Experimenting with wax bullets

[tappedandtagged]

I went shooting with my dad and came back home with 65 38 spl cases. Since neither of us owns a 38 and I down load 357 for target rounds, I didn't really have a use for them.

I've been wanting to try some wax bullets and thought this would be the perfect time to try. I drilled the flash holes out to prevent primer setback and went to Hobby Lobby for some wax.

Got a pound of paraffin for $3.50 on sale and got a small jar of vaseline to soften it up a bit so I could punch the wax out with the cases. Melted the wax with vaseline in a 8:1 ratio. Turned out to be just about perfect.

I read an article that mentioned to not prime the cases until after you punch the wax so that the air doesn't compress in the case and later push the wax out. After the wax cooled, I punched then out and then primed the cases with CCI small pistol primers (no powder at all).

I estimate that each round cost about $0.06 which is right around the price of some CCI Mini Mags! And I can remelt the wax and reuse it.

I can't wait to run them through the chrono and test for accuracy. Anyway, heres some photos of the process:

 

[bae125]

I want to hear more about this! Keep us updated

 

[planojack]

I think I can top anybody's story on the lethality of wax loads. While our new home was under construction, we lived in some very rustic quarters. I set a trap for a suspected mouse. It stunned a very large rat. My quick kill came with my 45 auto wax load behind the ear. Most people don't go varmint hunting in their kitchen.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I made these long ago. One use was to tape a target on the fire screen and shoot into fireplace while sitting on the couch. AND.....they were good for shooting wasp nest off of the eaves of the barn.

 

[tappedandtagged]

I shot two last night at a cardboard box. One went through the first layer and the second knocked a hole in the box but failed to penetrate and bounced off. Next I'm using magnum primers. Still haven't chronographed them since I don't have the indoor lighting kit on mine.

 

[roarindan]

You have given me hope.(and created a monster)

 

[MrAmbassador]

Will these keep you out of trouble For discharging a firearm in a residential area? I have a funny feeling NJ isn't going to have any of it.

 

[smokey04]

Ya'll read Bill Jordans"No Second Place Winner" for his wax loads. Remember,he shot thousands during his travelling demos.I made some years ago that worked very well but I[like Mr. Jordan] used block paraffin off the canning shelves[no Vaseline].If you have any old plasic cartrige forms like Remington,and others,sold ammo in you can cut the legs off and use them to punch 50 at a time in a bench vise! Nick

 

[venomballistics]

Ive done a lot of this through the years.
Handy little loads though the range is limited.
Ive wasted a few mice with them so dont under estimate them. they can mess up drywall and put dents in paneling but carpeting stops them well enough. they can leave some good welts too.
I keep some around in 45 auto since the primer setback isnt a real issue.

 

[venomballistics]

Will these keep you out of trouble For discharging a firearm in a residential area? I have a funny feeling NJ isn't going to have any of it.

depends on your exact situation.
you can mask the noise with a radio, just fire on the beat. This won't make it any more legal but it will help avoid detection immensely thus allowing you to get away with it.

 

[Mule88]

I bought some wax bullets with cases designed to use 209 shotgun primers years ago, I still have the cases and some of the wax bullets, the cases are .44 special. They were fun to shoot but after awhile the basement would smoke up a bit from shooting. I only shoot them outside now but accuracy wasnt bad at 10 yds.

 

[tappedandtagged]

Range Report

Range Report
Took out five rounds loaded with CCI Small Pistol Primers and five with CCI Magnum Pistol Primers. I found that I need to drill the flash hole out a bit more. I got one round that had primer setback enough to lock the gun up on the CCI 500's and all but one locked up the gun with the 550's.

Despite this, at short range, I found them to be quite accurate. I was only shooting 15 feet, but was stacking them directly on top of each other. Only one of them disengrated against my archery bag target. One broke in half and the rest mushroomed a bit.

And to top it off, it was a hoot! Almost as cheap as shooting a 22 and mich much quiter.

The SPP one chronoed at the following

1- 215 fps
2- 264 fps
3- chrono error
4- 254 fps
5- 275 fps

The SMPP one were as follows:

1- 386 fps
2- 311 fps
3- 360 fps
4- 342 fps
5- 274 fps

 

[Lou_NC]

Thanks for the "range report". This sounds like fun and I may have to load up some of these to shoot in my garage!

Thanks also for the tip about enlarging the flash hole. That's good to know. If you could share the drill size that you use to eliminate the primer setback, it would be appreciated.

Lou

 

[tputto]

This was an interesting read, I have tried this too. Did you check for barrel fouling after firing your test shots? My attempts with wax bullets were not very successful because the bullets left a lot of wax on the rifling, destroying accuracy after only a couple of shots. May have been due to the wax mixture, though I don't remember exactly what it was I had.

 

[venomballistics]

This was an interesting read, I have tried this too. Did you check for barrel fouling after firing your test shots? My attempts with wax bullets were not very successful because the bullets left a lot of wax on the rifling, destroying accuracy after only a couple of shots. May have been due to the wax mixture, though I don't remember exactly what it was I had.

might be how you made them. You want to press the cases into warm soft wax so that it cuts rather than crumbles.

 

[tappedandtagged]

I used a 3/32" bit , but am still getting primer setback. Gonna bump it up to 1/8" or 3/16" and try again.

The only "fouling" I noticed was from the primers. They smoke a lot when there's no powder on top of them!

The 1:8 mix of vasilinearaffin allows me to cut the slugs out easily at room temp.

 

[tappedandtagged]

I got a lot of info from this online article: NRA Mobile

But I made my own mixture from stuff that is easily found and realativly cheap. The articles recipie is more costly. Mine is cheap and easy. Just remember, if you drill the flash holes out to the articles specs, you will still get primer setback. Go larger, esp. if you want to use magnum primers.

 

[Alk8944]

I don't think the guy that wrote the article you linked to has really shot wax bullets as he would know a 3/32" flash hole isn't large enough!. 1/8" for small primers and 5/32 for large is what is needed to prevent set-back. These are about as large as possible and still have support for the primer's anvil.

Instead of softening the Paraffin with Vaseline simply warm your oven to about 125%, turn it off and place the Paraffin block on a cookie sheet and check every few minutes until it is just feeling soft to a gentle squeeze. An article about shooting wax bullets back in the '60s recommended simply laying the paraffin block on your furnace vents until soft. Obviously only works during the winter!

The advice to cut the bullets and then is good, for exactly the reason previously stated.

As others have noted, wax bullets are not toys, they can do serious damage. They will break glass and can seriously injure a person struck by them. When I was young and paying with them, (about 1961), on a whim I fired one from a 1911 Colt at a G.I. phenolic helmet liner sitting on a table about 15' away. The wax bullet, primer only, punched a sharp, clean hole right through it, just like a regular wad-cutter bullet would have!

 

[tappedandtagged]

I thought about just warming the wax up, but figured if I made it soft, I could save the trouble of warming it every time. When shot, the bullets deform a great deal, but mostly stay together. They also seem to penetrate less than what others have said. My wife just shot some into a 5 gallon bucket in the garage. The bullets deformed, but didn't damage the bucket. I would think the harder all paraffin wax slugs would likely punch through.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the results of my experiment. We shot 12 rounds and only got one primer setback, but I haven't resized the flash holes yet. Gotta shoot up the 50 I still have so I can drill 'em all at once.

Alk, do you think the 1/8th will keep magnum primers from backing out? Or should I stick with regular primers?

 

[arizona98tj]

depends on your exact situation.
you can mask the noise with a radio, just fire on the beat.

Note, this does not work very well with ear-buds.