[Bamabowtie]

A few days ago I bought a used Ruger Blackhawk 357. The same day, the Lee bullet mold I bought on eBay was delivered. This morning I set out to try my hand at casting bullets from hot glue. I pulled out 50 nickel plated 38spl cases and drilled out the flash hole with a 9/64 bit. This left just enough of a shelf in the primer pocket to ensure the primers didn't push through into the case.

While I was drilling the cases I was casting the hot glue bullets as well. I only cast about 20 this time. I primed six cases with my Lee hand press and simply inserted the glue bullets by hand. They turned out pretty well.

Now it was time to test them. The first two stopped just short of exiting the barrel. I pushed each one out with a dowel before moving on. Rounds 3, 4, and 5 all struck the cardboard box but none penetrated the double layer corrugated box. They did leave a nice dent that could be felt on the inside of the box. The final round stuck in the barrel with approx. 2-3mm sticking out of the end of the barrel.

Overall I'm pleased with the results. I'm going to try some magnum primers or small rifle primers to see if I can get more reliable results. The recovered bullets were a bit dirty but could easily be used several more times. There was no damage or deformation. I hope to put some actual rounds through the Blackhawk tomorrow. I will continue to experiment with the hot glue bullets. Once I perfect my methods I will use them for backyard practice in both the Blackhawk and Taurus M66 3".

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[darbo]

That's pretty cool. Just a couple days ago I saw a video of someone, don't remember who in youtube vid, using foam ear plugs for projectiles. I found the video but he is using them in .45LC brass.

 

[Bellows1]

I did some last summer, they all worked fine from my snubby 85, I didn't drill out the flash hole. They seem to be pretty accurate out to 10 yards or more, didn't check for penetration, but I wouldn't wanna get hit with one. I think your Ruger may have a little too much barrel for these to be consistent, magnum primers may help, rifle primers are a little bigger diameter (I think), they may not fit well in the pistol cases.

Speer makes a plastic version of these, plastic case, plastic bullet. The bullets don't engage the rifling, but they are pretty decent out 10 feet or so and not terribly expensive. They do use a LPP rather than the SPP of the 38 case.

 

[olfarhors]

I wonder if this would work in my 1911??
you know IF I used Super Glue in it??
its a 38 SUPER you know!

 

[gbusmech]

Cool....

 

[Bamabowtie]

I put together 6 more rounds last night and ran them through my 3" model 66. All rounds left the barrel and hit the target with enough force to leave a decent dent in the cardboard. I think stepping up to magnum primers might do the trick for the Ruger.

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[BC605]

I've been experimenting with something a little different that I thought you might want to try.

I started by buying a 6mm drill bit (.236") on eBay for about 3 bucks (including shipping).

I drilled a 3/8" hole through a 3" square piece of 1/2" thick of hardwood about 1-1/2" from the end and then used a saw to make a cut from the edge to the hole. This is my jig for holding the 38/357 cases for drilling.

I insert a case in the hole then use a 3" C-clamp to squeeze the crack closed to grip the case. This jig is mounted in the vice on my drill press.

Then I use the 6mm drill bit to bore a hole through the case head centered on the primer pocket.
After that I use a 5/16" drill bit to make a shallow counterbore around the new 6mm hole.

The point of this whole exercise is to be able to use #209 shotgun shell primer in a 38/357 case.

As I'm sure you realize the shotgun primers are significantly more powerful than even magnum rifle primers.
I've been using these to shoot wax bullets and the shotgun primers really give them some serious zip!

I can take and post some photos to clarify this description if you're interested.

 

[Bamabowtie]

I've been experimenting with something a little different that I thought you might want to try.

I started by buying a 6mm drill bit (.236") on eBay for about 3 bucks (including shipping).

I drilled a 3/8" hole through a 3" square piece of 1/2" thick of hardwood about 1-1/2" from the end and then used a saw to make a cut from the edge to the hole. This is my jig for holding the 38/357 cases for drilling.

I insert a case in the hole then use a 3" C-clamp to squeeze the crack closed to grip the case. This jig is mounted in the vice on my drill press.

Then I use the 6mm drill bit to bore a hole through the case head centered on the primer pocket.
After that I use a 5/16" drill bit to make a shallow counterbore around the new 6mm hole.

The point of this whole exercise is to be able to use #209 shotgun shell primer in a 38/357 case.

As I'm sure you realize the shotgun primers are significantly more powerful than even magnum rifle primers.
I've been using these to shoot wax bullets and the shotgun primers really give them some serious zip!

I can take and post some photos to clarify this description if you're interested.

I have read of that very process on another forum. I may well give it a try but I do not have a drill press currently. I'm also going to try molding wax bullets to see how they perform.

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[BC605]

I have read of that very process on another forum. I may well give it a try but I do not have a drill press currently. I'm also going to try molding wax bullets to see how they perform.

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Really? And here I thought I was being original!
Actually I got the idea from a commercial product I saw somewhere that used the shotgun primers.
I just had to figure out what to use to make my own - and exactly how to go about doing it.

I picked up a couple of thousand hard wax bullets at a gun show last year and decided I wanted to give them a little more power. I figured that the shotgun primers would be the way to do it - and they definitely do.

I've already made up one cylinder worth but plan on drilling out one or two hundred of them so I can load up a few boxes worth at a time.

FWIW, if you would like to have a small hobbyist-quality drill press for small jobs like this, you can get one at Harbor Freight for around 55 bucks (after using their 20% discount coupon) and you can add a small machinists vice to mount on it for another $17 ($14 if you're willing to make a second trip to use the 20% discount coupon a second time).

 

[Desperado]

This thread reminds me of the "practice bullets" created by the late Bill Jordan, as described in his book No Second Place Winner.
He wrote about how to do it on Page 83 of the book.

 

[Bellows1]

Since these are just for fun, let's experiment a little. Try a few seated deeper...more pressure maybe (works with powder added) also, try cutting them off at the bottom two lube grooves... less friction in the barrel, but still enough to engage the rifling.

 

[Bamabowtie]

try cutting them off at the bottom two lube grooves... less friction in the barrel, but still enough to engage the rifling.

^^^^^^^ We have a winner! I tried seating them deeper and that didn't work. I trimmed a couple of them and not only did they exit the long barrel of the Ruger, but they actually penetrated the heavy cardboard box!

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