Less lethal alternative to lead

[hawkeye2]

Wax bullets can cause a serious injury. I've shot wax from a .44 Remington with a cap and maybe 4 grains of 3f and it would penetrate a piece of Masonite. It would take considerably more powder to force a wax bullet the length of a rifle barrel. If you have a cookoff while loading just the powder alone can cause injury if your hand is over the muzzle. Any projectile can do damage that close. The paintballs I'm familiar with are about .40 caliber and are fairly tough but I don't know if they are strong enough to stand being shot and ramming them down might bust them.

 

[ppg1949]

Thanks for all the responses. I should have been more specific. I'm looking for something light enough that it probably won't kill someone or blow through my hand if something goes terribly wrong. Hence, my thoughts about cork or wax. Zinc and brass are still mostly as dense as lead, so not worth the trouble. Clay, plastic, maybe. With paintballs, I worry that they'd shatter and get paint everywhere, but maybe worth a try.

Smaller projectiles like corn kernels will lose their energy quickly, but won't allow me to replicate the loading of a single roundball.

Of course, the side benefit of anything besides lead is that it's non-toxic.

Many decades ago my brother had an unmentionable handgun that he had wax projectiles for it that he had bought at a gun show. They appeared to have come out of a regular mold. I won’t go into the specifics of how they were loaded except to say they were hard wax. Once upon a time, I made decorative candles in odd shapes. This was many decades ago but I think I had to add glycerin or something to the wax to harden it to hold the odd shapes. My brother’s wax projectiles were non lethal but I bet they would leave a mark if not a bruise through summer weight clothes. If you did find the correct size, I would think that an over the powder wad would be needed.

 

[morehops52]

After reading your reasons twice I have to say that I think your fears are certainly possible but to change a ML'r into what is essentially a parlor gun just doesn't make rational sense to me unless you wanted a parlor gun which is counter to your OP. If you would go to trouble of making non-lethal ammo just in case of a accidental catastrophic incident I might suggest that muzzloading may not be for you. Or Perhaps finding a small( .17-.22) cal pistol to be used at close range and small charges would suit your requirements better. I wouldn't want a Corvette that was limited to 20mph just in case I hit a tree some time.

 

[Trigger]

I'm looking to do some experimentation with historical shooting methods and would feel better if I could replace lead roundball with something lighter in my smoothbore. Of course, I'm still going to treat the piece as a deadly weapon and will not aim it anywhere near other people, but I still want a substitute for lead. It should be something sturdy enough to be loaded and rammed like a lead ball. I'm thinking of either getting a bullet mold and casting the balls out of wax (is that possible?), or buying the cork balls that are sold for fishing purposes. Any tips?

Sounds like your just shooting air.

Why are you even trying to shoot a projectile at that point? Just use powder and like newspaper or wads whatever.

Do you shoot at a real gun range?

I don't understand what your doing?

Yes there probably allot of stuff you can shoot from a smoothbore. but I'd still have a backstop and all.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

make some darts from wood dowels and coat hangers

 

[Grenadier1758]

Having shot more than my share of blanks, although with enough powder to make a bang with just the powder and no wadding, I will caution that the discharge will send a very strong jet of very hot gasses that can cause injury. This is not something to be trifled with. Anyone who has unloaded a rifle with a CO2 discharger can testify to force from a CO2 discharging a round ball. At short distances even a wax or cork ball is a projectile that could cause injury even with very light charges. Can't say that I would support any of the recommendations previously offered.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Many years ago a mate and I used to fight duels using a near mint pair of flintlock duelling pistols that he had.
We cast pure beeswax balls and about 3 grains of powder, they were accurate to about 20 feet
Don’t know their penetration level but we wore leather dress gloves, military greatcoats and welding face masks.
The trick to casting was to fill the mould including the sprue cutter then slowly immerse the mould in cold water.

 

[Banjoman]

I don’t understand what you are trying to achieve.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

I watch a feller on YouTube who does ALOT of reviews, chatting and shooting with Indian made Muskets, pistols, etc. He's fun to watch and he shoots mostly clay balls that he makes using a Lee round ball mold. I myself have used shredded tin foil to make a confetti cannon out of my Kentucky rifle. And rolled up compressed tight tin foil balls are fun to shoot. The don't go very far, nor fly very straight but fun nonetheless.

 

[Indy Durtdigger]

Whew. Between this and the thread looking to alter your black powder I'm starting to paint a pic of something super ill advised. I hope I'm way off base here, but sort of looks like you're trying to figure out a way to have reenactments with some sort of live ammo.

 

[scott7549]

with a glue gun they could be injected into the sprue hole?

Yes. If you have the proper mold just use glue gun to inject into the mold. I do this for 38 special and 45 Colt.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

Dude just load up with a batch of cheesy puffs. They are light doubt they'd do any damage and they are orange for safety. " It ain't easy being cheesy" (Yes I know that cheetos)

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks for all the responses. I should have been more specific. I'm looking for something light enough that it probably won't kill someone or blow through my hand if something goes terribly wrong. Hence, my thoughts about cork or wax. Zinc and brass are still mostly as dense as lead, so not worth the trouble. Clay, plastic, maybe. With paintballs, I worry that they'd shatter and get paint everywhere, but maybe worth a try.

Muzzle loading arms simply don't work that way.

Even if you have nothing loaded, the force of the expanding gasses will burn your hand pretty well.

You forget, when loading the projectile of ANY TYPE you still have to use the metal or wooden rammer, and that could and would "go through" your hand and could go down range and kill somebody, even if you are just loading a blank round and a paper wad.

Drop something lightweight down that tube, and you are going to create a barrel obstruction and blow your barrel. It's highly unlikely that you're going to get that wax, or cork, or rubber, or paintball, or hardened resin, or clay ball to drop down and to land on the powder every time. Be advised, historically, the fellows using the emergency non-ramming of a musket ball were facing a choice of shoot or die AND were dropping an ounce of lead, down their barrels. The lead ball gave them the chance it would reach the powder. (Sometimes it didn't) Your attempted solutions are in fact creating a scenario where "something goes terribly wrong".

LD