Author Topic: Bee season...BP blanks? (Read 1291 times)

Bama76 · « **on:** April 11, 2005, 05:46:18 PM »

A discusion on the rimfire forum about bee season (shooting insects with ratshot loaded 22's) REALLY got me to thinking. I see the cowboy action shooters popping ballons with BP blanks @ a distance of several feet. Would this also work for an insect the size of a bumblebee or do the unburnt powder granules have too large/open a "pattern" to be effective? I could make my 44 mag into a bug slayer. If it would work how do you make BP blanks. Yes, I am serious! Think about it....

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2005, 08:02:28 PM »

I'm a veteran Bee hunter(long rifle shot shells).

I'm gonna guess that if you loaded some real slow powder, it'd likely bust a Bee at close range. As far as keeping the powder in the case, I'd say you'd need to seat a wad over the powder, and maybe lightly crimp it to keep it all together. I'm only guessing here though, as I've never loaded any blanks in pistol calibers.

dakotashooter2 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2005, 04:25:09 AM »

I think you are misinterpreting the force that is used to pop those balloons. It is not a pattern of unburned powder that accomplishes this but the "shock wave" for lack of better terms, from the fired cartridge. People can and have been killed from this force. Think more in the terms of the force of highly compressed air.

RadioTech · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2005, 10:27:02 AM »

Its not the powder that breaks the balloons.
I read that the cowboy action shooters are loading the cartridges with ground up walnut shells instead of ratshot.
Plenty of energy to break a balloon but not enough to go very far.

Bama76 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2005, 12:44:07 PM »

Brass tumbling media!!! :twisted: :twisted: Ohhh...this is gonna be fun :wink:

Win 73 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2005, 06:32:12 AM »

Why was the bee flying with his legs crossed?..................He was looking for a BP station.

Curtis · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2005, 07:13:50 AM »

Quote from: Win 73

Why was the bee flying with his legs crossed?..................He was looking for a BP station.

Boo........Hissss!!!! :noway: :noway:

LOL

Greeenriver · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2005, 09:35:08 AM »

If a Cowboy Action Mounted Shooter was loading groundup walnut hulls in his blanks, he or she would be disqualified at any sanctioned shoot. What brakes the baloons is the still burning grains of BP that shoot out about 10feet.

At all the shoots I have read about, the guns are loaded all from the same furnished boxs of blanks.

At least, that is the way it has been explained to me by several mounted shooters.

You could ask on the SASS Mounted Shooters forem if realy interested. I have seen several threads on loading BP blanks listed on the SASS wire in the last few weeks, however I didn't read them. I had no intrest in loading blanks. But then, I never thought of using them for BEE's!!!!!

Greeenriver(SASS #38681)

rickyp · « **Reply #8 on:** April 21, 2005, 03:25:19 PM »

Yesterday I went out to my shad to do some spraying or herbicide and small repairs on it.
I was buzzed by no less then 10 of these bees.
I was able to take a few out with a hammer and stomp them to death.
that didn't work well so I I waged chemical warfare on them today.

I would love to shoot them but it would not be a great idea around my house

Duffy · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2005, 05:35:23 AM »

Ya need to make sure you get them on the first shot too! Don't want to just piss them off.

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2005, 07:55:23 AM »

Quote from: Duffy

Ya need to make sure you get them on the first shot too! Don't want to just piss them off.

Yes you do! They will absolutely chase you down, and sting you if you make'em mad! They hurt too!!!

jason280 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2005, 10:41:26 AM »

I thought about shooting them with .22LR shot, especially the high flying ones, but its too much fun swatting them with a tennis racket!

I guess I'll have to try the shot now!

Tom W. · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2005, 04:03:03 PM »

I have used a pellet gun wothout the pellets. It generally breaks them in half, if you hit it. If not, it gets it's chance to hunt you!

S.S. · « **Reply #13 on:** April 25, 2005, 05:29:33 AM »

A good ol plastic baseball bat !
Kinda' gratifying to watch the bee arching
across the yard like a good base hit!
I felt like Babe Ruth last week I hit so many of them!
I swung so many times that my arms were actually sore
the next day. My wife thought I had lost my mind :eek:
A tennis racket is messy, Better wear
shooting glasses

palgeno · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2005, 07:12:47 AM »

I once read about a guy using 22lr shot shells with the shot replaced by coarse corn meal to shoot dragonflys----I think they should be a protected species since they don't bite and they eat mosquitoes----but sure would be good fun for hunting for the wood borers and horse flies!!!!

pg

Robert · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2005, 08:32:56 AM »

Quote from: S.Sumner

A good ol plastic baseball bat !
Kinda' gratifying to watch the bee arching
across the yard like a good base hit!
I felt like Babe Ruth last week I hit so many of them!
I swung so many times that my arms were actually sore
the next day. My wife thought I had lost my mind :eek:
A tennis racket is messy, Better wear
shooting glasses

That is just Soooo Rich. I really wish I could have been there to see that...but I might have been visually handicapped by the tears in my eyes. Oh GOD...that one just MADE MY DAY!
I agree with BamaBoy though. The empty pellet gun works fantastic...if you swing something at bees or flies..they learn fast and it can get tough. With my Benjamin with 3 pumps..I can usually put the muzzle within 6 inches of them without them flying away. 3 pumps is usually enough to disable them within 12 inches or so, and is a lot safer than blanks. As someone posted earlier...blanks can hurt you pretty bad and also cause quite a bit of damage to things like lawn furniture.
Hey.... maybe we can start a 'Bug Hunters' forum.

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2005, 05:54:54 PM »

Some pretty neat ideas on this thread, but I'll stick with my 22 LR shot shells. Within 10 feet they'll bring a Bee down pretty consistantly. It's funny as heck when you wing one, and he makes a crash landing after flying several yards! LOL!

mjbgalt · « **Reply #17 on:** May 21, 2005, 04:47:37 PM »

thought i was the only one in the world with a wiffle bat and a lot of time on my hands...used to hit em across the yard when i was younger lol

i am glad there are OTHER crazy people around to make me feel better about myself lol.

-Matt

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #18 on:** May 22, 2005, 12:20:39 AM »

Ive hunted flys in the pole barn with empty primmed brass it worked good at short range.

rockbilly · « **Reply #19 on:** May 22, 2005, 11:59:07 AM »

wouldn't it be more effective to just waltz over to Wal-Mart and purchase a fly swatter?

Seriously, If you live in my part of the country, I would be very cautious about making a bee mad. There were several people killed by killer bees last year. According to what I have read, you may only see one, but if he is injured he sends out a call for help and a swarm appears rather quickly and they come in with weapons drawn. One older man I know was checking out his motorhome that had been store for a while, the bees has a hive in the space where the hot water heater is. When he opened the door he noticed a bee and took a swing with his cap, within seconds he was stung over a hundred times. A young man seen him fall as he was trying to run away and went to help him, he was also stung numerous times. Both lived, but the older man was in critical condition for a long while. Point is, play around with them little bees, and you might get bit in the butt. :roll:

Hooker · « **Reply #20 on:** May 22, 2005, 05:42:00 PM »

There ain't nothing like a lighter and a can of WD 40 to take out bees and redwasps. Maybe not as much action as a plastic bat, but exciting anyway.

Pat

rickyp · « **Reply #21 on:** May 23, 2005, 02:50:51 AM »

I have a vision of you setting the bee on fire with the WD-40 and it falling on the roof of your shead and setting it on fire.

Hooker · « **Reply #22 on:** May 23, 2005, 07:03:52 PM »

:-D I've never actually caught one on fire mostly it smokes their wings and antennae and makes them easy to step on. I've got a tin roof just in case :wink:
About 2 years ago we had a big muzzle loader shoot at our local gun club. The weather was hot and the redwasps had been thick. We sprayed the nests the day before the shoot and thought we had taken care of the problem.
The day of the shoot when those smoke poles started going off we found we had missed one huge nest under a bench near the firing line. With each volley those wasps would run everyone off the line. By the time we had located the nest those critters were some of that mad. You could not get near the nest so I took a piece of PVC pipe and poured about a cup of FFF through it under the bench below the nest. Then allowed the wasp to settle down a bit before we touched off the powder with lit cigarette slid down the pipe. We half filled a 2 pound coffee can with the dead wasps, that nest was over 12" in diameter.

Pat

ShadowMover · « **Reply #23 on:** May 24, 2005, 05:51:32 AM »

It may not be as much fun as shooting them, or playing with fire, but spraying them with a good strong solution of dish detergent in water will quickly kill whole swarms of bees. Use a lot of it, quickly applied. I'm not advocating killing bees that are not a problem. We need all the bees we can get to keep our fruit and crops healthy. When you find a bee hive or nest in an inconvenient location in your house or barn, soapy water from a good sprayer makes short work of them. There are risks to being an amateur pest control man though :eek: