Paraffin Wax Reloads

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WheelGunMan

WheelGunMan

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Not sure what forum I was on, but I read a post from a retired LEO on how he used to practice his draw and point shooting using wax reloads. Now with ammo getting scarce again, I thought I'd save what I have and some money to boot by going out and buying some canning paraffin and primers and reloading some wax rounds.

In the article he stated that he just pushed his empty cartridges into some some canning paraffin and wallah...he had some practice rounds that could even be used in his basement during inclement weather.

Sounds like a win/win. Does anybody have any specific formulas or experience with this?
 
You'll need to warm the wax. It will save wear and tear on your fingers. Use primers only! No propellant. Point of impact will be low due to zero recoil. I gave it up a few years ago since for me it was just too dirty.
 
I tried it by drilling the flash hole bigger, inserting a primer, and jamming the case mouth into a large candle. Worked fine for practice, but not that accurate, still have to cycle autos by hand, etc. Drawing and dry firing, practicing on smooth rather than fast, still seemed to be more beneficial to me.
 
In one of Dean Grinnell’ books he talked about drilling out 38 special cases to accept shotgun primers and using those to shoot wax bullets. It’s harder than you think to push a case mouth into a sheet of paraffin.

At one time I had a package of hollow rubber bullets you could shoot with primers. You seated them all the way in the bottom of the case and could reuse them indefinitely. I suppose they might still be buried in the bottom of a box somewhere.
 
I get pretty good results with hot glue bullets. Get a bullet mould and a hot glue gun and make some up, use a primer only and it is a good idea to open flas hole some. 25' accurate and will completely pass through a full can of pop. I've been tinkering with this on and off for years.

As with all load data, you must use your own judgement and only use published data. If you load something that isn't published you must accept all responsibility for whatever happens.

Here are a few of my goofy plinkers-
20200410_120054.jpg
On the left is a 38 sp case cut down to seat the glue bullet directly on the flash hole, it makes it a little quieter but not really worth the extra effort. The one on the right is unmodified 38 sp case with the same glue bullet from a 158 swc lee mould.
 
Years and years ago the American Rifleman had a great article on this. You might log into the NRA.ORG web site typ in "WAX BULLETS."
They did specify drilling the primer pocket. Use their wax formula.
If you use straight paraffin, it tends to crack when you shove the brass into the hardened wax, add a few drops of motor oil into the liquid when melting it. The oil will soften the wax.
 
Last edited:
Even with just primers, they are surprisingly powerful. They will penetrate drywall. They goo up your gun barrel terribly.
I used them one day in a LE training program and never again.
 
Obturation said:
I get pretty good results with hot glue bullets. Get a bullet mould and a hot glue gun and make some up, use a primer only and it is a good idea to open flas hole some. 25' accurate and will completely pass through a full can of pop. I've been tinkering with this on and off for years.

As with all load data, you must use your own judgement and only use published data. If you load something that isn't published you must accept all responsibility for whatever happens.

Here are a few of my goofy plinkers-
View attachment 907144
On the left is a 38 sp case cut down to seat the glue bullet directly on the flash hole, it makes it a little quieter but not really worth the extra effort. The one on the right is unmodified 38 sp case with the same glue bullet from a 158 swc lee mould.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea! Any ill effects on the barrel from the glue?


Iggy said:
Even with just primers, they are surprisingly powerful. They will penetrate drywall. They goo up your gun barrel terribly.
I used them one day in a LE training program and never again.
Click to expand...

Did you use straight paraffin or a mix with beeswax and grease?
 
WheelGunMan said:
That's a great idea! Any ill effects on the barrel from the glue?




Did you use straight paraffin or a mix with beeswax and grease?
Click to expand...
No glue deposits at all. Actually if you're just shooting paper and cardboard they're reusable . I like to shoot these through a 3" 38 sp chambered 12 gauge insert with no rifling. The idea being less time for the glue bullet to slow down as the push from primer only is so brief , the without rifling the resistance is less and the remaining 15" of shotgun barrel keep the sound down very well.
I have fired these through a gp100 with good results, but it's louder.hot glue or wax can easily be removed if you notice fouling. I've never seen any residue though.
 
WheelGunMan said:
That's a great idea! Any ill effects on the barrel from the glue?




Did you use straight paraffin or a mix with beeswax and grease?
Click to expand...
Straight paraffin.
I figured out pretty quickly I didn't want 100 Patrolmen having to get that stuff out of their revolvers before going back out on the road.
I scrapped that program before it got started and went to plan B.
 
WheelGunMan said:
That's a great article! Gives a good recipe for loads.

You state "Do Not shoot in your basement! You are still spitting lead from the primers." Where's the lead coming from?
Click to expand...

Lead styphnate in the primer mixture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_styphnate

You can eliminate that by using lead-free primers. And using lead-free primers with regular ammo will also leave the gun much cleaner because a lot of that black carbon crap is from using regular primers.
 
I have used wax bullets made with "Gulf Wax" slabs from the grocery in .38 special, .45acp.. 44 special and .32 S&W long and "short"

except for the last I just pushed the case through a slab. the shorts I only made five of and shoved scrap from the others into the casw mouths and cut away the excess.

yes drill out the primer pocket Nonte and others give a specific size but for me just finding the next size up from the one that would still go through the original flash hole seemed to work YMMV.

load the wax first and THEN prime or you may be using air pressure to back out your primer during loading. I used to use the little Lee single primer hand tool for priming or the primer arm on my reloading press. Point the round in a safe direction while priming!

I have also used the old Speer plastic training ammo which is much easier to "produce" and clean up after, buy not as accurate as the Gulf Wax

played with some black rubber bullets but not enough to state an opinion.

Obturation,

hot glue gun stuff looks interesting. how hard is cleaning your mold blocks for later use with lead?

how do you capture your .38 Special launches Glue bullets?

-kBob
 
kBob said:
I have used wax bullets made with "Gulf Wax" slabs from the grocery in .38 special, .45acp.. 44 special and .32 S&W long and "short"

except for the last I just pushed the case through a slab. the shorts I only made five of and shoved scrap from the others into the casw mouths and cut away the excess.

yes drill out the primer pocket Nonte and others give a specific size but for me just finding the next size up from the one that would still go through the original flash hole seemed to work YMMV.

load the wax first and THEN prime or you may be using air pressure to back out your primer during loading. I used to use the little Lee single primer hand tool for priming or the primer arm on my reloading press. Point the round in a safe direction while priming!

I have also used the old Speer plastic training ammo which is much easier to "produce" and clean up after, buy not as accurate as the Gulf Wax

played with some black rubber bullets but not enough to state an opinion.

Obturation,

hot glue gun stuff looks interesting. how hard is cleaning your mold blocks for later use with lead?

how do you capture your .38 Special launches Glue bullets?

-kBob
Click to expand...
I put cooking spray on the mold when I start or if things get a little sticky :rofl:. Then I just hit them with brake clean when I'm done. I use the most rigid glue gun sticks I can get, bend them in the package at the store - You don't want the real rubbery ones, I like gorilla glue sticks. You can shoot into a box full of rags to capture. I have killed squirrels with glue bullets, it will penetrate one side and will knock them out of the tree generally.
 
They used to manufacture plastic cases and bullets for this purpose. I'd thought about making g wax bullets years ago, but never did.
 
@Obturation
I know you are using a factory made and high quality mould to produce your glue bullets. That’s awesome and probably not cost prohibitive, and sensible. My situation is a bit more funky as I need bullets for 38sw which are slightly larger and mounds aren’t nearly as easily found. I also want to do something with 32 caliber which again is not super common to find a mould.

My thought is that if I can make a single wooden or plastic bullet on a lathe (leaving a plug which will make a spree hole) using a dowel, and then subsequently use that to make a mould from silicone, then would I, in your opinion, have a snowballs chance of reproducing bullets which are useable?
 
Lead styphnate is where we as shooters get lead poisoning from, not melting or casting as many seem to think. Primers. Definitely do not shoot in your living space. Same reason you don't dry tumble in or near your living space.
Bad news, for real.
 
WestKentucky said:
@Obturation
I know you are using a factory made and high quality mould to produce your glue bullets. That’s awesome and probably not cost prohibitive, and sensible. My situation is a bit more funky as I need bullets for 38sw which are slightly larger and mounds aren’t nearly as easily found. I also want to do something with 32 caliber which again is not super common to find a mould.

My thought is that if I can make a single wooden or plastic bullet on a lathe (leaving a plug which will make a spree hole) using a dowel, and then subsequently use that to make a mould from silicone, then would I, in your opinion, have a snowballs chance of reproducing bullets which are useable?
Click to expand...
I'm sure a home made custom mould would work fine. It's not really sticky stuff. I'm by no stretch of anyone's imagination an experienced caster, others here may have a recommendation on mould. I have seen guys use some foil tape on the inside of a mould that slightly too small to increase the dropped diameter a few thousandth . that may work?
 
Tape decreases the size: used to make slightly (thickness of the tape X 2) smaller "bullet".
 
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