Interesting 38spl Ammuntion... Plastic!?

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hi All,

I got to digging around in my favorite gunstore's neglected stock and found these. I don't know if they're collectable or not, but I'd like to use them. He has a few boxes of both the shells and the bullets so I can put some back as collector's items. The boxes are in decent shape as are the instruction sheets inside.


This is what is needed to load these. The bullet is entirely primer-driven. Velocity is supposed to be approximately 500fps and can cause bodily harm out to 25yds.


The bullet is on the left and the case is on the right. A primer is first inserted into the case, then the bullet, which is just a plastic cylinder with a small hole for gas expansion, is seated on top. No tools are required.


Here are some specifics on the back of the box, along with the standard warnings.

I dunno. I've heard of this stuff and thought it was in the same sentence as "collectable." Regardless, I'm going to load a few.

If they're no longer making this, it's a shame. It, and a M10 Smith & Wesson, would be perfect for introducing new shooters to the sport.

Josh <><

 

[CajunBass]

I've heard of them, but have never seen them.

I have made wax bullet loads which can be used for the same thing.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

yes they still make/sell those. Check out midway or some of the other reloading places. I believe they make them in .44 caliber as well.

 

[LotI]

38
44
45

Or you could try these out of standard brass:
X-Ring rubber bullets

 

[entropy]

I used to use them to practice in our basement withthe Colt Trooper I had at the time. (About 20 years ago.) I also used primed brass 'dipped' into paraffin for a projectile.

 

[AJ Dual]

My grandfather's estate had a few boxes of these in his "gun things". It was strange, as I remember him showing me one of them as a child, although I never saw him shoot one, or even any of his firearms at the time.

My grandparents retired out of state, and I saw them infrequently after that. By the time he'd have shown me his guns, I owned more than he.

I fired off five of them into a large rag-filled box to see what they were like. Almost no recoil. Fairly loud. I wouldn't use them anywhere you wouldn't use an airgun in terms of backstop, and a .22 in terms of noise.

I can't imagine they're at all accurate outside of room distances. They don't really engrave on the rifling, and with the ultra-low mass, I'm certain they'd tumble. Even at five yards in my basement some of them tore the box in a way that made me suspect they were beginning to keyhole.

I think they're interesting, but I have no idea what I'd use them for with airguns and Airsoft at my disposal. I suppose it would be good for manual of arms/familiarity training for someone who's primary carry, gaming, or defensive piece was a revolver.

The cases without the bullet would turn a revolver into a starter pistol, but again, what for?

 

[foxmeadow]

These things are FUN. When the SO is out, bring out the Model 10 and a bunch of these to the TV room. Fill a cardboard box with wadded up newspaper as a bullet trap, tape the target dujour on the front, load up and sit back. Whenever some dork on the TV says the magic word, (liberal, ban, entitlement, whatever etc.) draw and fire. At the box, not the TV. It ewill penetrate the box, so you may conclude theat they have a little snort to them. Good for dogs that poop in your yard, too...

 

[lesjones]

In Bill Jordan's book No Second Place Winner he mentions using primer-only loads with paraffin wax bullets for indoor practice.

 

[georgeduz]

my dad used them in the basement to practive is draw ans his form.it does help build up ur speed in reloading,very good for people who cant get to the range.

 

[win71]

The department I worked for fired hundreds of thousands of those things. Every office had a wood framed target holder sized for two silhouette targets and a free hanging heavy tent canvas backstop. Had a wood tray that collected the fired plastic bullets. They were reloaded dozens of times until they simply wouldn't fit anymore. Once semi autos were adopted around 1989 all that stuff disappeared.
It was good practice for rapid draw, reloading etc. It was in addition to the monthly range training.

 

[fecmech]

I have a Rossi singleshot .357 rifle, the plastic bullets work great for getting squirrels off the bird feeders!

 

[Iggy]

I use to use those in a training program I developed for my traveling dog and pony show for HP's.. Slide projector, Butcher paper for a screen.. Showed slides of various scenarios until the officer had to make a decision to shoot or not to shoot.. If he decided it was a shoot situation, he fired at the picture on the screen.

Spent my evenings between towns and sessions in a motel room reloading those things.

Them was the good ol days.

 

[sm]

Plastic Training Components

http://www.speer-bullets.com/default.asp?s1=3&s2=8

 

[GRIZ22]

These have been around for at least 35 years. When I was on a PD we used them for night fire at ranges up to 25' or so.

 

[.cheese.]

I saw this stuff a few months (closer to a year actually) ago at a really ripe gunstore (ripe as in bad).

If it wasn't so incredibly overpriced I would have bought some. Of course, now I don't have a wheelgun so it would be pointless.

It'd be nice if they figured out how to make an autopistol version that works. Unfortunately, it would either require gun modification, or would be powerful enough to severely injure and put holes through walls.

 

[gezzer]

They shoot sweet. Note the are still lethal.

 

[obxned]

Used them in .357 years ago. They weren't all that accurate, but a lot of fun. We shot them into a cardboard box with carpet scraps/samples in it to stop the bullets.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

Thanks guys.

I don't reload so I've never just popped off a primer - didn't realize how DIRTY it can be.

I paid $20 for 50 bullets, 50 cases, and 100 primers. Did I get taken?

Josh <><

 

[SeanSw]

How serious are the health hazards of firing these indoors with magnum primers? The noise is one thing but what about all the lead and chemicals released from the primers floating around inside your house?

 

[TSH77769]

I have a bunch of those in 44 mag.

tsh77769

 

[Cosmose]

how loud are they? i can get away with shooting 22short's out of my ruger single six.(without the neighbors complaining)
would they be much louder??

 

[ABTOMAT]

The flashlight company Kel-Lite used to make some of this stuff, called "True Blue Practice Ammunition." Always wanted to get a box for my collection.

 

[AndyC]

I used to have a 158 gr SWC bullet-mould - didn't have a 357 at that time, but I did have a CZ75, so I cast wax bullets with it.

Superbly accurate to 10 yards, and because the bullet was so long, it fit firmly enough into a 9mm case that you could load a whole magazine and manually cock the action without worrying about failures to feed from the mag due to bullet setback