Making a wad cutter for my ROA

I'm glad if I could help a bit. One other thing you may want to consider. I cut my felt into strips about 3" wide and 24" long. I put this in the melted lube, allow the excess to drip off, then put it on a piece of wax paper to set. Then sprinkle a bit of corn starch on the strip. Then I punch the wads. They punch a lot cleaner with the stiffness the lube provides. It is a whole lot easier than lubing them individually. It also gives a uniform amount of lube to each wad.

I also sent you a Private Mail.

Hope you guys are still around. Just gettin into shootin my ROA. These wads seem like a great idea to keep some of the mess down.
I cut my own patches for my rifles. I use the hole cutters you get for your hand drill or drill press. I grind the teeth off them and make the cylinder sharp. Cuts patches great. Can the same thing be used to cut the felt disks? What felt do you use for the disks? What thickness does it have to be? Can you use felt that may be locally available and not have to send for it. Also and finaly is Crisco and corn starch as good as anything for lube?

thanks for the help

Thumbs,

I have a 1/2" arch punch for making wads. They are available at most hardware stores or places like Harbor Freight. I use the same size wad in .44, .45, and .50 caliber guns. I just use a piece of HMWP for a backup. You can use a plastic cutting board from Wal-mart. Works just as well and is cheap. A piece of wood also will work, just gets used up faster. As I mentioned above, I dust the wads with corn starch to prevent sticking. As far a felt goes, I just use the wool stuff from the fabric store. It is cheap and will hold plenty of lube. For lube, I use Beeswax and EVOO, 50/50 for most shooting. I do vary the lube for hot summer and cold WI winters. I know some guys use duro-felt and other heavy duty stuff, but in my 20 years of competition shooting, I have never found a need to change.

Hey thanks for the help. What is this wool stuff your using? We have a fabric store up the road that probably willit. How thick is it and does it have a name? I use Beeswax but what is this EVOO stuff? One last question...What load do you use when using the wadd? I would like to use a load without filler but I don't know if that is possible. I am hunting now and use the OA for a final shot if needed. Right now I have it loaded with 40gr of 777 and rb. That may be a pretty stout load but without filler there is still plenty of room. I sure it's not the most accurate load. What have you found to be a good all around load for the OA?..

thanks for the help

The felt is Durofelt.

EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Don't you ever watch Rachel Ray!! :hmm: )

I am using a 45/70 casing spinning on a drill press to cut my wads.

Currently, I am melting Crisco and using that as a wad lube.

I couldn't find 100% wool felt. I could only get 35% wool. Hope this works. I'm gonna cut them with a 1/2" sharpened hole saw.

Is there any good reason to use these same wads under a patched round ball in a .50cal rifle? Is there any advantage?

Make sure your felt does not contain synthetics. I hear they will melt when the powder is combusting.

You can buy Durofelt here.
[url] http://www.durofelt.com/image_26.html[/url]

Old Wolf answered the EVOO question. 100% wool felt is available at most fabric stores. Just ask. I use lubed wads under everthing I shoot. Also under the bullet in my BPC stuff. A wad lubed with a stiff BW/EVOO mix will not degrade your powder. I have used BPC that I have loaded a couple of years before firing that work just fine. As far a loading goes, with the ROA, a light load may require filler. It depends if you can fully seat the ball in the cylinder before bottoming out the seating ram. For SASS and target shooting, I generally use filler because I like to keep the ball as close to the end of the cylinder as possible, as long as they do not protrude beyond the end. For hunting I pack in the max load, a wad, and then the ball. No filler necessary.

Holly Cow... What is the stuff you need on that site. There's a ton of stuff with different thickness and density.

The big place for material says they never have 100% wool felt. They told me ya gotta go to a high end place to get 100% wool felt. I find that hard to believe but that is what they say. I may have to order it. Any suggestions as to where to get this stuff locally? JoAnns doesn't have it.

thanks

You're looking for FM18h. Here's the exact page link:
[url] http://www.durofelt.com/image_26.html[/url]

I just called in an order today. She's not accepting orders after the 18th, and won't accept anymore till sometime in February. Stuff's cheap and she ships free in CONUS.

Ok thanks

I just got off the phone with her. She is shipping today. She must be getting a few orders from us. She knew exactly what I wanted it for before I told her. :haha:

Prowler
Now how exactly do you apply the patch lube? I will be useing a 1/2 inch hole cutter for the wads.
If I could get the stuff from that local fabric shop I would have but I just can't find it.



Thanks for the help

Thumbs,

I just melt the lube, whatever you are using, in a double boiler, which is just a pan in boiling water. I cut my felt into about 3" wide strips and soak them in the melted lube. I then lay them flat on wax paper on the counter and just run a flat plastic squeege or wide putty knife over them lightly from end to end, just to remove any excess lube. The excess lube can go right back into the pan. I then just let them harden. They will peel right off of the wax paper. I then lightly dust them with a bit of corn starch, so they don't stick together in my arch punch. I then punch them out and put them in a plastic bag. I normally add maybe a teaspoon more of corn starch and shake the bag to make sure they all are loose. I store mine in an old chewing tobacco tin for cowboy shooting, looks a little more PC. The rest I store in prescription drug bottles until needed. They will last forever, depending on the lube. Some guys freeze them, but I use a BW/EVOO mixture and never had any problems with storing them in the bottle. My normal mix is 50/50 BW/EVOO. In the summer hot weather, I change it to 60/40. If they get really soft, just sprikle a bit more corn starch on them. The corn starch has no effect on firing or fouling. I just keeps them from melting in the hot sun and your fingers don't get sticky while loading them ROA's or whatever you shoot. By the way, the fabric store stuff thats about 35% wool, will work just fine too. Our shooting bunch has been using it for years. The small amount of synthetic just vaporizes and doesn't cause a problem. It is also much cheaper.

Thanks Prowler

I'm shootin an ROA. I'll mix up some luge this weekend and put it in a mold to use when the felt comes in. It will be nice not to have to lube over the ball. Not to mention a lot cleaner.

FWIW, when I make lube batches, I pour it into those paper liners that the wife makes cupcakes in. Makes a good mold, not to large, and is easy to remove. Then I don't have to mess with such a large volume when remelting for patches, wads, or lubing bullets. If you make different mixes, use a separate color for each mix. Otherwise they all look alike. :thumbsup:

Prowler
Hey I took some of the wool felt I got locally and put a torch to a piece of it. Of course it caught on fire. I let it burn to see if it melted with the synthetic stuff that was in it. When it was done it was just ash. It was all soft and didn't feel any hard plastic that you would think you would get if it melted. I don't know if that means I can use it or not but I was suprised it didn't melt. The major problem is it's .037" thick. How thick do ya figure the wad has to be to put in the ROA?