Hmm. I tried it years ago, and the primers did set back, tying up the cylinder. I didn’t think to drill out the flash holes.
Anyway, the wax bullets (I was using straight paraffin wax) from a 38 snubbie would punch through one layer of corrugated cardboard, and not much else, meaning they were pretty “safe” for indoor shooting. Still loud though. The lead fumes from the primer are something else to consider. Good ventilation takes care of it.
Some in the black powder crowd were making glue bullets by squirting hot glue into a bullet mold. Seems a lot more work for approximately the same thing.
Then there are the Speer re-usable “rubber” bullets designed to be powered only by the primer. Maybe they still make them.
I remember my oldest brother making and shooting these in his back yard in the mid fifties. The gun was a Colt Bisley model .38-40 that our great-uncle had carried as a deputy sheriff about the turn of the century. Don’t know if he used any special blend of waxes, but I do know it was fun to shoot. My nephew has the gun now, and I just sent him a link to this article. Thanks for a good memory, Uncle.
A friend of mine did this with his 45ACP back in the 90’s and shot his young cousin in the back (who was wearing an army jacket). Was it irresponsible? Probably. Was it hilarious? You betcha!
January 30th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Hmm. I tried it years ago, and the primers did set back, tying up the cylinder. I didn’t think to drill out the flash holes.
Anyway, the wax bullets (I was using straight paraffin wax) from a 38 snubbie would punch through one layer of corrugated cardboard, and not much else, meaning they were pretty “safe” for indoor shooting. Still loud though. The lead fumes from the primer are something else to consider. Good ventilation takes care of it.
Some in the black powder crowd were making glue bullets by squirting hot glue into a bullet mold. Seems a lot more work for approximately the same thing.
Then there are the Speer re-usable “rubber” bullets designed to be powered only by the primer. Maybe they still make them.
January 30th, 2014 at 2:28 pm
I remember my oldest brother making and shooting these in his back yard in the mid fifties. The gun was a Colt Bisley model .38-40 that our great-uncle had carried as a deputy sheriff about the turn of the century. Don’t know if he used any special blend of waxes, but I do know it was fun to shoot. My nephew has the gun now, and I just sent him a link to this article. Thanks for a good memory, Uncle.
January 30th, 2014 at 2:42 pm
A friend of mine did this with his 45ACP back in the 90’s and shot his young cousin in the back (who was wearing an army jacket). Was it irresponsible? Probably. Was it hilarious? You betcha!
January 30th, 2014 at 3:59 pm
When I was a teen I did this with my .303 Brit. A wax bullet would encourage an errant chicken quite well from ten yards.
MC
January 30th, 2014 at 9:30 pm
Kind of pricey but there is a press available to load 50 wax bullets at a time:
youtube vid
web site
January 30th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Before Simunition and Airsoft, a lot of law enforcement force on force was with revolvers using wax bullets.