Wooden Bullets?

[tlay]

Has anyone ever tried loading wooden bullets? I thought about using some for practice. I would use a light load with Alox coated hollow base wadcutters. Any thoughts other than I have lost my mind!

 

[colt_saa]

I think those were very popular in Transylvania a while back.

 

[colt_saa]

Not wooden, but wax bullets used to be very popular for practice in the home

There were primer powered and good for 10 feet or so

 

[tlay]

I would think they would make great tracers when they catch fire!

 

[growr]

I have a bunch of 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser practice ammo that indeed has a wooden tip....doesn't burn up when fired.....I have been pulling the bullets, dumping the powder, re-sizing them and shooting them in my 1896 Gustav Mauser....works great for me!

Randy

 

[SMSgt]

They cost a wooden nickle for a dozen.

 

[Watchdog]

Not wooden, but wax bullets used to be very popular for practice in the home

There were primer powered and good for 10 feet or so

Yes, they were. My buddy and I used wax bullets for quick draw stuff with our gunfighter style belts and holsters and single action revolvers back in the early 70s. We had a lot of fun. Plus, you just melted the fired bullets down, reformed them, and used 'em over and over. Kinda like casting lead bullets except without the lead hazards.

 

[Nemo288]

plastic training bullets
I once used these and now consider them as dangerous as the real thing and like the above posters prefer wax.
Remember Mr. JE Hexum "accidently" killed himself with the cork wad from a "blank".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum

===
Nemo

 

[BC38]

Is this for practice? I'd be a little concerned about the density of wooden projectiles. Obviously they aren't going to penetrate like lead, but they would still probably have more penetration than you might want.

Midway sells these rubber bullets that you shoot out of regular brass with just a primer as the propellent.

X-Ring Rubber Bullets 38 Cal (357 to 358 Diameter) Box of 50

 

[linedo50]

Japanese and Germans both used wooden bullets during WWII. I'd always assumed it was because of shortages of materials but I've also read that wooden bullets would splinter and cause untreatable wounds. The wood was supposedly treated with chemicals that caused added pain.

 

[Mack]

Wooden bullets were for training not combat use.

 

[MichiganScott]

I have a bunch of 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser practice ammo that indeed has a wooden tip....doesn't burn up when fired.....I have been pulling the bullets, dumping the powder, re-sizing them and shooting them in my 1896 Gustav Mauser....works great for me!

Randy

They Swedes had an adapter that fit over the muzzle and shredded the bullets when fired.

 

[BE Mike]

Is this for practice? I'd be a little concerned about the density of wooden projectiles. Obviously they aren't going to penetrate like lead, but they would still probably have more penetration than you might want.

Midway sells these rubber bullets that you shoot out of regular brass with just a primer as the propellent.

X-Ring Rubber Bullets 38 Cal (357 to 358 Diameter) Box of 50

Actually these rubber bullets work best when the primer flash hole has been drilled out. I have used the Speer plastic bullets and case. I think that they are less trouble than the rubber bullets and are accurate at short distances. Way back in the day, I shot a large dog in the hip with a .38 SPL Speer plastic. The dog wouldn't go away from my property and was intent on getting into my fenced back yard. After trying just about everything to scare it away, I shot it. It didn't do any damage, (the bullet bounced off) but it did the trick. Today the police would be called, the news media would be hounding me (pun intended) and the animal freaks would be picketing my house.

 

[ACP230]

I think Gun Digest (the annual publication) carried an article on wooden
bullets in an issue many years ago.
Might be worth looking for.

 

[Drm50]

Wooden Bullets

In the little town I grew up in our postmaster was a disabled vet
of WW2, Italy. He was shot with wooden bullet. When I was kid
I herd that enemy caught with wood or clay bullets would be shot
on spot.

 

[jtcarm]

Wooden bullets were for training not combat use.

There were also used to propel rifle grenades.

 

[PPCSHOOTER]

ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO THERE WAS A INFLUX OF 308 WITH WOOD BULLETS. THEY WERE SOLD AS BLANKS. WOOD BULLET WAS TO DISINTEGRATE AS IT LEFT THE BARREL. MAN THEY WERE CHEAP. WE BOUGHT THEM IN GREAT QUANTITY. PULLED THE BULLETS WITH PLIERS AND DUMPED THE POWDER. WE THAN HAD VIRGIN BOXER PRIMED BRASS FOR AN HOUR'S WORK AND IF I REMEMBER RIGHT $39 PER K. WE PUT THE BLACK POWDER ON THE LAWN. JP

 

[federali]

The Pinocchio Factor

"Wooden" bullets were not used as anti-personnel rounds. Instead, these were blanks and the bullet-like tip insured easier chambering. They were used primarily to launch rifle grenades and while a blank cartridge can inflict serious and even fatal wounds up close, they were not used in place of conventional cartridges.

 

[DWalt]

All military cartridges I know of loaded with wooden bullets were intended for use as blanks or for rifle grenades. The Danish Schouboe Automatic Pistol of the early 20th Century used an 11.35mm jacketed wooden-core bullet at a very high velocity. It wasn't too successful.

"When I was kid I herd that enemy caught with wood or clay bullets would be shot on spot."

At least in the Pacific theater, it was a common practice for U. S. forces to shoot captured Japanese soldiers on the spot, no matter what ammunition they had on them. Taking prisoners was frowned upon. Ask any Pacific vet.

 

[tlay]

I have some wooden dowel hardwood rods close to .358 in size. I thought of using them for practice bullets. I would use 3 GRS. of bullseye with a hollow base wadcutter. I didn't know if I should make the bullets undersize or stick to .358 in my 38 special guns.
My buddy suggested filling the hollow base with phosphorus or powdered magnesium for a tracer bullet! I would think that is a little illegal!