leather wads, chewed RB and Buck n ball loads

I partially covered this in the Flintlocks section ("Chewed round ball"), but, my purpose in posting this here is more in ref to using a leather 5/8" leather wads instead of the store bought fiber wads etc.
Anyone here have any exp. in this and with what results?
Now, I plan on doing this out of my Howdah, so accuracy will almost be a moot point as the barrels are 12" long but I am still curious as to a DIY option to store bought options.
Below are a cpl vids from the guy I got most of my info on all the above mentioned topics and as good a resource as He seems to be, I am always up for secondary opinions (preferably based on experience)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qXWUc7K7Tg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRe_8fkumE8

Leather wads punched from scrap leather seem to work as well as felt for me. You can lube them the same as felt if you want but they work dry as well. You can use just about anything within reason with these smoothbores although your gun may "prefer" one method over another.

I thought the Howdah was a rifled pistol?

As for wadding, anything that blocks the gases from mixing with the pellets will do. One gets better patterns if the wad sits level on the powder, than if it ends up at a slight angle on the powder. The expaniding wads, aka those from felted wool, cork, and other materials, are more of an improved wad for choked, smooth bores. They expanded to the interior diameter of the bore after passing the restriction of the choke at the muzzle.

Now as for single projectiles, wadding will give you more velocity as it may prevent gas from escaping around the ball as it moves toward the muzzle. There is no issue of not having the powder level and a level wad on top of it.

LD

I thought the Howdah was a rifled pistol?

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They are up close smoothies. Developed in India and Africa as a last chance weapon to keep wounded lions and tigers from attacking the hunter. There may have been some rifled ones at some point in history but, generally, smooth big bores.

I have never made wads of leather but have made from the covers of three ring binders.

I did experiment with leather patching for my .54 rifle though. The thicker leather requires a much smaller ball. Like a .50 ball in a .54 rifle.

Many Klatch

there are 5 models I am aware of Via DGW; a .50 cal dbl, a .58 cal dble a 20 ga. dble (mine) and then "Kodiak" types, 20 ga + .50 and 20 ga. + .58.

Mine is just the 20 ga. dble.

now THAT is interesting as I also have an 1803 Harpers Ferry in .54. May have to experiment with this too.

Since I make my own punches and have lots of leather scraps, I have been using leather wads for many years. I find them as good or better than felt and for me they are free. :idunno: :idunno:

what diameter and thickness for a .54 rifle?
The bloke who posted those vids already told me a 5/8" worked well for a 20 ga./ .600 cal round ball in a smooth bore.

Not saying I'm an expert, but I always have a lot of leather scraps laying around and have played a bit with using it for wads, and even for patches. From what I've tried I have been happiest with 8-10 oz latigo for wads and both lightweight chap leather and upholstery leather for patches.

I tried deer hide for patches and it worked great too. In a lot of ways the thinner leather for patches worked so well, it's always made me suspicious of all these "historical" soap boxes for ticking. Why would anyone use expensive cloth back in the day, when leather was close at hand?

Are we confusing wads and patching? I think of wads as felt-used with shot for a shotgun load. Patching- I think of that as surrounding a single ball. I've read that rabbit skin(thin leather) might have been used as patching in some rare cases. Leather in place of felt for a shotgun load type wad would seem to work about the same.

crockett said:

Are we confusing wads and patching?

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I was kinda affeared of the same thing. That's why I spelled out both and provided links to the different types of leather.

My thoughts exactly. And I have plenty of both being a leather worker. As the younger generations wld say; WIN!

There does appear to be a mite of confusion going on here. The 17th & 18th references speak of using old saddle leather, meaning a thicker and heavily compressed leather, due to age and use, for making wads for fowlers. No cards mentioned, possibly because the leather cushioning wad didn't require it.

on the topic of what long hunters, soldiers and Mountain men had on hand rather than NOT cheap cloth... what about rawhide as wads? Provided they were cut from a flat section at least.

References such as to "an old saddle piece" are not necessarily referring to leather but may well be talking about the thick (1/8-1/4") wool pads often used under the saddle. Personal experience with both thick wool and 1/8" leather have been pretty good. On the use of leather for patching, it would seem a logical use for something like squirrel.

I was referring to A.B. Markland's 1727 work, "Pteryplegia or, The Art of Shooting-Flying":

"Now search for Tow, and some old saddle pierce:
No Wadding lies so close or drives so fierce."

Usually thought to mean the leather for a card, if you will, but may indeed mean using the padding like tow for wadding.