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Old February 16, 2012, 05:23 PM   #1
WookieRookie
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"Fun" loads (wax, candy, etc.)

Good afternoon guys. Want to run a question by ya'll and see if anyone has any experience in this. I visited with some friends recently who are cowboy action shooters. They had a course set up, and one station was a quickdraw test. The target was roughly 20 feet away, and Colt single action Army revolvers were being used. The rounds were loaded with sprinkles. Yes, candy sprinkles. The object was to draw, cock, and fire at the target, popping a balloon. against time. I guess the sprinkles kept the task safer, avoiding any accidental discharges of live ammo. My question is this; does anyone have any experience loading strange projectiles? I've heard of wax over a primer and no powder, blanks, stuff like that. But candy sprinkles blew me away. Everything seemed to function properly, but it seems to me that candy would make a sticky mess before too long.
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Old February 16, 2012, 05:51 PM   #2
SL1
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"Messy"

Wax makes a sticky mess in short order, too.

I have shot wax out of a .357 Magnum revolver with a 6" barrel. All I needed to do was drill-out some case flash holes to a larger diameter, oil the insides of the cases, melt some wax in a pie tin, let it cool until it is about to harden and then stand the cases on their mouths in the pie tin until the wax hardened. Then I primed the cases.

But, shooting them soon makes a mess out of the barrel and cylinder, so you have to clean it out after a few cylinders full. Mineral spirits will do the trick.

These loads are actually pretty fast. You could definitely put an eye out or break a glass window with them.

I eventually bought some rubber bullets to do the same thing without the mess. But, by then I got worried about how much lead dust from the primer residues was getting on everything in my basement, so I quit.

Now that there are lead-free primers, I might try that again with the rubber bullets. But, I am through with wax - - too messy.

If you do try it, you do need to enlarge the flash holes or the primers will back-out enough to tie-up your cylinder. Just make sure that you leave enough bottom on the hole to hold the primer anvil. And, BE SURE TO NOT USE THE MODIFIED CASES WITH REGULAR LOADS WITH GUN POWDER IN THEM.

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Old February 16, 2012, 06:34 PM   #3
serf 'rett
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Quote:
does anyone have any experience loading strange projectiles?
Not since we used uncooked rice in our pellet guns.

Really does a number on butterflys.
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Old February 16, 2012, 06:49 PM   #4
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ear plugs with just a primmer work pretty good
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Old February 16, 2012, 06:53 PM   #5
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I've always wondered if a pinch of coffee in the case would make my outings smell better.
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Old February 16, 2012, 07:32 PM   #6
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Glue stick loads are popular in .45. Ammosmith has a how-to video on that.

I always thought it might be messy to clean out.
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Old February 17, 2012, 09:24 AM   #7
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My 'Fun' load

A few years ago one of my neighbors (lives about 2 miles west) got 2 chocolate labs. Well these labs got to coming over and digging about. Dumped chicken feed and some grain. Probably chasing the cats.
I tried to run them off for weeks. Gave up.
I loaded an 1860 Remington BP pistol, used 'Play-Doh'. After it started getting hard, it wouldn't do much more than dent corrugated box paper, when still soft/wet, it just came apart.
I shot both of those labs one morning. Scared them but didn't hurt them any. Even a 'BB' gun could have broke skin up close. Didn't want to hurt them any. They never got very close to the house or out buildings after that. There is only one of those dogs as of late. I liked to watch them play in the open field cross the road.

Well, that's my 'Fun' load.

Be safe,

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Old February 17, 2012, 11:35 AM   #8
dajowi
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Instead of wax try soap - less messy.

When we were kids we yanked out the bullets and loaded up .22 LR cases (minus the powder) with bar soap. You could use some scented soap and create your own fragrances such as - lead styphnate and honeysuckle

This ammo didn't work in semiautos but OK in revolvers.
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Old February 17, 2012, 11:52 AM   #9
weeniewawa
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here are some videos of wax slugs in slow motion

he has done more with other items in shot gun shells too

http://youtu.be/OOxw1BxY4wY
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Old February 17, 2012, 11:58 AM   #10
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One year for the 4'th of July a reloader friend of mine made an assortment of joke shotgun shells. It's the reason I now know that gummy bears are ballistically superior to sweet tarts.
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Old February 17, 2012, 12:49 PM   #11
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^^^ This is amazing.

Im going to make candied projectiles one of these days.
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Old February 17, 2012, 01:26 PM   #12
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anyone remember the make-up shell from the Simpsons?

someone has to shoot a mannequin in the face with a 12ga shell loaded up with maskera, blush and lipstick. Please please please do it and post pictures!

Oh, and for anyone who only uses a small portion of their brain- shooting a living thing with that would either maim or blind them, if not kill them.
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Old February 17, 2012, 01:48 PM   #13
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The cowboy shooters also use black powder blanks to break balloons. I wanted to do the same thing for some fun shooting in my backyard, but I don't like cleaning up after black powder. So my solution was to use a charge of smokeless powder, and fill the rest of the case up with uncooked grits. Crimp a cardoard wad over the top and it works great. It's as loud as a regular round, but has almost no recoil, so the kids could enjoy shooting it. It will shred a cardboard box at contact distance, but will not even pop a balloon past about 20 feet.

Other than that I tried some wooden wadcutters out of a 357. They weighed about 10 grains or so, and I was getting almost 2000 FPS out of them. I have no idea what they could be used for, it was just a "will this work?" sort of deal.
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