Has anybody tried making these? You cut the top off a shotshell and pour melted wax in with the bbs so it holds all of them together to make a slug. Some cool videos on YouTube. Evidently it doesn't make your barrel dirty or corroded!? Anyway, I may try it out and see how they shoot. Said you could use melted crayons.........
Cool idea. Would it be legal to use for hunting or home defense? For that matter, is it any good for those uses? I'm just wondering out loud.
^^^I personally wouldn't use any modified ammo for self defense. Probably get sued if I had to shoot at somebody. The guy on YouTube said he was going to try taking a deer with them. In the video, these things went right through 1/8" steel no problem. I'm pretty impressed, especially since slugs'll run ya up to a buck apiece. Might just make a few to blow up some milk jugs.......
I made wax bullets for my .32 and .38. I had an big old candle I melted down in a baking dish then pushed the casings into the wax. I only used the primers for propellant. Cowboy shooting uses wax bullets.
Today's sorta a gloomy day. I might try and make a few. Next time I'll be able to go shoot is on Wednesday so hopefully I'll have made some by then.
Alright, I made three of them. I used some old tea light and some crayons. I emptied the shells by cutting the top off Then I poured the bbs into a foil-wrapped metal dish along with the chopped up wax. Then I put it on the barbecue! I didn't want to do it inside because I have an electric stove which is a recipe for disaster. It took about 20 minutes for it to melt properly. If they're not melted enough, then the whole wax slug will only stick to the shot cup and the slug will slide out. About ten minutes in, the foil broke and the mixture slid into the dish-so much for trying to save myself some cleaning! Once they melted enough, I poured the wax+bbs into the shotshell with a plastic spoon. If the spoon melts, that means the wax is to hot and could melt the shot cup. Once they dried, I topped it off with a little more wax Now I just gotta shoot 'em!
LOL ^^^ If the wax stayed hot during the pouring into each shell then it probably will work out good. If the first spoonful of wax cooled before the next spoonful then the wax possibly will not meld as one piece of wax causing the wax to come apart when shot. I think you are going to have to experiment a bit to get it right. But then again it just might work good for you. Yep it will be interesting to hear the results.
You run the risk of sealing the wax to the plastic of the shell and bonding with it. I wouldn't shoot them - run the risk of too high a compression upon ignition and all the ugly things that can go wrong because of it. I'd cut the plastic off a spent shell and use it as a mold- then push out the cooled wax slug and then load it just like a normal slug but no crimp. But that's just me. Good luck!
That's what's supposed to happen. That way the wax slug stays in the shotshell. If it slides forward, and there's a gap, that's where you'll get problems. That's also why you have to get the wax hot enough, or else it will dry before it can flow through the slits in the shot cup and stick to the hull. This is all new to me and I'm just going off of what the videos said
***Update*** Alright, I shot them today. They functioned flawlessly. I was a little nervous with the first one but no problems. I shot them out of my Stevens 320. It's a pretty inexpensive shotgun so I wouldn't be too too disappointed if it was damaged. After removing the barrel and examining the barrel to make sure everything was in order, I shot the rest. I shot a milk jug from 20 feet and man that thing exploded! It's interesting because the slug breaks apart after impact so you see a big hole in one side and bb holes on the pieces of the other side. My verdict: They were a lot of work to make, but if you wanted to do a batch of 20 or so to plink with, I'd say go for it! Gunslinger669: I did trim the wax around the edge on the top of the shell until I could see the lip of the shot cup to avoid creating a seal that could build up excessive pressure. I appreciate your concern.
Thanks, sound cool, I may try some myself. I wonder what would happen at longer distances..20 yrds, 30 yrds 50 yrds . Jim