Wax Bullet Shooting - Anyone else doing/done it?

[crows]

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!

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.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

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.

 

[WR Moore]

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?

 

[.38SuperMan]

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.

 

[BigBoy99]

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

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.

 

[Capt. F.]

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.

 

[smoothshooter]

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.

 

[smoothshooter]

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

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

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.

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

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

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

 

[BC38]

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...

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

 

[DWalt]

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.

 

[BC38]

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

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.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

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

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

 

[Alk8944]

With a little "Kentucky windage" (center hold vs 6 o'clock hold)

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.

 

[BC38]

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.

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

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

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

 

[cracker57]

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.

 

[Skeet 028]

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

 

[Skeet 028]

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.