Shooting balloons using 45Colt brass

Hhmmm,
Maybe something in the Judge with Salt??
Or a super squirt gun of some type with bug spray.

But those bees are pretty tough, might need to go to the 12 guage with 3" shells

Kosher salt. It’s the 00Buck shot of Bee Loads.

I just tried this. 45C. Large pistol primer a bit of toilet paper as a wad over the flash hole, 1CC of grits and another bit of toilet paper as an over shot wad. Pressed down lightly with a dowel.
Shot from about 6 feet away.

Are they through the paper?

Looks like a good pattern.

Being allergic as I am, I would need total devastation on any targeted Apids.
Vespids, too, for that matter...

(Bees and Wasps/Hornets)


Do you have any table salt, @whughett?
For a denser shot, like using tungsten shot, better penetration.

I’m sorry about your porch, but envy you just a little for the fun you are about to have @grandpawj ...

Didn’t hole the target but that’s a pretty stiff target. This is on porch so noise was a concern other wise I’d try a few kernels of TrailBoss under the toilet paper. I shot this with a Ruger Old Army with a conversion cylinder. Rice might work even better.
I don’t want salt in the bore then I’d have to wash the barrel out. I wouldn’t even consider an abrasive like sand.
Something is nagging me in the back of my mind of a fellow shooting carpenter bees on his porch, you tube video maybe I just can’t bring it to mind.

Salt draw moisture so if you miss cleaning any of it out of your barrel it will rust in no time at all.
Rice ought to work, it hurts bad enough when you get hit in the face with it at a wedding.

Evil thought,
Power Pistol or H110, no bullet, over powder wad, burn them out of the sky with muzzle blast

grandpawj said:

They will fly within inches of your face.

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Never mind! I’m out!

One Fruit Bee to the side of the nostril had me look like Phantom of the Opera.
A sting Carpenter size to the face?
Nope!

I’m a Dow baby, “Better living through Chemicals”.
Poison it is! Muhahahahahaa!

I do this every year, great fun on the carpenter bees and hornets. I'm recently experimenting with walnut tumbling media ilo rice for a denser pattern.

Recipe is here: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/loading-for-carpenter-bee.834931/

Demi-human said:

A sting Carpenter size to the face?
Nope!

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They don't sting, only bite if you grab them.

There you go grandpaj Bad medicine for carpenter bees and any other flying pest I’d wager.

OP get online and buy yourself a full auto airsoft gun. Get some plastic bb's for it preferably white so you can see them in flight. Shoot at the bees in flight then run the stream of bb's into them. One hit and they go down and don't get back up. FAR more effective than anything me and my dad has ever tried for them. Killed 56 in one hour a few weeks ago.

For many years I've been shooting them around my barn and house with a 38 spl. loaded with 1.5 grs of Bullseye/card board wad/ fill case with #9 or #12 shot/card borad wad tamped down and glued in place. I've shoot 100's of these. And they are safe to shoot against the tin roof or wood sides of my tractor shed.

I swat them with a squash racket. It's fun and great exercise. Never been stung as they have no stingers.

A couple years ago, I fiddled with 45 Colt cases loaded with walnut polishing media. I shot them from a Bond Arms Snake Slayer (4" barrel derringer). Moderately successful but the poor trigger on the Bond Arms made accurate shooting difficult.

I have some brass .410 shot shell hulls and have been thinking of trying them. The Bond Arms derringer handles .410 shells as well. Bigger payload may yield better results. I have no idea on what powder load for that though.

I used to spray for the bugs, a coating of carpenter bee insecticide on the likely places bees burrow seem to minimize damage but I did not like getting covered with the overspray.

I've found traps have been about as affective as spraying but it does not eliminate the burrowing entirely. I still watch for new holes and blast them with insecticide.

It would be more fun to to shoot them.

Forget salt. Soak the buggers (pun) in DDT!

I used to have them years ago, buzzing around boring holes in the facia. Kinetic attacks were found to be fruitless, and resorted to chemical warfare. YMMV, and I certainly can't recommend using a product off label....however, allegedly, CRC Brakeclean will knock them right out of the air mid flight.
Also, can be used as an effective degreaser from what I understand. I know it degreases the snot out of wasp nests

bersaguy said:

I used to have them years ago, buzzing around boring holes in the facia. Kinetic attacks were found to be fruitless, and resorted to chemical warfare. YMMV, and I certainly can't recommend using a product off label....however, allegedly, CRC Brakeclean will knock them right out of the air mid flight.View attachment 907626
Also, can be used as an effective degreaser from what I understand. I know it degreases the snot out of wasp nests

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At work we use brake cleaner to kill the red wasps that always get inside the plant.

grandpawj said:

I thought about salt and also coarse sand but wondered if it might damage the barrel of my handgun.

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Salt & sand are not as hard as steel.
They won't damage your barrel.

whughett said:

Didn’t hole the target but that’s a pretty stiff target. This is on porch so noise was a concern other wise I’d try a few kernels of TrailBoss under the toilet paper. I shot this with a Ruger Old Army with a conversion cylinder. Rice might work even better.
I don’t want salt in the bore then I’d have to wash the barrel out. I wouldn’t even consider an abrasive like sand.
Something is nagging me in the back of my mind of a fellow shooting carpenter bees on his porch, you tube video maybe I just can’t bring it to mind.

Click to expand...

22 plinkster did it iirc with .22 snake shot.

Cream of wheat? I use it to fire form cases, dont know if a primer will be enough umpf. Are they all around the house or in a specific area? I use a shop vac with a long extension on wasp and hornet nests

I wonder if rice or cream of wheat would draw ants and think the walnut media idea sounds better.

Master Blaster said:

I swat them with a squash racket. It's fun and great exercise. Never been stung as they have no stingers.

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The males (white spot on head don't have stingers) the females do.I'm carful catching them haven't been stung yet but I know people that have.Tennis racket works.22 shot will mess up the soffit and trim on a building if your close.

Gumby0961 said:

Cream of wheat? I use it to fire form cases, dont know if a primer will be enough umpf. Are they all around the house or in a specific area? I use a shop vac with a long extension on wasp and hornet nests

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You must not have them where you live you would have to be really fast to catch them with a shop vac.The hotter it is the faster they are