Wax shotgun slugs

[Delmar]

its made of thin steel. it shot one handed within 5 yards with a 18 inch barrel i would have shot from farther away but I didnt have a buttstock on my 12 gauge.

So do you have any conclusions to share.

 

[badmac183]

i made 2 shells.
the one raddled when shook.
I shot the one that didn't rattle at the steel box, you saw what it did
I shot the one that rattled at a block of wood
the block had pellet wholes from where it broke apart
so you should always shake test shells
any other questions you have feel free to ask.

 

[wrigleycub]

Wow, i never would have expected power like that! Holly Moley!

 

[Iroquois]

FYI have shot wax bullets in a revolver... terrible fouling and a pain to clean.
The brits put aluminum nose behind the jacket on old .303 to add long range accuracy.
Modifying shot shells without reducing powder charges could blow you up...

 

[451_Detonics]

Did you see the video of them punching through steel at 100 yards?

17 gauge steel is .0625 inches thick and it look like steel for shelving or for the outer skin on an appliance...which means it is probably extremely mild steel...you could probably punch a hole in it with a tactical pen. Blowing up water jugs is meaningless as well. Shoot a block of ballistics gel with 2 layers of heavy denim and see how far it penetrates, that would be proof if the idea works or not.

Many of these "old forgotten pieces of gun lore" are forgotten for a simple reason...they really don't work that well.

 

[badmac183]

FYI have shot wax bullets in a revolver... terrible fouling and a pain to clean.
The brits put aluminum nose behind the jacket on old .303 to add long range accuracy.
Modifying shot shells without reducing powder charges could blow you up...

The cup the shot sits in makes it so the wax has little or no contact with the barrel

 

[malern28us]

I have seen this a few days ago.
I guess it depends what you want to do with your ammo.
For home defense I would never use something home-made because it might not go "bang" like factory ammo will and also because if you ever shoot someone with home-made ammo it's something that could be used against you.
"Look at that freak who made his own ammo because factory stuff was not deadly enough for him".
Using something who says on the box "for law enforcement and home defense use" may be a better option and will make you look more like a "good guy" in front of a jury.

Seriously?
I would hope you are just over analyzing this because your anal.
Repeat after me. "I I was afraid for my life and my families safety."
You are pretty much covered as long as you don't shoot them in the back, they aren't outside your house drinking a beer, and there is no evidence of torture before you killed them.

 

[Titanium_Frost]

If they turn suddenly, if you are still in fear of bodily harm, if they are threatening your family or someone else, etc. These are all reasons why you can "shoot someone in the back".

There is not much that is cut and dry about justifiable homicide.

 

[Wabatuckian]

Hey Guys,

You realize that the original application was with beeswax, and was not meant to hold together, right?

It was made as first, a convenience, and second, as a type of "choke" to limit the spread, but it most definitely was not meant to stay together.

The load column was black powder on the bottom, then a card or two (or tamped hornets' nest), then the candle cartridge, then another card or two. The wax would melt on its way down the barrel, but hold just enough to get the pattern tighter.

To me, it looks like IC to modified, depending on the particular charges of shot and powder, as well as the individual smoothbore.

I'd like to see someone do this with buck and ball, and make it out of beeswax.

Paraffin is way too hard, too high of a melting point, and is petroleum based -- and petroleum will mess big time with powder, primer, and will foul terribly.

Josh

 

[stormryder]

Resurrection- How does anyone feel about using crayons? i have a bin of used/old crayons left from watching kids, plus there is a store closing where I can get cases of crayons for pennies on the dollar.

 

[Kart29]

Aren't cut shells the way to go if you want shot to hold together?

 

[Sniper 79]

Why mess around with wax mess when you can quickly and easily slice the plastic shell and send it down range? "cut shell" would be the way to go for an improvised slug

 

[stormryder]

Why mess around with wax mess when you can quickly and easily slice the plastic shell and send it down range? "cut shell" would be the way to go for an improvised slug

Will they feed into a mag fed Semi-auto reliably??

 

[Mgderf]

Completely different application, but I used "wax bullets" over 40 years ago to dispatch flys.
We used to press-form a "wax slug" into the muzzle of our pellet rifles and pick flys off of the walls.

It made a mess, but we didn't care.
Worked really well, and didn't cause damage.

 

[Sniper 79]

Will they feed into a mag fed Semi-auto reliably??

Port load yes. I wouldn't mag load it.

 

[Sniper 79]

I used to load a chunk of hot glue stick in a 45 acp and fire off the primer. Fun basement cardboard shooting.

 

[radar8756]

Back in the Pre-Internet days ... I read a article about using Wax Bullets in Revolvers for Basement Target Practice