{"id":546,"date":"2011-03-24T11:01:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T16:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/?p=546"},"modified":"2020-05-04T18:40:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T23:40:14","slug":"x-ring-rubber-pistol-bullets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/2011\/03\/x-ring-rubber-pistol-bullets\/","title":{"rendered":"X-ring rubber pistol bullets"},"content":{"rendered":"

X-ring rubber bullets have been around for more than a generation. Currently they are manufactured by the Meister Bullet & Ammunition Company<\/a>. Boxes of 50 retail for around $12.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

These should not be confused with “less lethal” or riot-control projectiles. Rather, these are reusable primer-powered training bullets. I tested both .38 and .44 caliber versions.
\n
\nBecause they are powered only be a primer X-rings carry very little energy: They certainly will not cycle an auto-loading action. But they function seamlessly in revolvers when correctly loaded: In order to prevent the detonating primer from jamming itself against a revolver’s breech face it is necessary to drill out the primer pocket’s flash hole to 3\/32″ on .38 brass and 1\/8″ on .44 or .45 brass. (Note that with these expanded flash holes that brass should never again be used with standard loads, so it’s important to mark and segregate brass for use with X-rings.)<\/p>\n

Loading X-ring ammunition is simple: seat a primer, then push a bullet into the neck of the case by hand. The average .38 X-ring bullet weighs 7.7gr, and the average .44 X-ring weights 14gr. I tested the .38s out of my 2″ S&W 642 revolver and the .44s out of my 3″ S&W 629. Longer barrels will only decrease muzzle velocity since primers produce so little propellant gas.<\/p>\n

On the .38 I tested both WSP and CCI 550 “Magnum” primers and didn’t detect any significant difference in velocity. On the .44 I used WLP primers. I measured the average velocity for each load at 5, 15, and 21 feet:
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Distance<\/th>\n.38<\/th>\n.44<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
5 feet<\/td>\n 450fps <\/td>\n 440fps <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15 feet<\/td>\n 360fps <\/td>\n 400fps <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
21 feet<\/td>\n 300fps <\/td>\n 330fps <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\nObviously these are not ballistically efficient projectiles. At these ranges they are as accurate as conventional ammunition, but even at 7 yards their point of impact has dropped almost a full foot due to their low velocity, which is decreasing so rapidly I don’t think they would be useful at much greater distances.<\/p>\n

The great thing is that because they are so light the bullets will stop inside a cardboard box with a towel draped in the middle. They are reusable — the manufacturer claims that if they’re cleaned with silicone lubricant they are good for 75-100 firings. I didn’t see any degradation after shooting them five times. I noted that the first bullet through a clean barrel leaves a thin stripe of rubber against any sharp rifling, and that seems to buffer subsequent shots against wear.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to clean a gun after shooting these: Any rubber peals away from the barrel with a single pass of a dry brush. However I was surprised at how dirty primers are: In the photo above you can see the fired nickel-plated case coated in a layer of soot, which also ends up in all the usual places on the gun. Immediately after testing I was able to wipe off all the fouling with a dry rag.<\/p>\n

If you’re using conventional (lead styphnate) primers I would hesitate to shoot them in unventilated indoor spaces because this lead-laced fouling doesn’t all settle on the gun: It’s dispersed in the air, and it’s not good for you, especially if it accumulates in an enclosed space.<\/p>\n

Finally a note of caution: These look like a tempting tool for close-quarters force-on-force training. Their impact energy is in the same league as a paintball, Simunition, or heavy air-soft pellet, which means that with adequate clothing and head protection these should in principle be safe to shoot at a real person. However, unlike those other projectiles X-rings fire from unmodified guns that are fully capable of shooting full-power ammunition. No matter how careful you are eventually a standard round will slip into a gun somebody thinks is loaded only with X-rings. Therefore, I would never fire these at a person, and I would always ensure my practice backstop can safely contain a real bullet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

X-ring rubber bullets have been around for more than a generation. Currently they are manufactured by the Meister Bullet & Ammunition Company. Boxes of 50 retail for around $12. These should not be confused with “less lethal” or riot-control projectiles. Rather, these are reusable primer-powered training bullets. I tested both .38 and .44 caliber versions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/po3d1-8O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1796,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}