Multi Ball Pistol Loads? - Get wadded ..

Way back in time - before lawful New Zealand shooters came under fire from a punitive regime bent on BANNING GUNS .. I developed and had fun shooting DUPLEX LOADS in a couple of my pistols.

- As part of the "new" - long prepared - restrictions that were passed through parliament under eager haste - a rule was introduced banning ammunition from having multiple projectiles .. because this might be intended to defeat ballistic vests. - So I could no longer pass my tool to a shooting mate and watch the fun after firing five shots at a new paper target and counting TEN HOLES.

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2018/10/first-ever-recorded-firearm.html

I'm unsure as to whether NZ Police Heirarchy have heard of SHOT SHELLS .. but there you go - they are banned.

The two loads that I had fun with were my 10mm Glock 20 using 2 cast truncated cone projectiles loaded into the brass case 'back-to-back' .. and the second "Duplex" was for my Ruger 327 Magnum revolver where I worked-up a load using a light weight bullet PLUS a caliber sized round lead ball loaded in tandem.

Both of these (327 Mag and 10mm Auto) cartridges are great for tandem-duplex loads as they are longer cases than average - as also would be the 357 Magnum and 44 Magnum.

My initial idea was inspired by BOWLING PIN MATCHES - where the ideal 'Pin' caliber seemed to be that 'Slow Slug' .45" acp which was ideal for pushing bowling pins off the table - while my 10mm Glock splintered pins and left the shattered pins spinning around in any direction other than back & off.

My two 10mm cast lead "plates" with a light charge of powder did the trick by making "snake eyes" on target while sticking inside the pin's plastic coat to deliver a nice rearwards shove. 'BRILLIANT' I thought and I then declared this load to be perfect for IPSC 'double taps' onto the cardboard but a spoilsport IPSC Director (Thanks JD mate) said he would simply weigh each pill and declare them to be disqualified as underweight.

A couple of years back I had a laugh by asking our Club President did he think that the Police Service BAN on 'Duplex' ammunition would mean that any MUZZLE LOADER shooter who absent mindedly shoved a second ball down his smokepole barrel or into a revolver's chamber would be guilty of TREASON & the retained death penalty .. He did get a bit red in the face at my question.

ANYWAY .. I've been thinking again, - and my inspiration is that many shooters use a WAD to seperate the charge of propellant from the projectile. This WAD can be made from a variety of materials not restricted to polymer, - cardboard, - wool felt .. dry lubed or greased .. or even screwed-up paper, cotton moistened with spit, or animal skin, fabric wrapping etc.

- Where does any set of Service limitations dictate that a wad may not be made of a metal foil such as LEAD - or what thickness or shape the wad may not exceed - or again - must a wad be placed before or behind a projectile?

Just saying - but "LEAD SINKER FISHING STRIP SOFT ROLL" is offered for sale by Chinese Company AliExpress in various widths and thicknesses that can be cut to size and rolled to shape - Just saying eh. - but how many "wads" might an enthusiast punch-out from a roll of soft lead? - If lubrication is a high priority you might stick a card wad to each leaden disc and grease it for placement away from the powder but next to the ball. A 'composite wad'. - Is there any limit to what you might or might not do with malleable lead pushed out from the muzzle of a black powder charcoal burner?

Might somebody roll about and encase something in lead ? - What effect might a small 'can' of lead filled with plasticine modeling clay have on a softish target? - Who knows - not me 'cos I'm too old & past-it

Blackie Thomas is a black powder cheapskate developing his lubed wads on video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFb-UgewX8Q

INDEPENDANCE DAY ..

- Have you heard of a 'HAMMER SWAGE' ? .. For sure many projectiles commercially are made from chopped lead wire that is fed into a swaging machine to be pressed into a cavity forming the nose & tail shapes. - Shooters can use a much simplified version of this technique to cure a mismatch or shortages 

.. Imagine that you need some .36 inch projectiles but what you have in the shed are .44" caliber. - find a nice lump of steel and drill a hole through it of the right size - find or make an old bolt to fit the hole and use it as a punch to hammer your .44" balls through the hole and Voila and miraculously you now have .36" sized bullets.

Butt t  .. what if you've got .36 inch balls when you fancy a handful of .44" caliber pills? - Get out that drill and make your .44" caliber sized hole and another well fitting old bolt - drop each 36" in and give it a healthy whack with the hammer & bolt against something hard and I bet you've now got a load of light-weight fourtyfours. You could even load them two at a time .. Useful Link:

https://svartkrutt.net/articles/vis.php?id=32

There you go,

Have Fun .. Life IS good eh,

Marty K.