Carpenter Bee Load ?

[raytsmith]

Yeah, I know - a strange request.
But I'm getting tired of using the badminton racket - its fun when you hit one, but the range is very limited. And living in a log house, I have a spirited war with carpenter bees every spring and need something more effective.
Has anybody got a very low noise load that can take out a bee at 10-15 ft ? Shotshells, blanks, Cream of Wheat ?
It could be .38. or .45 acp. I've tried the .22 shotshells, and they were not very effective.

 

[mikld]

I used to shoot mice in my laundry room with .22 Shorts in my Ruger Single Six.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I would go with a "Shotgun" type load to keep the holes and damage inside the place to a minimum.......
but you still have the wad that can cause damage......
maybe you would not need to fill it but with beans.

 

[Florida J Frame]

Wasp spray?

 

[flagman1776]

Ah, yes, the tennis racquet. The neighbors still think I'm nuts.

I'm not sure how quiet but my friend has demonstrated with uncooked rice in both his blackpowder smoothbore 28 gauge fowler & my smooth bore 58 flint pistol. It's advisable to step on the bees.
I used to knock horseflies off my horses... 1.5" long green eyed monsters... One would back up to the fence despite the pain of being bitten... so I could smack them with a rolled canvas. Again, step on them lest they recover & get up.
I'm thinking any squib powder charge under a dipper of hard rice.
I remember the plastic practice bullets that were propelled by just a magnum primer. They would penetrate several layers of cardboard box 'bullet trap' until stopped by a hunk of rubber inner tube.
One buddy used to shoot house flies of his wife's antique glass lamp shade with an air rifle at close range. The secret is he wasn't using a projectile. He was bouncing them off the lamp & they didn't get up.
There can be certain advantages to having people think you are possibly crazy.

 

[blujax01]

You'll want some practice first. I bought a pack of these, took them to the range, and was immediately humbled. It ain't as easy as it looks!

 

[worm5932]

im going to second the wasp spray. as fun as shooting bees sounds it wont be effective to getting rid of the colony.

 

[Florida J Frame]

An old Red Rider will test your marksmanship

 

[Old Seabee]

Bees

There is a load using media in 38 or whatever sealed with a drop of candle wax, charge ? Will look . Something to tinker with

 

[raytsmith]

Hmm. Rice might be the ticket. I'm wondering about Osmocote fertilizer pellets, too...
Wasp spray doesn't work very well on these bees, they are tough rascals. Pyrethrin sprays work well, but you have to get pretty close, and even then it takes several direct hits before they start acting drunk and then crash. One hit might eventually kill them, but I like the satisfaction of seeing them die.
I found a youtube video for making traps - I might make a few of those and give them a try as well. Its never too early to plan the demise of carpenter bees...

 

[WHO CARES]

You might find some BB caps. As opposed to Conical Ball CB caps they were round ball squib loads for the 22 with just a round ball and primer charge.

ward

 

[Dave from Pa]

Funny you bring this up.I thought l was the only one that did this.Presently l use a 617 with the CCI shot shells,works OK but like you said not effective and presents a challenge.I also have some 22 magnum shot shells that l have not tried but will this spring.Years ago l used 2.7 grs of Bullseye in a .38 spl case,seated a gas check to the approx depth of a 148 gr wadcutter using a marked dowl rod. Filled the case with #9 shot and found it pretty effective against snakes and pigeons in the barn.I capped it off with a thin piece of cardboard wad sealed with nail polish.I was just thinking about putting some together for my spring bee hunt.Where my cabin is located the bees are ruthless since we put on a new porch.If you are not a reloader this is easy to assemble using a Lee loader if they are still available.As a sidenote beware of your impact area.This is done while they are in the hover mode and clear of any vehicles etc.Good hunting.

 

[raytsmith]

I've got a nice pellet rifle, but I have neighbors within 200-300 feet on 4 sides. I don't want to shoot someone's window, or alarm them by seeing me sneaking about with a long gun. There are enough trees that I could be discreet with a revolver, as long as it doesn't make much noise. Might have to go with the traps, badminton racket, and pyrethrin spray a while longer.
It would be fun if I could go after them with my 625, though.

 

[Florida J Frame]

How about Aquila .22 Super Colibri in a revolver? No gun powder.

 

[Dave from Pa]

Somthing worth trying may be a magnum rifle primer,no powder and a lighter shot charge. Load with a cardboard wad,then shot charge and another wad since it sounds like noise may be a factor.Primer should have enough power to propel the shot the short distance you need.Carpenter bees are almost impossible to hit with a single projectile.I will experiment and let you know.

 

[Florida J Frame]

"Well, you see officer, there are these carpenter bees . . ."

 

[Engineer1911]

Bee loads

Grits! ! ! !

Use your favorite center fire revolver caliber, 1.0 to 1.7 grains of fast pistol powder, paper base wad, case full of grits, tagboard paper (1/16" to 1/8" thick top wad), firm roll crimp to keep top wad in place. If neighbors are close by a little load development might be in order to find minimum noise/effective load velocity. Any organic granular product(not sand): grits, cream of wheat, malto meal, ground walnut hulls, rice, whole peppercorns; will give satisfactory results.

Seat the paper base wad on top of the powder to eliminate any air space for maximum grit load. A snub nose works best, an 8-3/8" works the worst because you want to get the grits "blasting" out of the barrel, not rotating like a bullet. You are looking for shredded wings followed by a boot stomp !

44 or 45 caliber could be used with whole grain rice. As a 'bee blaster', the S&W .500 would be perfect if you need a reason to buy a new cannon.

 

[Fla_Sun]

Powerful vacuum cleaner with a long hose attachment.

 

[gregintenn]

Our preferred bee load consists of a small charge of Bullseye, topped with a filled case of crushed walnut hull media, covered with a piece of gasket paper and crimped to hold it all together. You can cut the gasket paper with a 3/8" hole punch, or an empty 38 special case.

I can't remember the exact charge I settled on, but I believe it was somewhere in the 2-2.5 grain territory.

My sons and I have great fun with this in the barn.

 

[rwsmith]

Does Speer still make.........

Does Speer still make the loadable shotshells for .38 and .45?? You could fire a lot more volume cheaper with this rig. I haven't had much luck with pistol shot but I didn't have a 6" .45 that I think would be ideal.