Wax or Plastic bullets for practice

[ThrottleJockey]

I keep reading about people making wax or plastic bullets for indoor practice. Anyone got a good "recipe" they'd like to share?

 

[SamG.]

That sounds really dumb. Is this for a range where people shoot real bullets (indoor) or the basement?

 

[catspa]

Yup. (.38 spl in a revolver) Melt about 25% beeswax and 75% paraffin in a shallow pan so it's about 1/2" deep. When it cools enough to no longer be clear, stand your deprimed cases in there mouth down and let it harden. Break them out, wipe off the outsides, and prime with a magnum pistol primer. Place in cylinder, fire at suitable backstop. Repeat until exhausted.

Bonus ideas

1) You might find that the fired primers are backing out and scraping on the recoil shield. The way to fix that is to drill out the flash hole with a 3/32 or even 1/8 drill bit in your cordless drill. But if you do this, you need some way to mark that case for wax loads only. I trim my wax load cases back to about 7/8" so I can easily see that they're shorter. If you reload .38 S&W also, you need a different method.

2) You might find that the wax pellets are flying into bits before they hit the target, or that the primer just blows a hole in the wax "bullet". The way to fix this is to change your mix a little. Melt the paraffin, then add some strips of yogurt lid or other meltable plastic. I've never gotten the plastic content above about 40%, but that's plenty to hold them together. Make sure it's mixed up good. Also, this is your chance to color the bullets if you want. I made some up for my ex-wife to shoot that were pink - she thought that was the cutest thing. Depending on your backstop, some bullets will be too deformed to reload, but some you can just stuff in another deprimed case.

3) My wax loads seem more accurate when I tamp them down against the primer with a dowel. I have no idea why.

Parker

ETA: Sam, if it sounds dumb to you, don't do it.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I used to use them when I shot IPSC.

I'd load my 1911 with a single 10mm case with a wax bullet to practice first shot from a draw in the garage.

catspa's recipe is pretty close to what I did.

Worked fine, just be sure to clean the barrel, it can leave a mess.

 

[stonecoldy]

I purchased some "X-ring" rubber bullets (manufactured by Meister Bullets, bought from Midway USA. Loaded into .38 Special cases.
Bought a 3" S&W Model 60 (.357 Mag)for my daughter, was nice quiet practice in the garage. Did not use inside the house for fear of lead residue from the primers spreading through via the furnace blower.
They are PRIMER powered only, no powder involved.
Drilled the primer flasholes out with a 1/8" drill bit after de-priming, and used a large red Sharpie marker to color the entire case head with, although cutting the case length back sounds even better.
After priming you push the bullets into the case with your fingers, easily.
For a backstop I used a 2'X2' cardboard box for the targets, with a towel hung on a dowel in the center. No penetration past the towel. We shot at 22 feet.
When done just opened up the garage door to air out. The primer firing didn't alarm my neighbors (it was cold out, in the evening).
Offered in boxes of 50 bullets per pack.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

So, I take it this is only going to work for a revolver, and not an auto?

 

[TexasRifleman]

So, I take it this is only going to work for a revolver, and not an auto?

Well, you have to cycle it by hand and you'll likely have feeding problems.

I did it in a 1911.

 

[RyanM]

I've used X-rings in .357 mag and hypodermic needle rubber plungers (say that 5 times fast!) in .40 S&W. The X-Rings' longevity doesn't seem too great, as they'd start to look worn-out from the 3rd firing on. The hypo plungers have stayed looking the same (just dirty) for 10 or more firings. But my .357 had deep conventional rifling and my .40s have polygonal, so that may have been a factor.

I used CCI primers to keep the noise and velocity as low as possible. Also used the hanging towel trick, makes a great backstop. You do still have to be careful, as even with CCI small pistol primers, they'll punch through about 1/4" of wood. Don't ask how I know that...