Using wasp nest??

I found a couple wasp/hornet nests(?) this year while hunting and lugged'em home,remembeing reading that they are sometimes used as an OP wad?

What is the "normal" application for using this?Over powder between a conical?OP w/shot?OP AND over shot?I don't have a ML shotgun anyhow,just asking?Is there any advantage to using wasp nest with conicals or PRB?How much nest material should one use?Measure by volume or just stuff a wad of'er down there?

I've only heard of it being used for wadding in a smoothbore. Not sure what, if any benefits it would have in a rifle. :idunno:

Sam Fadala is big on using wasp nest to prevent burning the patch. I believe he used it between powder and patched ball, if I'm not mistaken.

OK thanks guys.I may have answered my own Q since posting?Did some research/reading old posts etc.

It seems the most popular use is with birdshot as an OP wad,but there are some that use it under a PRB and claim better accuracy,probably conicals too for the same reasons?#1 as CK said is to prevent patch burning.#2 is to prevent the lube from gunking up and contaminating the powder charge,which I would guess would result in more consistant MV and tighter groups?
It makes sense to me that it would provide a better seal under conicals as well?Wutdahell,it's free,I'm gonna give it a try.

I wonder about styrofoam.
If it wouldn't harm the gun, I'd rather disintegrate that stuff than send it to the landfill.

Styro will burn and foul the bore, I use wasp nest as an op wad to prevent lube from contaminating the powder charge, the cool thing about wasp nest is it is resistant to smoldering, making it less likely you will catch the forest on fire.

if you are not in to modern wadding for your smooth boar then there is paper wadds and wasp nests paper will burn and in a dry woodlands can start a forest fire wasp nesting will not burn like paper I just use paper in the winter and wasp nest summer and fall

wasp nest keeps the patch for burning and adds sealing the bore. it can be used over powder in shot loads. but would not use as over shot.
it work in rifles to keep the heat of the base of the bullet. to prevent leading or patch burning with round ball.
I use wasp nesting in black powder cartridge rifle shells .43 spanish. 11mmm mauser. 44-77 rem.
with very good results

Never tried wasp's nest material, but have tested hornet's nest material (from the large gray color football shape nests). Tried it as an OP wad in a smoothbore with shot loads, worked OK and does not burn (made of mud & hornet's siliva).

In my .62cal bore I had to tear off and stuff loose hornet's nest material into about the first 3" of the muzzle in order to get a decent thickness wad when it was all compressed down hard.
The down side it does not carry any lube into the bore and not sure if it would absord lube anyway.

Hornet/wasp nest are used as a "filler" or as an Over Powder wad, to act as a firewall between the powder and a PRB, in both smooth bore, and rifled guns. You can break off a piece and shove it down the barrel, with your ramrod, OR, like a pipe smoker, you can break off some of the nest, then rub it between your palms to break the fibers up into shreds, so that they can be dropped down the bore, and then packed down with the ramrod, before loading the PRB.

Poor people made due with whatever nature gave them. Old paper catalogs, when they weren't being used in the outhouse, might find a page or two taken to use as "stuffing" in a shotgun or MLer rifle. Dried or green leaves, grasses, tree barks, etc. have all be used by long hunters when they ran out of materials they brought with them from civilization.

I found that crushing or "shredding" hornet nests, to create short, long pieces of the nest seems to pack the most consistently, when compared to shoving a "chunk" of nest material down the barrel.
Your experiences may vary, of course. :thumbsup:

If you know a pipe smoker, ask him to let you watch how he packs his pipe. The same "method" works when loading shredded hornet's nest material down your barrel. Then, just like with a pipe, tamp it down tight.

In pipe smoking, the tobacco is dropped down into the bowl of the pipe, loosely, until the pipe seems full. Then that is tamped down Hard.

You end up with only the bottom 1/3 of the bowl actually full of tobacco. You repeat the process, filling the bowl with loose tobacco, and then tamp down this SECOND filling with only MODERATE FORCE. This fills the bowl 1/2-2/3 full.

You repeat the process, filling the remainder of the pipe with a third offering, and then tamp that tobacco down LIGHTLY.

Now, when the pipe is lit, outdoors( where you get enough oxygen for most pipes to stay lit. Indoors, there simply is not enough oxygen in the air to do this, unless you have lots of windows open and fans going.) the tobacco will continue to burn slowly, without going out, until all the tobacco is finally burned, whether you inhale the smoke or not.

When you see a pipe smoker constantly relighting his tobacco, or digging around in the bowl with a pick or knife to loosen up the packed tobacco, He hasn't packed his tobacco correctly. BTDT. OUCH! :surrender: :hmm: To get a consistent "firewall" using either hornet, or wasp nest material, consider loading it in layers, just like a pipe is loaded with tobacco. :hmm: