Thirty Cent Slugs

Neat. Thanks.

Have you ever got the shot too hot and had it melt or deform the hull/wad? Or as long as the wax isn’t smoking, it’s cool enough to not damage them?

Not aware of any melted wads. I just looked at the inside of the one I cut open. No marks or suggestion of melting. Wax melts at a fairly low temp compared to plastic.

I use high heat on my electric stove to get the initial melt and then leave it on medium setting for the loading session.
 
Not aware of any melted wads. I just looked at the inside of the one I cut open. No marks or suggestion of melting. Wax melts at a fairly low temp compared to plastic.

I use high heat on my electric stove to get the initial melt and then leave it on medium setting for the loading session.

Next time you’re making a batch, if it isn’t too much trouble, would you mind taking the temperature of your wax lead slurry? I know my stove is still pretty darn hot on “medium” and I’m sure stoves vary. I’ve got a little hot plate that would work well but knowing the target temp would help.
 
Next time you’re making a batch, if it isn’t too much trouble, would you mind taking the temperature of your wax lead slurry? I know my stove is still pretty darn hot on “medium” and I’m sure stoves vary. I’ve got a little hot plate that would work well but knowing the target temp would help.

I just made some more and tried to use my wife's meat probe to measure the temp. I think temp was in the order of 175 F

I notice that the loaded rounds need about 5 minutes to show the wax at the mouth has hardened. If it hardens right away, you are too cool.

I now have 200 "slugs" on the shelf.
 
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I just made some more and tried to use my wife's meat probe to measure the temp. I think temp was in the order of 175 F

I notice that the loaded rounds need about 5 minutes to show the wax at the mouth has hardened. If it hardens right away, you are too cool.

I now have 200 "slugs" on the shelf.

Oh wow. Yeah, I’m glad I asked then. I would’ve overdone it for sure.
 
Most of the last batch have almost perfectly round case mouths. I have no doubt these would feed just fine. I took a few of the worst looking ones and tried them in my Ihtica 37 pump.

Holding the gun vertically, they siide into the chamber without resistance and fall right out. So this ammo is GTG in a repeater. In the past my plinking has been with SxS guns, so was not sure if they would feed.

My only concern with these wax slugs is the risk of a loose pellet on the mouth of the slug getting loose from the wax and then migrating into the action, maybe jamming the trigger or something else.

From time to time you have to add wax and more pellets to the pot. Let the pellets get hot, stirring them a bit, because they hold the heat that keeps the wax molten while it fills all the voids around the pellets in the wad.

The sealing wax is very hard, so if there is solid wax covering the pellets, they are secure. Wax contracts a lot when it cools, so I suggest filling the wad only to the bottom edge of the folded over shell. This is about where the original crimp was. Then fill the balance of the shell - about 1/10th of an inch, with a dollop of wax.

When the wax cools, this covering layer will pull back into the slug, but the top layer of the slug should still be solid wax.
 
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I was in crappy tire today Christmas shopping and had a look for 16mm hole saws or similar. No joy. I’ll have to look online.
 
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what your making is a 12 guage version of the old .38 special Glazer safety slug. He would melt the core out of Sierra jacketed .357 dia. bullets and fill them with 7 1/2 shot mixed with epoxy capped with a gas check.

The Calgary Police Service used them in their .38 special revolvers back in the day, and found them very effective. The slug would shatter inside the perp and never over penetrate.
 
I’ve made up about 50 of these over time and they work really well. Then I bought a Lee slug mold and shot a couple hundred maybe. I wouldn’t hunt with them unless I had to, but they hit really hard for a trap load and they seem a lot more legit than a cut shell, but those only work most of the time anyways.
 
Would there be any benefit to taking the piece you cut out, and finishing the round by sticking it on top of the wax? More protection going down the pipe? Or while bouncing around in a pocket?
 
I see a run on 16mm ceramic tile bits...
Thanks Ganderite :)

Just musing...

What if you were to bore a 3/4”hole in a piece of wood, say, an inch or a bit more deep. Then you pounded the corner of a razor blade up from the far side and into the bottom of the hole so it stuck up a bit and in from the side of the hole an 1/8” or so. Then you could just insert a shell, the push and twist it a few times to slice to inside of the crimp out.

Hmmm. Just don’t stick your finger in the hole..
 
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