Hot glue bullets for a .500

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filament

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I was telling my buddy the other day about people using hot glue to make bullets for their guns. When I told him that, a little light bulb lit up above his head and he was thinking about doing it for his S&W 500.

So my question is, will the primers have enough oomph to push out a hot glue bullet in that caliber?

Anything to look for or keep in mind if it will work?
 
Hot glue bullets are supposedly an easy way to be able to shoot in the back yard with a minimal back stop and very little report.

No other purpose other than to get a little bit of trigger time in between trips to the range.
 
I have loaded some in 38, 357, and 45ACP with fairly good results. Lots of fun and don't forget to clean the barrel real good after. Cast bullets site has lots of info if you wanna search it out.
 
I have used the speer practice ammo. It works ok and is reusable, set up a cardboard box with an extra thick back wall and the bullets will be in the bottom of the box when done.

PlasticTrainingBullets.jpg
 
I don't think they make Speer plastic ammo for the .500.

Wax is the 'old school' method. Enlarge some flash holes on spent brass that will rechamber(for a better seal), prime and push them into a sheet of warm parafin.

How do you 'make' your glue bullets?

As far as the primer goes, it should work just fine with the .500. velocity will probably be lower than a smaller bore using the same primer, but there should be plenty of oomph.
 
So are these passably accurate? Because I'd think they'd be a non-lethal way to give pests reason to reconsider picking at your garbage and bird feeders.
 
Welcome to The High Road.
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Thanks.

How do you 'make' your glue bullets?
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I have not made any before, but from what I have read online all you have to do is:

Lube a bullet mold with some vegetable oil.

Fill the mold with hot glue.

Put mold in freezer and let harden.

Take the still cold glue bullet out and load it into a primed case with an enlarged flash hole.

My main concern with making them for the .500 is if they would have enough velocity to be minute of soda can accurate out to 15-20 feet.
 
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"Enlarge the flash hole" should have been used, you obviously wouldn’t want to drill the same size as the OD of the primer.
 
My main concern with making them for the .500 is if they would have enough velocity to be minute of soda can accurate out to 15-20 feet
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If you miss, you will scare the crap out of them. :neener:
I made some for a 6" GP-100 357 and they were accurate out to the 12' I tried them. Make sure the barrel is cleaned out real good after shooting lead before you try the glue. Trust me. :banghead:
 
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I have a friend that used to do Cowboy Action Shooting in a Western show YEARS ago. He would fire red wax bullets out of his revolvers. He machines the brass to accept shotgun primers for a little extra "oompf" with the wax. He said for practice, he would run a rope between two trees, lay heavy moving blankets over the rope, and tape cardboard to the blankets as a backstop. The wax bullets would splat on the cardboard.
 
Doesn't some of the hot glue melt and make a mess in the barrel?
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I haven't had that problem. I can reuse the bullets several times, too. I get the best results when clean the barrel first, and then lube it. Soda cans at 5-10 paces is perfectly reasonable.
 
So are these passably accurate? Because I'd think they'd be a non-lethal way to give pests reason to reconsider picking at your garbage and bird feeders.
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I can print sub-1" groups regularly at about 5 yards, with rubber bullets. Hot glue ones, if they're made consistently, should be just as good. Wish I could shoot live ammo that well.

I would have my doubts about reduced lethality, though! Rubber bullets in .40 will shoot through 1/4" wood paneling. Nice, clean, round hole, too. It'd probably kill a squirrel outright, and break ribs in something racoon sized.

What you could do is ball up some kleenex or toilet paper, sized so that it's a tight fit in the case, ram that to the bottom, fill it with slightly broken up pieces of rice, or maybe rock salt, and then top with a cardboard wad. That shouldn't do more than sting a bit.

Then again, salt might kill some plants, and they'd probably come back to eat rice... well, I'm sure you can use your imagination to come up with some kind of non-lethal squirrel-shot.
 
don't know about hot glue. but i had a friend that would dip his 44mag brass in wax to make a wax bullet. it worked fine but the barrel needed some elbow greas after shooting them
 
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