Perfect fit, customizable projectiles

[kylesw]

Hey all I'm a first time poster, but I've been browsing through for information for quite awhile.

I'm a combustion enthusiast, and have been looking for a better, more controlled and adjustable ammo.

Now this has been mentioned before, but I have found paraffin wax (found at your local grocery store) to work the best.

Here are the steps I follow to make batches of 9 rounds at a time for a 1.5" barrel:

Cut up a section of PVC, for the best balance, make the sections as long as they are wide (example: 1.5" by 1.5").
Seal off one end of each section. I like to use no-stick foil, sealed on the sides by a .5" wide strip of duct tape
Put the sections open end up on paper plates
Take 1 lb of wax and melt it in a double boiler
Pour the wax into each section, place in the freezer and wait 10-20 minutes.

The best part about these is when the wax contracts when it freezes, it creates a concave indent in the rear, making it slightly front heavy so it flys well, and the diameter does not contract, so the fit is just about perfect.

On top of that, just about anything can be added to the wax before it solidifies. I can fit 8-10 paintballs in a slug, leaving an impressive mark on my target (plywood board, don't worry!). If you want more weight, I've found adding bb's, steel slingshot loads, lead weights, etc. work very well.

With my 4"x9" chamber propane powered gun, I can plug holes all day through 3/8" plywood. By adding some weight I have been able to shoot through 1" plywood!

Again sorry if this idea has been presented before, I just did not see any detailed write-up on it.

[An Apple Pie]

First of all, welcome to the forums!

While I have heard of a lot of people using wax (I never have), I have never heard of somebody putting stuff into it like paintballs, etc...

Nice little tutorial.

[BewareOfDog]

So... what's the inside of the barrel looking like after a dozen or so shots?

[kylesw]

Well none of the paintballs broke in the barrel, so it seems to be fine. Here are some pics to give you a better idea of the projectile:
Plain wax slug
<img src="http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4969/dsc03572av9.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/>
Paintball splatter:
<img src="http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/4651/dsc03573ja5.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/>
Sealed section of PVC:
<img src="http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/7591/dsc03579jc1.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/>

[mik]

I did things like this in my world cheapest spudgun. I did things like you did. my cheapest one's barrel's diameter is 2cm. more than you did. I put a nail in the middle of the wax rounds. and it work like the sabot rounds----but will not discarding sabot. I fill a shot barrel-15cm with wax. and dig a hole in the middle. In most case a hole will naturally formed during frozzing. when firing. It release lot of smog--tiny wax particle.(the hole's diameter become bigger after each firing. If the hole too small. the wax stuck too tight, could cause chamber explosion)

I use water-bath to melt the wax(a spendable container, a few water, in microwave oven)--No grocery here, I separate them from candle.

If you suffer difficulty when pick the wax candle out the tub. put it in hot water for 1 seconds.