Years ago i read an article in an old popular mechanics book that detailed indoor pratice rounds for revolvers. According to the article you take a new case, drill it to accept shotgun primers & then dip the case into a pan(cookie cutter style) of wax to form the projectile. Any body ever try something like this? Could be a good way to learn to tame the trigger pull of my enfield & not burn up a bunch of ammo.
Indoor revolver practice rounds
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Rod B
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
No need to use shotshell primers.
Just drill the flash hole with a 1/8" drill bit & use regular pistol primers without any powder charge.
Be sure to carefully mark the cases as they should not be used for regular loads.
Wax bullet loads are a lot of fun & are excellent for practice, but remember they can still cause serious injury.
Rod.
Just drill the flash hole with a 1/8" drill bit & use regular pistol primers without any powder charge.
Be sure to carefully mark the cases as they should not be used for regular loads.
Wax bullet loads are a lot of fun & are excellent for practice, but remember they can still cause serious injury.
Rod.
Rod B said:No need to use shotshell primers.
Just drill the flash hole with a 1/8" drill bit & use regular pistol primers without any powder charge.
Be sure to carefully mark the cases as they should not be used for regular loads.
Wax bullet loads are a lot of fun & are excellent for practice, but remember they can still cause serious injury.
Rod.
I second the use of standard pistol primers with flash holes enlarged. If you don't enlarge the flash hole the primer can back out enough to prevent the cylinder of a revolver from rotating. Shotgun primers are overly powerfull and preparing pistol cases to accept them would be an unnecessay complication.
It's also best to use cartrige cases that were first fired with regular loads (fired in the same gun you plan on using the wax bullets in). Don't resize the cases, just decap them using a decaping die or one of the Lee hand decaping rods with base. The unsized cases will cut a bigger wax bullet that will be more accurate than the smaller one cut by a sized case. Cutting out wax bullets with the case is easier with unprimed cases - this gives the air in the case a place to escape, then prime them.
Wax that's too cold will fracture when you try to press the cases into it while wax that' too warm is messy. Slighty warm wax works best.
A suitable "backstop" for these pimer only/wax bullets is a cardboard box filled with rags. The fired wax slugs can even be reused by remelting them.
Keep in mind that you still need good ventilation as firing primers will expose you to lead compounds. In fact this is where you get most of the lead exposure on indoor ranges, it's not from generally from bullets.
Here's a trick for .22 revolver shooters - pull the bullets from standard .22 lr ammo, what you are after here is a primed empty case. Place a .22 air rifle pellet in the chamber(s) and put the primed empty behind it. Firing this produces 250 - 300 fps, making it safe to use with an airgun pellet trap. It helps to clean your barrel frequently as primer only firings produce a lot of dirt.
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Short answer YES
Pat
Pat
Garand said:
As I said in my post:
"Keep in mind that you still need good ventilation as firing primers will expose you to lead compounds. In fact this is where you get most of the lead exposure on indoor ranges, it's not from generally from bullets."
You would have to fire one hell of a lot of primers indoors in order to kill yourself from the lead in the primers. Make yourself sick perhaps, but dead? Come on now, let's be realistic. If you did this 24/7 you might get sick. I know plety of people who shot on indoor ranges for years with no health problems. Having said that it's always wise to insure good ventilation.
No matter what you do you can't get out of life alive.
The main component of Primers is Lead Styphnate, a compound of lead that releases minute amounts of toxic fumes when fired. Still good to use caution when discharging any primers indoors. Regards, Eagleye
I tried some using a bar of soap that was pushed into the case with regular primers,shot well and cleaned the bore while I was at it!!,After a bit It did get a little gummed up and had to be cleaned normally,I used Ivory,99and 44/100%pure you know!
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Speer makes a plastic training round that uses a large pistol primer as propellent, and a heavy hanging blanket as a backstop. Its a cool system for indoor shooting and all the components are reusable (not the primer of course).
Cocked&Locked
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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effinggoof said:
Big Grin!!
I remember using these 25 years ago when grandpa brought his K-38 over and we shot it in the basement. Pretty accurate, but they did start to destabilize after 25 feet or so. Pretty heady stuff for a 12 year old. Fueled the addiction. I'd love to find a box of those!
I really don't think you have to drill the primer pockets out. Just make sure that you seat the wax projectile first and then prime the case. That way you are not compressing air in the case causing the primer to 'back out'.
I have locked the cylinder in revolvers before I discovered this method but haven't had it happen since!
I have locked the cylinder in revolvers before I discovered this method but haven't had it happen since!
Billy The Kid said:I really don't think you have to drill the primer pockets out. Just make sure that you seat the wax projectile first and then prime the case. That way you are not compressing air in the case causing the primer to 'back out'.
I have locked the cylinder in revolvers before I discovered this method but haven't had it happen since!
It's not the compressed air in the case that causes the primer to back out. Compressed air in the case will cause the wax bullet move forward, that's why it's generally best to put the wax in the case first, then prime. The primer backing out is caused by the "blast" of the primer firing. When shooting normal rounds the pressure on the cartrige case ususlly pushes back onto the primer enough to keep this from showing, but since there is hardly any pressure with a "primer only" load the primer moves to the rear and stays there. Enlarging the primer hole lets the force of the primer more easily vent into the cartrige case.
The more headspace your revolver has the more you will see the primer sticking out. Most of us have seen underloaded 30/30 rounds, they often have the primer protruding out as the pressure is too low to push the cartrige case back over the primer.
Elevated Blood Lead levels
I've been reloading since 1986, since then I've had 3 bad bouts of elevated blood lead levels. In each case the Base Medical Officer restricted(read that disallowed) my shooting for a 6 month period while the blood lead level returned to normal. If you are going to wear a mask while shooting go to a certified safety supply store and purchase a mask that is rated as effective in stopping lead airborne contaminent. Most lead on indoor ranges is made airborne by your feet as you walk down the indoor range. While I was in the service, part of retaining my RSO qualification for indoor ranges was that I had to get a blood test every 6 months. If your going to shoot in your house learn how to wet mop up lead contaminent before you make your whole family sick. Kids are affected far easier than adults
Elevated blood lead levels are nothing to f*ck around with they can cause serious damage to your body. Loss of co-ordination, loss of memory, mood swings, etc. It can really screw relationships up badly. Since I retired I only shoot outdoors which helps minimize airborne lead contaminent. A PMed tech I used to shoot with also let me in on a secret, during the reloading process on a single stage press, you can handle a single round 5-6 times. Your skin absorbs a lot of lead this way. When reloading I now wear latex surgical gloves and since they are cheap, use them in bulk. This way the only time my hands actually touch lead is when I load and fire the firearm. I have shot IPSC and Cowboy action and I am a high volume shooter!
I've been reloading since 1986, since then I've had 3 bad bouts of elevated blood lead levels. In each case the Base Medical Officer restricted(read that disallowed) my shooting for a 6 month period while the blood lead level returned to normal. If you are going to wear a mask while shooting go to a certified safety supply store and purchase a mask that is rated as effective in stopping lead airborne contaminent. Most lead on indoor ranges is made airborne by your feet as you walk down the indoor range. While I was in the service, part of retaining my RSO qualification for indoor ranges was that I had to get a blood test every 6 months. If your going to shoot in your house learn how to wet mop up lead contaminent before you make your whole family sick. Kids are affected far easier than adults
Elevated blood lead levels are nothing to f*ck around with they can cause serious damage to your body. Loss of co-ordination, loss of memory, mood swings, etc. It can really screw relationships up badly. Since I retired I only shoot outdoors which helps minimize airborne lead contaminent. A PMed tech I used to shoot with also let me in on a secret, during the reloading process on a single stage press, you can handle a single round 5-6 times. Your skin absorbs a lot of lead this way. When reloading I now wear latex surgical gloves and since they are cheap, use them in bulk. This way the only time my hands actually touch lead is when I load and fire the firearm. I have shot IPSC and Cowboy action and I am a high volume shooter!
How thick is the wax you're using? Is this just pushed throught a cake of paraffin?[/QUOTE]
Household canning wax, the type used for sealing jars of food works well. You can find it in most grocery stores. The trick is getting it warm so that the cases can be pushed into it easily. Putting it into a pan of warm water works well enough.
Household canning wax, the type used for sealing jars of food works well. You can find it in most grocery stores. The trick is getting it warm so that the cases can be pushed into it easily. Putting it into a pan of warm water works well enough.
Garand said:
I'm not surprised you had elevated lead levels if you worked in a DND range as an RSO. That amount of exposure is signifigant, however it is HIGHY unlikely that a non professional will spend enough time shooting indoors to fet their exposure to that level. Eveyone has to judge their own exposure and situation. I dont think the guy who fires a box of wax bullets in his garage every now and then need be overy concerned.
Lead compounds and kids don't mix well, I agree, and the elevated exposure experienced by professional range workers can pose serious problems. However I disagree about lead being adsorbed thru the skin of your hands - that is just not a realistic hazard. The real hazzard is picking up food with your unwashed hands after shooting or reloading. Non-metalic lead is the real hazzard (lead oxide and associated compounds), and the presence of it is why you should wash your hands after handling ammo/ guns. Of course you should not eat or smoke while on a shooting range.
Thanks Garand for pointing out a serious concern.
Just to wail away at the horse, I watched a good friend waste away to high blood lead levels from industrial exposure not pretty, and according to him his exposure did'nt seem siginifigant at the time.
KIDS are 100 times more effected by lead and heavy metal poisoning. If you have or plan on having kids around be super cautious about this stuff. Leave your range boots outside etc. Now a days Kids live in a pretty toxic heavy metal soup and toxicity is cumulative. What we got away with years ago living in fresh air and chewing fishing wieghts all day hurts kids nowadays.
LOL, remeber the jar of mercury everyone had, oh those were the days, if it did'nt kill you in 3 days it made you stronger.
Just to wail away at the horse, I watched a good friend waste away to high blood lead levels from industrial exposure not pretty, and according to him his exposure did'nt seem siginifigant at the time.
KIDS are 100 times more effected by lead and heavy metal poisoning. If you have or plan on having kids around be super cautious about this stuff. Leave your range boots outside etc. Now a days Kids live in a pretty toxic heavy metal soup and toxicity is cumulative. What we got away with years ago living in fresh air and chewing fishing wieghts all day hurts kids nowadays.
LOL, remeber the jar of mercury everyone had, oh those were the days, if it did'nt kill you in 3 days it made you stronger.
