I'm reviving an old technique for shooting plain base rifle bullets. Wax wads. My first trial consists of A.O.Niedner's formula: 2 parts beeswax/2 parts Japan Wax/1 part colloidal graphite - as published in Phil Sharpe's handloading book, and measured out in ounces (2,2,&1). Initial mix didn't turn out too good, it was rather hard and flaky. I re-melted everything and added another 1/2oz. Japan Wax plus one teaspoon of castor oil. Bingo, it pours nicely onto wax paper and flows out to about a heavy 1/16" thick puddle. Cools/hardens quickly. Cut into 3"x3" squares and squirrel away with wax paper between them.
The plan is to use them in .32-40 breech seating. There's no risk of leading in the way I'm currently doing it (14 grains 4227, 1:20 alloy 185gr. bullet) but I'm always scouting for a little more of an edge in accuracy. Last season I hit upon using dental wax wads (available in sheet form, on eBay) in the mouths of these cartridges and I saw a distinct increase in accuracy out of my two .32-40 High Wall competition guns. But, I also discovered some fairly nasty hard wax buildup in the throat when I went to clean them. I didn't like the looks of that, despite the great accuracy. Hence the search for a friendlier wax wad - and I figured "why re-invent the wheel when guys like Niedner, Roberts, Sharpe, et al already did the legwork over 100 years ago?" (But actually their efforts were geared toward increased velocity with less or no leading.)
If it works as hoped I'll expand the experiment to other cast bullet applications. The old timers also used graphite-bearing wax wads behind jacketed bullets (for added velocity), but the reportage at the time had mixed reviews. We shall see about that also.
Protocol for use: simply press the sheet of wax over the mouth of the charged case, like a cookie cutter, leaving a thin wad of wax in the case mouth. Seat bullet, or in my instance shove the thing into the chamber behind a bullet pre-seated up into the rifling ahead of the chamber. I had been using wads punched out of 1/8" hard felt or card wads punched out of bar coasters - but they were more for keeping the powder from spilling out of the case on its journey into the chamber than an edge for accuracy or to combat leading.
Stay tuned boys and girls.
