Wax bullets will stop against any hard backstop, such as a piece of plywood or multiple layers of cardboard, but an even better backstop is an old bed sheet hung behind a paper target.

So, what are bullets made of. Here's your guide. ... Wax bullets are sometimes used for training and most pure-lead or lead-alloy projectiles have grooves with wax in them for lubrication.

Before there was paintball (which wasn't around until the 1980s), there was the much more painful game of wax bullet dueling! In the early 1900s, those who pined for the days of real duels decided ...

The bullets, however, were wax. Duelists were dressed like fencers in heavy canvas clothes with wire-and-glass face masks, their pistols augmented with metal hand guards.

Wax bullet dueling exhibitions even made a splash at the 1908 Olympics in London (photo above). Reported Popular Science that year: Great interest was taken in the bloodless dueling tournament at ...

Duelists fire wax bullets at one another in New York City in 1909. | Library of Congress Real dueling had very little to do with recognition of one’s skills and a lot to do with meting out ...

Q. I have an old box of Winchester-Western Super X .38 Colt hollow-point ammo. On the side of the box is “Lubaloy coated Bullet special dry wax lubricant.” ...

DUEL WITH WAX BULLETS.; Carnegie Club Gives Amusing Exhibition of French Sport. Share full article. March 11, 1909. Credit... The New York Times Archives.