(A Guest Post by blogless Peter, for Carnival of Cordite)

Let's face it, few of us can really afford to shoot enough to really get absolutely confident in our skill. It's not just the ammunition costs, either. Range time is expensive and with gas costs it's even expensive driving to the range. Then when we get there, we find there are all kinds of restrictions on how we can shoot. Some ranges don't allow rapid fire, most will go into hysterics if we try to work on a draw, and Lord help you if you need to practice engaging a threat from behind.

There is an answer, actually more than one. Primer powered wax, rubber and plastic bullets. Someone who is already a handloader is at least partially set up to use these handy little wonders. Someone who isn't will need some tools and some supplies. Some you have around the house already - a small hammer, a drill - some you'll have to buy, and there are other things that can speed the process up.

The first thing we need is modified cartridge cases. Unless you are already set up to handload, start with new, unprimed cases. Otherwise it's hard to find something that is thin enough to go through the factory flash hole yet strong enough to knock the spent primer out. Most outfits sell cartridge cases by the hundred. A little later on I'll tell you where to buy them and the priming tool you'll need.

The first thing we must do is drill the primer flash hole a little larger with a three-sixteenth inch drill bit. You'll need to hold the cartridge case with a pair of pliers and work the drill with the other hand...it's really a job for two people unless you have three hands. Hold the case as close to the rim as possible with those pliers, the metal is thicker down there and you won't be as likely to smoosh it and make it so it won't chamber. Whatever you do, do NOT omit this step. For technical reasons, a primer - fired with no powder behind a normal-weight bullet - will back out of the case and tie up a revolver. In an autoloader it might come completely out and get stuck in the works. Just trust me on this. I have the technical information and I'm not afraid to use it, it would only take about two pages to explain it.

Now, go to the hardware store and buy a package of nails that are long enough to fit from the casemouth to below the primer, with room for your fingers to hold the nail. There are fancier ways to get spent primers out of a case, but they are also more expensive. A tackhammer and a nail will do the trick. If you don't have a tackhammer, pick one up while you're at the hardware store. A hint - tap the nail point a little blunt.

Now we are ready to buy a priming tool and decide what kind of a projectile to use. If your shootin' iron is one of the 9 mm or .38/.357 chamberings, you are in luck. You are just as lucky if you have a .44 or .45, since X-Ring Rubber Bullets are easy to load. They can be re-used until you lose them and - at less than ten bucks per fifty - they're cheap enough to where the wax bullets are more trouble than they're worth. You can buy those from the same place you get the priming tool, I like Midway USA. They have a web site, but if you are a beginner, use their 800 number. Midway's customer service reps are first class and will keep a beginner out of trouble. The least expensive priming tool is the Lee Autoprime, don't forget to order the shellholder. This month the Autoprime is running $10.59, the shellholders are $2.69. Order the cartridge cases too, at this time. Just ask for the cheapest they have in your cartridge. More expensive is the RCBS hand priming tool at $23.49. although it's also sturdier. It uses a different kind of shell holder, and they run about five bucks.

Do yourself a favor, buy those rubber bullets a hundred at a time, that's how primers come so that's the way you'll be loading.

It's simplicity itself, the loading process. Start with an unprimed new case, stick the bullet in. Then, follow the instructions on your priming tool and prime the case.

Now you are ready to shoot. Find an old square of carpet or a floor mat from a junk car and hang it on the inside of a large cardboard box. Don't use a big bath towel, especially if it's one of your wife's favorites. I'm still hearing about that mistake. Tape your target on the opposite side of the box and start shooting. Those bullets will stay in the box, at least until you've shot it up so much that they bounce through the holes in the front. Then it's time to change boxes.

Now, pick those bullets out of the box and you're ready to go again.

Take the shellholder out of the priming tool and place the fired cartridge case in it. Stick that nail we talked about earlier in through the flash hole and whack it with the tackhammer. Do I need to say that we don't use the good furniture for this? At least not without padding. It won't take very long at all to get real quick at this. With a little practice it doesn't take fifteen minutes to make a hundred rounds.

If you happen to shoot a cartridge that the X-Ring bullets won't fit, the problem is easy to solve. Go to the supermarket and buy a few blocks of canning wax and an inexpensive baking pan. A fairly small one, 12 X 12 is plenty big. Prepare the cartridge cases exactly the same way. Then put enough wax in the pan to where when it melts it's a little shorter than your case, this will be trial and error but it won't take too many tries before you have it figured out. What we want is to be able to push the case through like a cookie cutter. You want the wax bullet to be as long as the length of your cartridge case will allow, the accuracy is better that way.

I've never tried using a microwave, it may or may not work, I just use an oven at low heat. By low I mean as low as will melt the wax, no more than 250 degrees F. A little lower won't hurt. Don't go higher. Get it too hot the wax will boil and the gas can catch fire leaving you with hours and hours of happy fun scrubbing the black smoke residue. A cousin of mine did that very thing - he was in a hurry and set the oven on high to melt the wax faster, then the phone rang. That was over forty years ago, Aunt Eleanor still clouts him over the head for that every time she thinks of it. 'Course, she's in her eighties now so her clouts aren't quite so authoritative anymore. It would be a lot funnier except that she always gives me a couple of whacks for laughing about it. I swear that is the last thing the old gal will forget. She can't hardly remember my name or where she put her teeth but she remembers that mess in the kitchen. At least now she's got a walker instead of a cane... Oops, sorry for the digression.... Set the pan on a flat surface and after it solidifies - but is still warm and fairly soft - just push the cases in like a cookie cutter. Do this before you prime them, otherwise the compression of the air in the primed case will push them back out.

Now we prime the cases and we're ready to shoot. As you might guess, the wax bullets can be re-melted and re-used. A trick to really speed the process up is that if you can find one of those hard plastic inserts that come in some boxes of cartridges, you can sand it down to about a quarter inch or so thick and push the cases through all at once. If you have access to a belt sander this takes less than a minute. Dig 'round the trash can at your shooting range.

The accuracy of these wax and plastic bullets is simply amazing out to about twenty-five or thirty feet. The noise level is low enough that if we turn the stereo about halfway to where a teenaged kid turns it down to the first time you yell, nobody outside the garage will ever hear it.

There is no recoil, so they shoot low to the sights. Usually the gun starts recoiling while the bullet is still in the barrel, pushing the point of impact higher. It's not something to get exercised about - just set a target to aim at high, and the one you want to hit low by trial and error.

These loads are useful for learning your trigger and sighting but they are most useful for learning to shoot from the draw and from weapon-retention positions. There used to be a lot of would-be gunfighters with bad limps from being slow on the draw and quick on the trigger. These loads sting bad enough that they'll teach somebody to never do that again, but there will be no permanent damage. How well do they shoot? The late Bill Jordan - the guy that taught me about these loads - had a routine when he gave shooting exhibitions. He'd line up aspirin tablets seven yards away and draw. Shooting from the hip, he'd blow them all off. Then he'd do the same thing with saccharine tablets. He could draw and fire and hit those tiny tablets in two tenths of a second. He'd shoot playing cards from the same distance, edgewise and cut them in half. From the Hip. At seven yards.

It should be obvious that these loads will not work the action of an autoloader, the X-Ring bullets do feed from most, but not all, magazines. Wax bullets don't from very many, they are a single load affair for the self stuffers.

A matter of safety...ALWAYS wear eye protection when priming cases and while you are shooting those primer powered loads because they can bounce. I don't know that a ricochet would put out an eye, but I have had them bounce off bare skin, and they smart a bit. Short barreled guns may be loud enough to require hearing protection. If you get the tiniest bit of ringing in your ears, STOP and put on ear protection. Wouldn't hurt to start with ear protection, for that matter.

Some may get an idea that these loads might work better with just a little pinch of gunpowder. Bad idea. If a reader cares that much about why it's a bad idea, leave an E-Mail addy in the comments and I'll bore you to tears with all the reasons why.

One more safety note. If you are a handloader DO NOT GET THE MODIFIED CASES MIXED UP WITH YOUR CASES FOR FULL-CHARGE LOADS! The larger flash hole will increase the pressure, perhaps to catastrophic levels.

Now, there are a lot of other places besides Midway USA to buy the cases and priming tools, I am telling you beginners to use Midway because I know their people on the telephone are knowledgeable enough to talk you through the process where you'll have everything you need. Other outfits may be just as good that way, I just don't know that. Midway USA: 1-800-243-3220. It's not that difficult, really, you need the cartridge cases, and the priming tool, plus shellholder and the X-Ring bullets if they're available for your shootin' iron.

Unless you live fifteen miles outside of Resume Speed, Montana, don't buy your primers by mail order or online. Each shipment of primers has a $20.00 HazMat Fee, kind of defeats the purpose of cheap practice. Do shop around, if you live in an area with a choice of places to buy primers, the markup really varies from place to place. The brand makes a difference on price, too. The price tags on the various primer boxes in my gunroom range from $12.99 per thousand to $34.00 per thou for my rifle match primers, which for some strange reason I don't use for powering these loads. Do buy those primers by the thousand. Not only are they cheaper that way but you'll be amazed at how addictive these loads are and how fast you'll burn 'em up. If you are stuck with online or mail order than call the folks at Graf and Sons and be sure and buy your primers at the case price. Handgun primers are running $65.99 per 5,000 for the Magtech brand, plus Hazmat of $20.00 and $4.95 for shipping to the lower 48.

Their phone #? 1-800-531-2666. Remember, there is more than one size of primer, be sure and double check, take a cartridge case with you the first time.

Give these loads a try, you won't believe how much fun you're having for so little money. There just aren't many things that are more fun that we can do fully dressed and zipped up.

Posted by: Harvey at 06:31 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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