Lead ball alternative: .43cal solid hard rubber balls

[Geraldo]

OK Round Ball,how about this.Wooden dowel rod sharpened in a pencil sharpener,cut short,patched,and fired! :rotf:
Maybe not even sharpened.Cut them as mini wad cutters. :hmm:

I have heard that the Japanese used wooden bullets near the end of the war. Except for their lack of mass, a paper patched dowel would probably work pretty well.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The U.S. state militias and army used wooden bullets for practice at short range in the .45-70 Trapdoors right up to WWI. This was done in armories, when the weather was too bad( rain, sleet, snow, and cold) to put the men out on the real range. They also used cartridges with only primer caps in them, to snuff candles a foot or so in front of the muzzle to teach off-hand shooting follow through.

 

[dave s]

Well, I'm in the jewelry business and have a kind an off beat sense of humour so I sent one of my round balls for my .50 cal. southern mountain rifle off to have a mold made. I now have a sterling silver bullet ready for when the moon is full at that special time of the month!

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I can tell you from personal experience those little rubber balls sting like sin. The ones I am familiar with are like tiny 'super balls' that keep on bouncing. If you use a bullet trap, make sure it catches those suckers, and wear eye protection. They also seem to drop off energy-wise after what I consider a short distance. If you get hit with the first or second rebound, it'll smart some. So be careful, you could put your eye out with those things... :nono: :rotf:

 

[roundball]

I can tell you from personal experience those little rubber balls sting like sin. The ones I am familiar with are like tiny 'super balls' that keep on bouncing. If you use a bullet trap, make sure it catches those suckers, and wear eye protection. They also seem to drop off energy-wise after what I consider a short distance. If you get hit with the first or second rebound, it'll smart some. So be careful, you could put your eye out with those things... :nono: :rotf:

I'm hoping since they are designed and used for firearms training that won't be the case...that they'll be sort of a dead rubber...if they bounced a lot all over the place can you imagine a swat team training for a home invasion, bursting through a door and 2-3 start firing those things on full auto? :rotf:

But I definitely plan to pay attention and figure out how they react from the very first shot...

 

[El Lobo]

Hmm... Sounds like just the thing for running off the neighbor's dog....

 

[Geraldo]

I can tell you from personal experience those little rubber balls sting like sin. The ones I am familiar with are like tiny 'super balls' that keep on bouncing. If you use a bullet trap, make sure it catches those suckers, and wear eye protection. They also seem to drop off energy-wise after what I consider a short distance. If you get hit with the first or second rebound, it'll smart some. So be careful, you could put your eye out with those things... :nono: :rotf:

I'm hoping since they are designed and used for firearms training that won't be the case...that they'll be sort of a dead rubber...if they bounced a lot all over the place can you imagine a swat team training for a home invasion, bursting through a door and 2-3 start firing those things on full auto? :rotf:

But I definitely plan to pay attention and figure out how they react from the very first shot...

I saw these (or similar) used in a product demo at a LE/SWAT seminar. One guy did volunteer to get hit by these less lethal rounds. They are fired at pavement and while they don't bounce real far, bounce they do, and judging by his reaction, they hurt when they hit. I would be really careful in an exclosed area.

In the alternative projectile category, I saw on another forum that guys are casting hot glue in molds for practice bullets.

 

[Darkgael]

Hot glue in molds for practice bullets? Now there is an idea... (noise of rummaging through the tool box).
Pete

 

[roundball]

Hot glue in molds for practice bullets? Now there is an idea... (noise of rummaging through the tool box).
Pete

I did some testing last year using wax bullets from the cowboy action shooter crowd...wax was just too light for any acceptable accuray beyond a several feet...I suspect glue would weigh about the same.

They used them as .45cal bullets for safe fast draw practice...only used the large pistol primer in the .45colt case to expel the wax bullet at a target just 10ft away or something like that.

 

[Darkgael]

Aha. Too light for our purposes then.
Pete

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu can add weight to the wax bullets by adding motor oil to the wax. My Dad made these up to shoot wasp nests off the second story gutters, and to pop an occasional Tom Cat who insisted on keeping him awake by screaming out all night under his window. No injury, but a good kick in the butt. I am sure PETA would protest, but once was all that was required, and the cats were seen walking in the block in fine condition, except they avoided my parents lot! You do need to put some kind of wad between the powder and these wax based balls or slugs to make them shoot, and you might as well begin with a conical shape, because that is the shape they come out the barrel, no matter what powder charge you use!

 

[410-er]

Milk Chocolate Maxi's in a muzzloader hunters Easter basket!Dark chocolate for something a little harder.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Actually, the motor oil and beeswax slugs will weigh more, and go further, than those plastic slugs you describe. That is why my father came up with the formula. He needed something that would shoot accurately to the top of his second story house, to reach the wasp nests under the gutters. Distance was between 15 and 20 feet. And, then, the slugs needed enough energy that they would knock off the nests before splatting against the bottom of the gutter, or against the soffit. The plastic slugs didn't work. The wax and oil slugs worked beautifully. He weighed them on his powder scale, but we are talking 50 years ago, and I just don't remember the different weights. He was using a .32-20 rifle, BTW, and not a .45 cal. MLer. Later he used his .357 Magnum, Single Shot rifle for this task. You only have to be stung once when you are at the top of an extension latter to appreciate being able to use a gun that made NO noise to shoot wasp nests down from gutters.

 

[bingo1952]

How 'bout Milk Duds, no pun intended. They are kinda round. :rotf: :rotf:

 

[roundball]

"...I have a bag on the way for testing.."
http://www.nles.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=1994?utm_source=froogle...

Just heard from them...B/O was filled and they've shipped...if I have time I'll make a temporary bullet trap even if its nothing but thick cardborad with old towels inside so I can mic them and see their condition after being fired...see if they can be reused, etc.

(with turkey season almost here and chores to do before it starts, I may not get to test until May)

 

[roundball]

The .43cal solid rubber balls arrived today:

SO-SO NEWS:
They don't mic .430"...they average .410" so I think they'll have too windage in a .45cal so I'm not even going to bother trying in a .45cal.

GOOD NEWS:
They appear to be manufactured to pretty tight tolerances, just a few thousandths variation.

THE REAL GOOD NEWS:
With just a wink of thumb movement on the vernier wheel of the dial caliper they snug down to .395"-.393" and should make for a perfect snug fit in a .40cal muzzleloader.

GOOD NEWS:
They are definitely made of 'dead rubber'...no bounce...no matter how hard I threw them down on the concrete floor of the garage, they'd barely come up off the floor 5-6 inches.

UNKNOWN NEWS:
They weigh 15grns...and while fairly light, I'm optimistic they'll do well with a snug fit in the small .40cal bore with a good head of steam.

Next report will be after I get a chance to test them...have plenty...and if any .40cal shooters out there also want to test some,send me a PM.