Carpenter bees

C

cecILL

New member
Hello Everyone. Going to load up some .38 shot shells for an obvious reason.

Watched some youtube videos. Seeking any knowledge and or advice.

Have Unique and 7.5 shot.
 
It is reported that the Second Marquess of Ripon used dust to shoot insects out of the air
as practice for the game fields.

The Marquess died in 1923 and no one has come a long to exceed his shooting
ability.
 
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I don't know what range you are shooting them from, but airsoft ball would probably kill them just fired with a primer, and you'd do less damage to the house if you shoot at one of then at one of their holes. You'd need some sort of wad behind them to form a pressure seal, though.

This also might be an opportunity to buy a BB gun and lean instinct shooting. Make it a little more sporting. ;)
 
I used to have a tall blind that was close to a tree. I constantly had squirrels trying to move in so I started carrying my S&W model 10 with CCI shot rounds with me. Sure enough, one afternoon I opened the door and surprised a squirrel making a nest on my chair. He ran up the wall and stopped in the corner (about 5 feet from my muzzle). I let him have it and it killed him dead as a hammer instantly, however, I was amazed at the hole it blew in my tin roof. CCI uses #9 shot in those loads.
 
7.5 shot is too big for pistol (and for dove with a shotgun, in my opinion). 8 or 9 (or even smaller) would be better, and distance of 30 or more feet is needed, unless you want to destroy something they are on, or in. Unique is probably not the best powder. It is medium slow. Great for 158 gr lead. Bullseye would seem more appropriate. Do you have load data? Or shot capsules?
Probably a lot easier to buy 38 shotshells.
FWIW, I have never been impressed with the results of the very few pistol shot shells I have fired. Patterning? Forget it. Snake loads? Nah, use a shovel.
12 gauge 1 1/8 #8 over WSF can get you 1400 fps, for a hot dove load. Should be lethal to insects and wood (will penetrate a cinder block at close range - the middle breaks out).
 
My Pop had the same problem,,,

My Pop had the same problem,,,
So I bought an El-Cheapo break-open Chinese made pellet pistol.

Cock the pistol normally and close the barrel,,,
Pour a .22 short case full of salt down the barrel,,,
Pop was downing the critters on the fly out to about 8 feet.

He was a veritable Anti-Bee sniper in no time at all.

Aarond

.
 
I use fuel injector cleaner in spray cans...
Not exactly 'Firearms' related, or enviorment friendly,but with a 20' range and bees fall dead out of the air, it works.
Did I mention I'm allergic to bee stings? Makes this particular chore a life & death blood feud between me and anything flying that can potentially sting...

Like people that don't know snakes, every snake is a 'Deadly Rattle-Headed-Copper-Moccasin', around here, if it flies it dies!
 
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Shot fired out of a rifled barrel flies in a spiral that sends the shot all over everywhere. Causes big holes in the pattern.
As with mosquitoes, it's the female Carpenter bee that has the stinger. And they don't often use it. The boys are just posturing like teenage humans.
Aerosol carburetor cleaner on the bees or on their burrows is supposedly the best thing. WD-40 works like hot dam on Yellow Jackets.
 
I like pistol shotshells for snake medicine and load mine with 7 1/2 and 8 shot with Unique powder. I don't recommend 7 1/2 for flying bees. Too much chance of causing damage and richochets coming back at you. Not shotshell related but some have had success faking a hornets nest. Take a small paper bag, crumple it up, stuff with newspaper, tie the mouth of the bag and hang it in the area of the carpenter bees and they will leave. Hornets are the enemy of other bees. Mine hanging under my eave have kept wasps from building in the area. Not one wasp nest close by in the last two years. I for added reality used a black magic marker and drew the shape of a few hornets on the bag. I've also spent a few hours swatting the carpenter bees with a badminton racket.
 
1.5oz of #12 shot over 30 grains of clays should do the trick!!:D

I use a hot/caustic soap (purple soap) mixed 50/50 with water in a squirt bottle. That cuts em down!
 
Buy the Speer plastic shot cups unless you really like cleaning lead out of the barrel. You'll also get better groups because the plastic protects the shot better from deformation. Fill them until you can just get cap on but without any rattling of the shot. Number 12 shot would probably be best for carpenter bees, something heavier for snakes and chipmunks. The box comes with recommended loads for a few popular powders. You can use other loads using starting loads for a lead bullet of the weight of the shot and cup (about 120 gr for .38 Special/.357 Magnum) This is for my revolvers, I cannot work up loads for your pistol. I found that I got better groups with slightly higher loads than Speer put in their box for .38 Special (I was shooting them in a .357 Magnum revolver.)
 
20 years and longer, we had plenty of carpenter bees and bumblebees. Running over an in ground nest of bumblebees with the tractor always added excitement to the day's activities.

Grandpa would mix gasoline and DDT and have at it with them. I would not
recommend that concoction.

The only time we had trouble was when accidentally disturbing a nest.

Then the fire ants moved in. Nearly all the bumble and carpenter bees are gone.

When I was a kid, I sharpened my skills with a Benjamin pellet rifle.
 
I make 357 shot shells ... 4.5gr 700x ... 2 cardboard disks over powder lightly tamped, about 90gr of shot, another cardboard disk, heavy crimp and then candle wax dripped on top. I used a sharpened 38 case to cut the disks from cereal boxes (case, hammer and a block of wood... went thru a few cases but it did a good job).

Fun to shoot, absolutely no recoil and really good spread at 7 yards.
 
Thanks for the replies!

Used 5gns Unique, wads from file folders and wax over the top. The 7.5 shot is definitely too big, not much shot, about 65 gns, but not a terribly bad pattern.

Second batch, subbed walnut polishing media for the shot. I think we have a winner.
The carpenter bees are a little tough for the "Bug-a-salt" guns. The bees are in my garden vegetable prep area, so the poisons are a no-go.

Next batch will be .357s, just for the extra case capacity. Maxims would be better yet, but no brass.
 
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