Range Report: Wax Bullets

[roundball]

06/10/07 RANGE REPORT: Wax Bullets

Test fired 50-60 of the .44cal Wax bullets in a .45cal x 1:48" Flintlock today.

Could never get consistency with 5, 10, 15, 20 grain charges of Goex 3F...could barely keep them on a 2’ foot square of cardboard at a mere 20yds, and I tried both .010" and .015" patches. A lot of the wax bullets were key holing in spite of them being only slightly longer than a .440 is round, telling me I needed to step it up.

At 25 grains I thought I began to see a slight improvement in consistency, then at 30grns they started landing mostly on the paper plate, and at 40 grains there was another improvement...putting four of them in a 3" aim point sticker at 20 yards...but unfortunately the 5th one totally missed the 2' cardboard...as did the next couple. In trying to figure out what had happened I realized the rear sight adjusting screw & tension spring had worked loose and fallen out...vertical rear sight section was just flopping around loose on it's hinge within the mounting base so I had to stop.

It looks like 40grns may be a possibility for “acceptable accuracy” strictly for purposes of inexpensively practicing live fire shooting form at close distances, but not accurate enough for use as a small game bullet...there is just not enough precision in the manufacturing of the wax bullets for that degree of shot to shot consistency...ie: some of the bases were actually cut off at an angle which sets up the classic “tilt at muzzle exit” situation.

And unfortunately a 40grn charge of Goex 3F makes way too much noise to use in the driveway or backyard of a typical housing subdivision, sure to result in 911 calls...so in summary, they have marginal accuracy, only at very close distances, with a 'report' too loud for the typical neighborhood.

Just for the heck of it, I may try another range session with a 1:66" slow twist RB barrel, just on the remote chance it might make a difference, but I’m not optimistic. I really hope the owner of the Wax Bullet company comes through with his experiment with hard wax round balls that we discussed last week...at least they should be more accurate and at smaller powder charges.

[Jack]

I think I'm missing something....
You're using .44 caliber wax bullets in a .45 caliber rifle?
Is there a sabot, or a patch to make the bullet fit the bore?

[roundball]

Yes...this is what you missed: "...and I tried both .010" and .015" patches..."


The patch/wax bullet combo was very tight...so tight that one of the things I did in case the .015" patch was imprinting into the wax and momentarily sticking / throwing it off course was to drop down to a thiner .010"...no help.

[Jack]

Yup, I did miss the patch thing, Thanks.

[roundball]

Don't feel like the lone ranger...Saturday I got to where I was going to shoot crows...put up the pole & owl decoy, grabbed the crow decoys and scattered them about, grabbed the tape calling machine, then I reached in to grab the speaker and 50' cable......................................