Duelling pistol tales

Cut a .44 caliber wadcutter from wax using a 44 magnum case which had had the base cut off. Loaded it into my .45 caliber percusion pistol. Fired it with a Remington #10 cap. The bullet did not leave the gun, and I do not beleive it moved at all.

Will try this weekend with 2-3 grains of Pyrodex (can't replenish my supply of FFFg until I go to Friendship in September, Pyrodex is all I can buy until then).

So did it disentigrate or just not allow pressure to build? My guess would be you need ALLOT of wadding to allow the thing to build up pressure.

I was suprised that a 44 mag case (.429 ID) cut a wadcutter that was a tight fit in a 45 cal pistol. But my wax wadcutter did not slide down, it had to be pushed down. Then the cap did not seem to budge it. I removed it in pieces by cutting it up with an aluminum arrow shaft.

I plan to try with powder next, but probably not until this weekend.

Actually the arrow shaft is a home made blowgun that uses que-tips as projectiles. Now it is plugged with wax.

The wax wadcutters failed! I tried repeatedly with 5 and ten grains of powder (Pyrodex). I did not get ignition. The wax bullet either did not move or went ~ 1/2 way down the barrel. Seems Pyrodex needs more pressure than the wax wadcutter will provide. I had heard Pyrodex is hard to ignite, but it always works in this pistol behind led round balls.

Anyway dueling with wax bullets will not work with this pistol and Pyrodex. I plan to buy some real black powder at Friendship in a couple of weeks, I will repeat the experiment then.

I don't know how it would work with Black powder, but a .45 Long Colt brass case with a wax bullet and just a primer (although with a drilled out primer hole) will put a pretty nasty dent in a cake pan @ 10 yds. I for one would not like to be shot with a wax bullet after seeing that. I'm pretty sure it would leave a mark.
Wildcat

I have been left bleeding from paintball hits before, so it can't be all that bad. :curse: <<me after that PB hit.

Pondoro, any update?

Yeah, I went to Friendship to buy some powder (real stuff) but the vendors did not sell it, powder was sold at a special powder magazine. But the magazine was closed and I had to leave before they opened. So I am left with only Pyrodex, which doesn't work with wax...

Anyone know where I can get real black powder in Southern Ohio?

Any update yet? ::

I have a line on some real black powder ~ 40 miles from my home, I now need an excuse to go to beautiful Tipp City, Ohio, where Tippecanoe Traders says they sell Goex, plus a few other brands. It will not be this weekend as I have too many other commitments. But I do plan to try wax bullets in a percussion gun as soon as I get some BP.

BTW, this would be great in my AP history class to do "for the education of the children" :crackup:

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I think I recognize the tracks of a GT student here.

just curious - are you and another party going to shoot at each other with wax loads? all fun and games untill somebody loses an eye!
:m2c:

Long story about these wax bullets. If I can get some real black powder I intend to attempt to shoot wax bullets from my percussion pistol. This did not work with pyrodex. Assuming success I intend to shoot at cardboard boxes, tomatoes, etc, in an attempt to see if it would be safe to shoot a human. Not being a paintballer I do not have the proper gear to allow myself to be shot at, even assuming that this whole experiment should be successfull.

But I have speculated that a lot of guys my age are too old and slow to play paintball. Still we have all the inate silliness, excess testosterone, and lack of real stuff to do on the weekends that paintballers have. So "Wax bullet duelling" might be just the sport for us. We coould spend $$ on fancy pistols and antebellum outfits. We could argue in the historical clothing section over the proper widths for our lapels, and the cut of our fancy shirts. We could sport great drooping white mustaches, flowing gracefully beneath our protective face masks. We could insult each other:

"Suh, you have raised your vile insinuations for the last time, I will have satisfaction!"

Our seconds could stand by and our ladies (clad in faultless PC clothing) could swoon.

We could pace off 10 steps, turn, and fire.

This being the 21st century our ladies would then want to have some of the fun themselves. I would hate to be shot with a wax bullet while wearing a low-cut dress, but someone would try it, I guarantee it.

But I have speculated that a lot of guys my age are too old and slow to play paintball. Still we have all the innate silliness, excess testosterone, and lack of real stuff to do on the weekends that paintballers have. So "Wax bullet dueling" might be just the sport for us

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What you are suggesting is potentially VERY dangerous and should not be attempted in my opinion. Comparing it to paintball is a serious mistake since paintball masks must ALWAYS be worn while playing to avoid devastating eye injury or death. Also the velocity of a paintball is kept below 300 fps and I would guess even a small BP charge would propell a wax bullet a lot faster than that. Paintballs are made to shatter upon impact. Wax bullets are made to hold together and pierce a target cleanly and could do the same to a person. I would strongly suggest turning this thread back to it's original subject.

Thanks... LEJ

We have a dueling competition at our treks and rendezvous. Two shooters stand side by side with pistolos capped/primed and pointing at the[url] ground.In[/url] front of them is a cutout of a buzzard with soda cans hanging from the wings. The range master says "fire" and the two fire at the soda cans filled with water. the first can hit bursts and the weight of the other pulls it down swinging the head of the buzzard toward the "loser" We do this in successive rounds until ther is only one person left as the winner. It costs a dollar a round with the winner taking all. It's always a lot of fun and a great spectator sport. If they both miss they get one more try in the next round.