My "Hot glue" round balls LOL

[.50cal]

While cleaning out my boxes of 'shootin' stuff I found some of the round balls that I 'Cast' a couple years ago for the kids to shoot when they went out with me. Just kinda brought a smile to my face to remember the fun they had. not much point to this post other than filling a warm round ball mold with hot glue makes fun balls to shoot too.      (only used 5-10 gr powder with felt wad and c.o.w in cyl)

[AtlLaw]

   Tell me more!   

[Old Fart]

I used to do something similar with wax bullets and just a primer.

[teamnelson]

OF, wax bullets ... makes me think I could melt some old candles down, cast them just like lead. Right?
.50, same with glue?

After you pour them in the mold, how rapidly do they cool? Do you even heat up the mold in the first place? Do you water quench them?

and what does "c.o.w in cyl" mean?

Thsi sounds like fun!

[Old Fart]

I would just melt some wax in a pan.
Then sit the primed brass in upside down (opening down) and wait for it to cool.
Pull out the brass with the wax wadcutter in it.
Pretty simple process.
Fun and cheap plinking.
Reuseable also.
So you're talking about the price of a primer and that's it.

[teamnelson]

Could a fella cast wax rb for a cap & ball revolver? I'm paying attention for the glue option too.

[Old Fart]

Never tried it. You'd be in uncharted territory.

[.50cal]

C.O.W is cream of wheat, use it to take up the space between the wad and the ball because the ram cant push it all the way to the powder its to short. The mold was warm from casting lead balls already but I dont thing they would have to be warm, the hot glue would warm it up after a few are cast. I let them set for 2-3 minutes in the mold then flipped them out with a pocket screwdriver into a pan of water. havnt tried wax.......YET

[AtlLaw]

Could a fella cast wax rb for a cap & ball revolver?

I'm sure you could, but what would you use to propel them from the revolver?  Even the magnum #11 cap's aren't very strong.  They won't hardly push a soft rubber bullet out of a C&B revolver barrel.   

Now this Gluball ahead of a few a grains of BP sounds interesting!     Not to mention the fact I have a lot of Pyrodex, 777 and clear (or is it clean) shot laying around!   

Kick in a good exhaust fan and we may be talking an indoor gallary item here!   

I feel another meaningless and statistically insignificant experiment coming on here!   

[teamnelson]

I feel another meaningless and statistically insignificant experiment coming on here!

 

Sir, I must disagree. There is always meaning and significance, as any lawyer should attest! 

I had also thought to try using expanding foam, which hardens nicely but weighs nearly nothing so I was going to try primer only on that one. Figured fill it part way, let it expand, then trim the sprue.

Wax would make a nice frangible pest deterrent. Old Fart, how deep was the wax when you put the cartridge in, like 1/2"?

[bedbugbilly]

Awwww . . . . the memories!      When I was a kid, and short of lead to cast, I did just what you're talking about (sorta).  I used some hard parafin, cast up some round balls and used them in my rifle.  I cut the powder load in half (at that time, the general rule was 1 grain per caliber so a .36 caliber rifle you used 36 grains of ffg in (for lead ball).  For the parafin balls, I think I used about 15 grains or so.  I wouldn't have won any matches but I still had fun and it played hell one the sparrows around the barns.  I don't think that I actually got any but I sure scared the bejebbers our of 'em.  It never seemed to crud the barrel up any and I always used a bronze bore brush when I cleaned up.  Haven't ever tried it with a C & B revolver though.  The hot glue sounds interesting.  Since it also melts (as the parafin did/does) does it seem to crud the bore up any? 

[AtlLaw]

Since it also melts (as the parafin did/does) does it seem to crud the bore up any?

I've never had any melt or even seen any indication of melting.      They are pretty hard.  You can see the rifling impressed in them and use them over repeatedly.

Sure would like to shoot my C&B revolvers in my basement... 

[.50cal]

Hot glue melts at a higher temp, never had any problems. Also the wad and filler keeps most of the heat away from the ball. WOW look at what i started........

[coyotejoe]

INSTIGATOR! There's one on every forum.

[blhof]

I just added hot glue and c.o.w. to my grocery list, the wife's gonna think I'm losin it.

[BGRooster1]

On another forum this subject was talked of and experimented with for a long time.I'll try to find it again and get back to ya.These other shooters did a bunch of hot glue shooting.
 As for using wax.I think you would be better off to set the primer after rather than before the wax bullet.That is if you are using a block of paraffin.That way no pressure builds up to push the wax bullet out.That is what I seem to remember from the book "Basic Handloading" by George C. Nonte,jr..

[BGRooster1]

It was the Cast Boolits forum.Imagine that.Can't remember if round balls were part of the experiments but it should be lotta fun.Drill the primer pocket out if just using a primer is what most say.

[AtlLaw]

Well, I stopped off at the stow last night and picked up some filler.  I hated buying muslum cereal, but that's what everybody says to use... What muslum cereal you say?  Why Kareem of Wheat of course!  BA DUMP!   

I figure I'll put some 45 glulets outa my 1911 over my Chrony and get an idea of their velocity.  Sort of a control group.  Then I'll play with galary level BP loads with gluballs and try to approximate the velocity.

One concern though.  My RB moulds cast a ball big enough for me to be sure a ring of lead will be shaved off by the cylinder at loading.  I can't imagine that happening with gluballs.  It would seem more likely that they would compress down to get into the chamber.  That would be a pretty tight fit.  I don't want to create a "pipe bomb" here!   

What happened when you loaded them .50cal?  Anybody got any thoughts before I give it the old "hold my beer and watch this sh#@."   

[.50cal]

My  mold  is  .454 that  i  made  them  with.  they  do  squeeze into  the  cyl and  not  cut  like  a  lead  ball.  but  then  some  people  chamfer  the  edge  of  the  cyl  so  the  lead  balls  squeeze into  the  cyl  too.  these  are  more  like  a  "spitwad"  than  a  bullet  lol     

[AtlLaw]

I did it!   

I "cast" some 36's and pulled my Navy outa the safe.  3-4 gr. of FFFG and 10 gr. of CoW under a wad and the gluball will go through 2 layers of cardboard at 30 feet, but not penetrate the canvas backstop!  The smoke wasn't bad at all; I didn't even use a fan.     I shot a total of 15 rounds.

I could actually push the gluballs into the cylinder with my thumb, and they stayed put after seating them with the ram.

I'm still learing this revolver so I can't comment on how accurate they are compared to full charge lead balls, but my groups improved the more I shot.  They are definately good enough for indoor target work!   

Thanks .50cal!  Now I'ma gonna see if I can squeeze them gluballs into a 30-30 case!   

[.50cal]

They are fun arnt they