wax bullets...for those who do not know....

[quiknot]

a great way to practice and cheap...

drill out the primer of one of your brass cartridges....countersink it to hold a shotgun primer...about 5/32" drill bit

buy some parrifin from your local grocery store...

use a double boiler ( i used a wire cooling rack and round cake tray over a pan of boiling water) to melt one or two slabs of wax...you want about 1/2" thick

once melted and cooled you can us your cartridge(s) to cut the wax bullet out....can use the wax in the pan at the range or garage, if local ordinances allow it...as i cut them out as needed...

once you have the wax bullet in the cartridge, add the shotgun primer and blast away...

it works great for "fast draw" and are accurate to about 15 feet...but i use it more for fast drawing as not to shot my foot off...

ever heard of this cheap ammo?

 

[Standing Wolf]

I've not only heard of it, but tried it. I just used regular pistol primers and cartridges with wax plugs. They worked fine.

 

[unspellable]

wax bullets

I've been doing that for years except that I drill out the flash hole and then use a regular magnum pistol primer rather than a shotgun primer.

In the case of 45 Colt you can buy the cases with oversized flash holes from Starline. (You use the over sized flash hole for blanks as well, Starline sells them as blank cases.) The rub is you have to buy 1000 at a time. If four or five guys went together it would be a good deal.

You can set a corrugated board box on end with a terry cloth towel hanging over the opening as a backstop. If the bottom of the towel is loose it swings back, slows the bullet, and drops it in the box. Nice and neat. If I have plastic bullets it doesn't deform them and they are reusable.

 

[PO2Hammer]

The Speer practice catridges for revolvers work well too. X-Ring rubber bullets are supposed to be more accurate.
IIRC, Handloader mag has a good article on wax bullets this month. It's a good magazine even if you don't handload.

 

[quiknot]

do not add powder...

forgot to mention...DO NOT ADD POWDER.......DO NOT ADD POWDER

 

[stevekl]

Why didn't I think of this?

So how hard is it to clean the wax out of the barrel?

EDIT: Also, why does it have to be 209 primers? Are regular primers not strong enough to blow out the wax?

 

[isp2605]

Great cheap practice.
Regular primers will work fine too. We've been doing this since at least the mid-50s and Dad was doing it before that. We had a 25' range set up in the basement where we would shoot all winter. The only alterations we made was drilling out the flash hole but we still used pistol primers. I don't know if it was really necessary to drill out the flash holes but it was something Dad had done so when I started shooting wax I did it too. One word of caution tho if you drill out the flash hole. Don't use that brass for loading regular rds. Keep your brass separate.
All that shooting indoors probably was not environmentally friendly but back then who knew and most didn't care.
Cleaning the wax out of the barrel isn't a problem. Sure a lot easier cleaning wax than it is removing lead from hot .357 loads.

 

[oops!]

DON'T SHOOT AT ANYONE YOU LIKE EITHER!!!!!

In Pikeville, Ky. we have a little soiree called "HILLBILLY DAYS" each year. Let's just say a practice session for a Hatfield / McCoy shootout was very painful for a certain participant.

 

[miko]

Apparently, ait is necessary to drill out the flashhole to prevent a chance of the primer setback.

miko

 

[skyder]

Just a couple of points more. I have been making wax bullets for some time now.
In order to keep the cases with drilled-out primer holes from getting back into the regular reloading cycle (and being very dangerous), I cut a v=shaped notch across the mouth of the case with a three-cornered file. This also helps when I fill the cases with wax to make bullets. I stand as many cases as I want on their open ends in a pan with some wax chunks and melt over hot water. This fills all the cases through the notches to the same depth (uniform bullet size) and when they are cooled, just a twist cuts them loose and lets me pull them out to prime.
Don't try to put wax bullets in the cases after you prime the cases. Compressing the air in the case will have the effect of moving the bullet out somewhat past the end of the case.
I also use only nickel plate .38s for wax bullets, just another way to make sure the cases are not mixed in with the regulars.
I agree with the cloth hanging backstop idea. Works well. Mice probably would too.