Wax Bullets

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TooTaxed

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I ran across an old box of Gulfwax parafin blocks in one of my Aunt's cupboard yesterday. It reminded me of when I used to decap .38-Spl cases, push them through a 1/2" thick parafin block, then prime and shoot them for indoor practice in my revolver. I got some good practice that way with little noise.:)

I'm going to check on the local stores and see if they still carry the blocks in their canning supplies...:D
 
They do, I just bought a box yesterday for the same purpose. :D

ETA it was Kroger locally if it matters, but the other grocery stores are hit and miss. Wally-Mart here doesn't have any that I can find.
 
I don't think you could get enough pressure for that, but glue bullets do work from what I have read over at castbullets. The wax might, but I really don't know. :confused:
 
Why not use the Rubber Bullets...they work well over a 6-10ft. distance and you can use them over and over if shot into cardboard boxes lined with paper...Just a thought...Doc:D
 
Wax bullets are primer powered and are used mostly for quick draw games. They really aren't much use for practicing anything else. Parafin blocks are definitely available though. It has some nasty habits though.
 
As wax bullets are very light and wouldn't allow enough pressure to fire form cases if powder was used. As described above, there is only the pressure supplied by the primer.
 
If using wax bullets, then dedicate some cases for that purpose and drill out the flash holes with an 1/8" drill. If you don't, the primers will back out and lock up the cylinder in most revolvers.

We used to use wax bullets for the Train Fire System, and found the drilling necessary with S&W Model 19's.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Why not use the Rubber Bullets...they work well over a 6-10ft. distance and you can use them over and over if shot into cardboard boxes lined with paper...Just a thought...Doc
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Why not use hot glue bullets? They are reusable too and probably cheaper. If you don't have access to a mould disregard my last.:neener:
 
RELOADER FRED, now that you mention it I remember that I did enlarge the holes on cases dedicated to the wax bullets. I loaded mostly .45 Auto.

The parafin bullets are fast and easy to make...just force the case through a block of solid parafin. Melt the fired slugs and pour another block.

How do you get the rubber bullets? I haven't noticed any for sale for many years...
 
X-Ring rubber bullets are the standard these days. Reasonably accurate out to 15 feet or so, and reusable if you fire them into a soft backstop. Meant to be loaded into standard brass cases with drilled flash holes. Bounce one off your thigh while practicing quickdraw and you'll holler.

Speer still offers plastic bullets designed to be used with their plastic cases. I haven't had much success with these. The bullets really need to be coddled or they deform or break, and the cases themselves don't hold up well at all.

I prefer pre-made wax bullets over everything else. Slightly more expensive than making your own from paraffin blocks, but if you are going through them in any real number -- and consider your time to be worth anything at all -- factory wax makes a lot of sense. I've had best luck with C&R. They also offer shells drilled for shotgun primers. Just drop in a primer with finger pressure, fire, and the primers fall back out. Much more convenient than any other way, but as loud as a .22 LR.

Have fun!
 
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There's an intermediate weight between wax and rubber bullets that might be cheaper than both and a lot more fun. Get some glue gun sticks and cut them into equal lengths. They work great in .38 and 9mm for cabin fever symptoms.
 
and standard gluesticks also perfectly fit 45 colt...i guess acp also. always get stuck in my barrel so i guess next time i get a split case ill trimm then drill that out for glue/wax only!
 
On rubber bullets, there also used to be this guy on E-bay that sold sets of hypedermic syringe plunger thingies for use as rubber bullets, since two sizes just happened to be perfect for 9mm and .40. The .40 ones were just completely flat on both sides, but they were just as accurate as the airgun pellet-shaped .357 X-rings, in my experience. I could easily get 3/4" groups at 5 yards. They seemed to hold up a lot better in the long run than the X-rings, but that may have been due to firing them from a Glock and a Kahr, both with polygonal rifling, vs. a revolver with a constriction, then a forcing cone, then sharp-edged conventional rifling.

Anyway, those are probably no longer sold on E-bay, but it probably wouldn't be that hard to try and find a place that sells syringe things.
 
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