Gluelits Anyone?

[Don2]

Have been playing around making gluelits for 38/357 revolver.
Have not tried them in my rifle yet...and may not??

Everything went together ok and they shot pretty good at about 20' or so...Across my shop.
Problem I'm having is that they keyhole, everyone did the same.
May try drilling the flash hole out and make dedicated brass for gluelits only.
Tried different lubes, no help.
Was using an old Lee 38/357 158 gn SWC mold with multi-temp glue sticks ( walmart ) Understand the high temp glue sticks work better??

Anybody tried these? How did they work for you?


Thanks
Don2

[MoJo]

Wax bullets - - - Paraffin they shoot really good. Drill out the flash hole. I have never had a keyhole with them. Bill Jordan used to shoot wax bullets in NRA demonstrations. He would start off hitting Neco Wafers, then Aspirin tablets and end with saccharin tablets. All from the hip double action.

You use the case as a cutter for the wax. Prime, press the case through the bar of wax, shoot.

[Don2]

Wax bullets - - - Paraffin they shoot really good. Drill out the flash hole. I have never had a keyhole with them. Bill Jordan used to shoot wax bullets in NRA demonstrations. He would start off hitting Neco Wafers, then Aspirin tablets and end with saccharin tablets. All from the hip double action.

You use the case as a cutter for the wax. Prime, press the case through the bar of wax, shoot.

Thanks for the info.
I have only made a few wax bullets in the past and they did seem to shoot well. I think I originally found the info from the American Rifleman web site or magazine?

I have heard so much about using the glue bullets that I just wanted to try them. So far...It's a bust unless I can get them to shoot straight. Thought of putting a small amount of weight in nose of glue bullet or casting them with the "BB" in the mold some way? Maybe that would help them shoot straighter?
Others I have read about seem to like them and only a few complain about keyhole problems. Some even claim them to be very accurate shot inside a garage during bad weather days.

I'm in the process of getting some yellow bees wax online, I can't seem to find any local..!! Guess not many here in my part of Texas are raising bees???
Might be because the amount of family farms are going down?

Again, thanks for the info.
Don

[Don2]

Was using an old Lee 38/357 158 gn SWC mold

That's perfect for wax bullets - I've used that very same style mold to "cast" wax bullets and shot through a 9mm CZ75 pistol (hand-cycled each round - fed perfectly) with no keyholing.

I used something like 3 cheap white candles with 1 fancy table candle melted together (the colored table candle helps, because the bullets cast from cheap candles alone come out all sugary/crystalline-looking). They're slow to cast because you have to wait 20-30 seconds after opening the mold - that helps the bullet to hold its shape, otherwise they can be easily bent out of shape if you try to remove them while still warm.

Well why not??
Tried assorted other items...why not wax in the bullet molds.
When I made wax loads, I did like Mojo said and just pushed the brass into the wax.

Ya know, a few months back when I was playing around making bullet lube, I made a mix of wax and other stuff that was semi-hard that may work good for wax bullets???? ( I put some of the red wax like is around cheese which is a soft wax )
its firm but malleable.

Thanks for the tips.
Don

[Don2]

Update:

After I drilled out the flash hole to 1/8" and slightly lubed the Gluelit with a touch of Imperial Sizing lube or a few other lubes...No more keyholes..!!
Plus with the larger flash hole I noticed more power and no primer back-out. ( primer was backing out just a little....it was not so far out to cause an issue with the cylinder rotating )

Also tried using Gulf wax and a medium hard blend of wax I made months back....( a little softer than the Paraffin Gulf wax )
Both worked great..but the blended wax sounded like it hit harder??? ( Maybe it flattened out some on impact? )
I was shooting across my shop into a cardboard box with a towel inside to catch wax and gluelits .

Thats it for now.
Guess I'll get back to playing around.
This is kinda fun.....

Don2

[Don2]

I found my favorite wax for shooting indoors....
Its the wax mix I made a while back as I noted above.....It's kinda sticky and "Splats " out when it hits something and sticks to it..!!
They go through one side of a cardboard box and stick to the other side.
Shot them all the way across my shop ( About 30 feet ) and they stuck to the wall about where I was aiming

Now I've got to figure out what I was experimenting with to make more "Stickey Wax " ...!!!
Think it was paraffin wax, some toilet bowl wax, and some Johnson's paste wax with a little white molly grease????
Something like that????

The one time I did not keep notes is the time I wish I did.....What a bummer

I did see some like them online, might get some of these...it may be cheaper??
http://www.gunfighter.com/waxbullets/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Don2

[Don2]

I think I have too much time on my hands..!!!!

My latest foray into reloading projects was very cool....
I tried what AndyC said about pouring wax into my mold instead of glue sticks.
Well I liked it, then I mixed some wax of other types to get something that would be a little different than just paraffin wax.
Mixed paraffin wax, glue sticks, and toilet bowl sealing wax. ( This time I wrote the recipe down )
Got a mix that was tough but was a little softer and held together after being shot into a cardboard box and could be used over and over many times.

OK..The mixed wax in the bullet molds worked out great, but I really wanted it to have a little more power..!!
This is where it gets strange...Like Tim Taylor on the old TV show " Home Improvements " ( MORE POWER )

I drilled out some 357 brass to accept 209 shotshell primers, loaded them up with my More Power wax bullets and WoW, WoW,Wow...These things sing right through a cardboard box twice as good as the standard SPP did..!!

I'm just having way too much fun

ONLY problem is that the 209 primers smell sooooo bad in my shop even with the doors and windows open.
They make way more smoke than the SPP's do.

So, I took it outside and had a ball.

HAve fun
Don2

[Don2]

ANOTHER BRIGHT IDEA:

Well still messing around with wax bullets with the 209 primer in the 357 brass.
I had another bright idea.
Before pouring the wax mix into the SWC mold, I filled the tip of the bullet cavity with #9 shot, then poured hot wax mix on top. Came out very nice at 28gns vs 13 gns plain wax mix. This gives them a little more weight to punch through box's......Plus keeps them from keyholing which was not happening much when using bullet lube and 209 primers.
The extra weight kinda makes the a little more "snappier" to shoot.
Plus the #9 shot is all inside the SWC tip and does not come in contact with the barrel when shot. I did not weigh the shot when putting them into the mold first...I just added them until the SWC tip of the mold was full...About 15gns of shot.

Heck...If I keep this up, I may write a book and wax bullets
Just kidding...I'm Just wasting time playing in my shop.....!
I bet I won't win a Nobel prize or anything.

STAY TUNED for more zaniness on this post.
I'm not out of ideas YET.

Don2

[Don2]

Left to right-->
38 swc Wax mix with #9 shot in top only mold bullet
38 swc wax mix only mold bullet
38 swc glue stick mold bullet

3 finished 38 swc Wax mix with #9 shot in top only mold bullet

More to come.
Don2

[Don2]

357 mag brass with primer pocket drilled out for 209 primer.

209 primer inserted into the 357 mag brass... NOTE..I made these like the ones commercially available to where the primers are pressed in with your fingers, not a press. Works great and they have not tried to back out yet.

The wax bullet with #9 shot weighs 30 gns.
The one that is just a wax bullet weighs 13 gns.
The glue stick bullet weighs 13 gns also.

The last one with shot I shot at a box about 15 feet from me went through both sides of the box and was lost..!!!
Others I recovered inside box with a towel in it, were able to be reloaded several times before it "Gave Out "


Just thought I'd show a few pics of my project.
So far...I really like the wax bullets with the #9 shot.

Don2

[Jim Beaux]

Wax bullets - - - Paraffin they shoot really good. Drill out the flash hole. I have never had a keyhole with them. Bill Jordan used to shoot wax bullets in NRA demonstrations. He would start off hitting Neco Wafers, then Aspirin tablets and end with saccharin tablets. All from the hip double action.

You use the case as a cutter for the wax. Prime, press the case through the bar of wax, shoot.

Thanks for the info.
I have only made a few wax bullets in the past and they did seem to shoot well. I think I originally found the info from the American Rifleman web site or magazine?

I have heard so much about using the glue bullets that I just wanted to try them. So far...It's a bust unless I can get them to shoot straight. Thought of putting a small amount of weight in nose of glue bullet or casting them with the "BB" in the mold some way? Maybe that would help them shoot straighter?
Others I have read about seem to like them and only a few complain about keyhole problems. Some even claim them to be very accurate shot inside a garage during bad weather days.

I'm in the process of getting some yellow bees wax online, I can't seem to find any local..!! Guess not many here in my part of Texas are raising bees???
Might be because the amount of family farms are going down?

Again, thanks for the info.
Don

A toilet wax ring is beeswax, try the hardware store.

[Don2]

Wax bullets - - - Paraffin they shoot really good. Drill out the flash hole. I have never had a keyhole with them. Bill Jordan used to shoot wax bullets in NRA demonstrations. He would start off hitting Neco Wafers, then Aspirin tablets and end with saccharin tablets. All from the hip double action.

You use the case as a cutter for the wax. Prime, press the case through the bar of wax, shoot.

Thanks for the info.
I have only made a few wax bullets in the past and they did seem to shoot well. I think I originally found the info from the American Rifleman web site or magazine?

I have heard so much about using the glue bullets that I just wanted to try them. So far...It's a bust unless I can get them to shoot straight. Thought of putting a small amount of weight in nose of glue bullet or casting them with the "BB" in the mold some way? Maybe that would help them shoot straighter?
Others I have read about seem to like them and only a few complain about keyhole problems. Some even claim them to be very accurate shot inside a garage during bad weather days.

I'm in the process of getting some yellow bees wax online, I can't seem to find any local..!! Guess not many here in my part of Texas are raising bees???
Might be because the amount of family farms are going down?

Again, thanks for the info.
Don

A toilet wax ring is beeswax, try the hardware store.

Yes Sir, thats what I understood them to be also, but...I'm told that they are not beeswax any longer but a form of petroleum wax???? I do not know this for sure, but they are VERY STICKY !!

Don2

[Don2]

LMAO! Too cool, Don - you're definitely having too much fun with this stuff

Btw, the reason I used the bullet mold / wax was so that there would be a nose on a wax bullet to cycle up a 9mm feedramp - but obviously you can run them through revolvers (doh). Another thing I tried was to actually add some powder to the case - but I didn't notice anything different apart from a lot more noise.

I must have been having fun because I passed up dinner playing with it all yesterday..!!!
I like the way that the shot is contained in the SWC tip and not rubbing on the barrel, plus it kind of opens up a hole first on the cardboard box. I tried a wad cutter mold also...seems like the swc went through easier???

Wish I had a 45 LC revolver or maybe a 454 ????
Now that could get interesting

I may start working with a wax bullet for a 410 shot gun. I have an old single shot H&R that I would not mind experimenting with.
Plus the 209 primers are "built in"

Don2