SP or SR primers. Those are all you need, would not fool with shotshell primers. I think in my basement, I was shooting at about 25’ or so. Don’t shoot at your dog or cat. I would re-melt the fired wax bullets. I did not resize the cases.

I also tried using the plastic bullets, but mine were Winchester, not Speer. The bullets were usually too damaged to use after three or four shots and the plastic cases would split after about he same amount of firings. I used mainly paraffin and brass. Maybe todays Speer plastic cases and bullets are more durable.

Frankly, I believe using a good air or CO2 handgun provides just as good practice as wax bullets.

shot the Speer plastic 38's 8n the basement back in the 1970's out of dad's revolver... it was fun... have only thought about the wax stuff.. just never pulled the trigger.. lol

Don't get shot by a wax bullet. At close distances, they hurt!

__________________
Bill

The Speer plastic bullets and cases seem to be far superior to wax and if you hang a heavy tarp they won't bounce far and you can reuse them dozens of times. Don't underestimate the power, I hung a blanket in my garage from the garage door overhead frame and shot one and the plastic bullet went through the blanket and put a pretty big dent that showed on the outside of the garage door. I only shot .38s and .44s and the accuracy is OK to 15-20 feet but the bullets always shot WAY low because they,re so light.

I've done it with some 44s. I melted the paraffin in a tray, let it set up firm, and pushed primed cases into it like a cookie cutter. Makes a perfect wax wadcutter. The primer will launch the wax bullet fast enough to go through a tin can at about 10 feet.

I did it with .44. One of the things they don't tell you about wax bullets-at least in my experience-is the fun you have cleaning the gun afterward. That said, I have to admit that particular gun didn't have much of a forcing cone at the time. Much later, I recut it. That might make a difference, but I'm not gonna repeat the experiment.

I was with an agency years ago where we did force on force with wax 38s. The wax would leave welts on uncovered skin. I don't recall the recipe but it wasn't straight paraffin wax. It was melted and mixed with something, possibly vasoline, to make it a bit softer, but I don't really recall. We used SPP in cases with drilled out primer pockets. I don't know how acurate they were other than they were accurate enough to get hit with in building search type scenarios. I never patterned any on paper.

I bet it is a bear to clean out a gun after shooting these

__________________
Forum consigliere

As the training officer on the Highway Patrol, I created and ran a “Shoot don’t shoot “ training program using wax bullets and took it to all of the division HQs in the state.

Hung a heavy tarp on a special frame and used a slide projector to put images on it depicting different situations LEOs might encounter during traffic stops.

Officers made decisions to shoot or not and drew and fired at the “threat “ images.
They all missed the revolver held by my good looking blonde secretary with a really short skirt sitting in a car with the door open.

All Patrolmen and local Police officers and Sheriff’s deputies were invited to participate.

I used paraffin bullets and spent the night in a motel room reloading for sessions at the next division the next day.

Twenty three divisions in the state and a lot of paraffin and primers used.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

You are SO correct.........I made "em"(in 38spl cases) to shoot wasp nest off the house eaves and play with...........As I have stated here before. When the wive was gone. I'd open the fireplace doors and tape a target to the top....Then I'd sit on the couch and and shoot the target......I purt much gave it up years ago.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

Accurate to 45 feet??????????????? Accurate to 120 feet???????????

__________________
S&W Accumulator

Some used a blanket or sheet to catch the wax bullets,
to try and keep them from hitting the ground and picking up dirt or sand, which could damage the barrel if they were shot a lot with dity wax.
containg hard materials.

The funny thing is, when I started shooting lots of 9mm with the family members,
I never did shoot the Speer plastic "Loads" that I made up, with the 300 primers. They are still in a small plastic black bullet box, waiting their turn.
I still don't know what they are capable of?

A LOT of wax went down range in the "Fast Draw" games.

Thought I’d share this experience.

I have some .38 caliber rubber bullets. I think Speer made them but not sure. I’ve had them a long time. Made from a tough “O-ring” type synthetic rubber and shaped like a .177 lead pellet.

Used a modified primer flash hole as previously suggested and a standard primer.

Loaded some up to practice indoor point shooting. Worked quite well. Except I found out the hard way that they will penetrate a hollow core interior door!

Take ‘em seriously and be mindful of your backstop!

Thanks for the feedback and observations on the wax bullet question.

Yes, I have some of the Speer plastic cases/bullets around.

Yes, I own a high quality Walther C02 target pellet pistol and use it for indoor match and general target shooting.

Just wanted to give the wax thing a try, not much of an investment so will give it a whirl.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Back in the 60's we melted wax into a square cake pan and just pushed a primed 9mm shell into the wax and loaded into the P38. Worked fine

__________________
Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

I never messed with the wax bullets, but did try some of the rubber bullets. It was fun at the time, but now, with the cost of primers being what it is, I just load powder and lead in the cases.
On a side note, I painted the case heads red to distinguish the drilled out primer pockets.
I say if you want to try the wax bullets, give it a go.

On pages 87-90 of "No Second Place Winner " Bill Jordan discusses wax bullets, has pictures of his set up to mass produce them
My experience with the Speer plastic bullets was the POI was way off due to the light weight of the bullet.

Just as a historical note I just recalled, at one time dueling with pistols loaded with wax bullets was a sport. One wore a face shield of some type and a heavy custom coat as PPE. I recall a magazine article that showed the PPE.

IIRC, the box of newsprint I used a a backstop suggested that-with modern primers-wasn't a real good idea. Maybe they used lighter/smaller caliber wax bullets?

Maybe due to the lack of better indoor entertainment?

My dad bought some of the Speer plastic cases and bullets back in the 60’s. We used to take his model 15 in the garage, drape an old piece of carpet over a cardboard box and hang a rager and shoot away. Until, one day one of the bullets went through the carpet and put a nice dent in my mother’s washing machine. Actually we kept doing it but hind another layer of carpet to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

In the 80’s my son and I would punch paraffin bullets out of canning wax and setup IPSC drills in the back yard and shoot them out of my Python. Just a primed case and a block of wax provided good entertainment and good practice.

A few years ago one of the LGS had several boxes of plastic Speer cartridges and bullets. I think they were 50 cents a box and I bought a bunch. I planned to shoot them in my garage out of my M37 but have been lazy and not shot any. I mentioned to my wife last week I need to shoot some since I have them primed and ready to go. Now it’s time to load my 640 or M40 and have some fun.

Take off the grips ad put it in the oven at 150 deg. Make sure to put a pan under neath to catch the melted wax.

__________________
Bill

Ok, after being retired from telephone work for 23 years, I’m safe relating this story.
Back in the 70’s I was working as a switching equipment technician in an electro-mechanical telephone switching office. Thousands of relays with thousands of contacts. Dust, dirt etc was the enemy of these offices. But most of these offices had NO air conditioning.
In the summer the buildings were oppressively hot, so to get some relief I opened the front and back door to get air through - a real no-no.
One afternoon three barn swallows flew into the office and took up residence in the iron work above all those relays.
A third enemy of these switch’s is bird droppings.
Tried chasing them out which proved futile.
Came up with the wax bullet idea. When I got home that night I did some testing and found that one grain of Bullseye propelled a wax bullet made from blocks of canning wax with sufficient wallop to stun if not kill a bird.
Armed with an 8 3/8” barreled Model 27 I headed back to the office. After two hours of attempts I had three dead birds.
Doors of the office remained closed after no matter how hot it got.

I would get a .38 caliber mold and fill the cavity using a hot glue gun.
I have not tried this on my own, yet.
But I can shoot in my yard and small hayfield and so am able to use regular bullets.
I refuse to live anywhere that I cannot shoot outside on my own property.

Why wouldn’t a bullet mold filled with one of the softer plastics used in a 3D printer work?

Nah.......Not gonna bake my gun.....When I was shooting them...... Clean up was easy.......But I guess anyone can complicate things.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

When I used the Speer plastic bullets I made a bullet trap out a cardboard box with a heavy towel draped over a dowel.

Sounds like a recipe for a real "Rust" Alec Baldwin scenario.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

I did not mention it earlier, but I pressed deprimed cases into the wax first, then primed them. Seemed to be easier. My target backstop was a small steel .22 bullet trap. Easy to empty the fired wax bullets for re-melting. Would put them in an aluminum cake pan and put the pan in the kitchen oven to melt.

Not so cheap to do today, what with the price of primers. Back then, primers were less than a penny each.

I do not remember having any revolver cleaning problems.

With a little "Kentucky windage" (center hold vs 6 o'clock hold) I can hit pretty close to point of aim shooting at a target hung on my shop door from my patio.
And that's right around 100'.
That's using the harder commercial wax bullets in the modified 357 cases charged with 209 shotgun primers and fired from a 4" M28.
Maybe not a really tight group, but good enough for having cheap fun.
And they'll go right through a poly tarp or even a few layers of cardboard.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

I am purchasing some cases and wax bullets from a couple of outfits and they should be here in a week or so.

I spoke with the owner of C&R Wax and he tells me that clean-up is easy with a slightly oversized bore brush in the barrel and basic patches for the cylinder. Not much gets in the cylinder.

He brushes every 25 rounds or so.

Here are links to where I am purchasing from.....

C and R Wax
Wax Bullets, Shells, & Accessories - Cowboy Fastdraw Association

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

In the old days they were referred to as Kentucky windage and Tennessee elevation! Calling them hold-off and hold-over/under may work better these days.

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

LOL, OK, but you got my drift.... (pun intended).

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

Bill Jordan said he used waxed bullets to practice his fast draw.

I shot a few wax bullets out of my 44, I melted the wax in a pan and used the primed case as the cookie cutter.
I was shooting at about 25 ft, one hit the cement wall and came back at me full force, it hit the washing machine with a good wallop. lets say it scared the **** out of me and I quit playing the wax bullet game. I still find it amazing that it just didn't splat on the wall and stay put.

__________________
Carry on....

I used wax bullets but never with shotshell primers... y''all have given me an idea on how to use up some of the 57 size primers...gonna drill some 38s some 44s and some 45colts...I must have 40 lbs of paraffin here from estate sales yard sales and auctions. I do have quite a few of the Speer plastic bullets in all the calibers Many are new unused ...another thing I would pick up wherever

Hey... I wonder if I could use the 57 size primers in light 44 and 45 lead bullet loads loads... I even have a 1000 or so of the mild 69s that were used for 410 loads. Or maybe I should just creep quietly away from the idea. I just have so many of those 57s/69s.

Wax bullets is a PITA from the 1960s especially cleaning your revolver later.

I prefer the Speer bullets but honestly I have not loaded them in 25+ years.

I have had several boxes of the Speer Target .38 and .44 bullets/cases around that a friend gave me many years ago.....still have not given them a try.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Good enough for Bill is good enough for me!

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

I received my order from C&R Wax today including 1,000 .38 caliber wax bullets and 50 .38 Special cases with modified primer pockets to accept #209 primers.

I picked up a pack of 100 RIO #209 primers from my LGS and will give these a try at some point in the next few days and report back.

I also have an order of wax bullets coming from the folks at Fast Draw.

BTW:::: I tried out the .38 caliber SPEER plastic bullet/cases today with a standard small pistol primer and they are extremely light hitting with very minimal velocity at short range. Did not do an accuracy test, just function and will see how they do at short range on paper soon.

Stay tuned......

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

I'm really interested to see how hard it is to insert the 209 primers into their modified cases.

I used a 6mm drill bit for the ones I made because I wanted them to fit so tightly they have to be pressed in with my single stage press - so they don't back out and bind up the cylinder.

Let us know how hard they are to insert & how they perform in terms of staying in the cases without backing out when fired.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

The cases that I purchased that are modified to take the 209's require NO pressure to insert the primers.....they drop in and drop out freely.

If you use the brands of 209's that are suggested there are NO issues with binding in single action guns or DA/SA guns.

Give this video a watch to the end.....you can see the process clearly.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

VERY interesting.
I've been using the brick of Cheddite primers I bought for a good price.
I have 50 357 cases I modified, but I may just buy a box of 50 of those C&R cases to give them a try.
Thanks for the info.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

Here is another short wax bullet video for basic info

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303