My Homemade Wads

for what it is worth I don't think you need %100 wool. I use a material that is a wool blend and have had no trouble with it melting or catching fire. even out of my carbines. the lube melts and prevents the wad from burning. I would not use the felt for arts and crafts as it is too thin and flexible I would think.

What punch do you use? 44 cal? 36 cal?

For 44, I use 15/32” from a cheap harbor Freight set.

I also use durofelt for making wads soaked in 1:1 beeswax/olive oil mixture. I use a 12 mm punch for the .44's in a drill motor to quickly punch out the wads. 12 mm is slightly oversize for .44's after the wads are soaked but here in Florida the temps are high enough that they are easily loaded using the lever. They keep the guns shooting tight groups without intermittent cleaning and makes for a simple clean up after a shooting session.

Red Owl, ive been using an old 7/16 arch punch i saved from being scrapped in the 44s, and an Osborne brand 3/8 for 36s. Bought the Osborne off amazon, it's made in the US, very good quality. I sharpen the punches up SHARP, as in knife sharp. I use a piece of oak or maple for the anvil, and use a 1lb. hammer. One tap like you mean it and move on. Very fast. I haven't tried a dead blow hammer or rubber mallet, so cant speak about them. Hth.

smoothshooter said:

If you want to save even more money, use .36 caliber wads in your .44’s.
Square wads work just as well as full-caliber wads. So do triangles.
Remember, wads are not gas seals; their only purpose is to carry lube.

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Good point about wads not being gas seals but rather lube dispensers. I finally came around to using lubed wads made of Durafelt after many years of competing with percussion revolvers and grease over ball lubing. It finally occurred to me that a lubed felt wad was the only way to insure the same amount of lube used with each progressive shot.
With grease over ball shooting each progressive shot blows more of the lube off the rest of the chambers yet to fired while accumulating fouling.

smoothshooter said:

If you want to save even more money, use .36 caliber wads in your .44’s.
Square wads work just as well as full-caliber wads. So do triangles.
Remember, wads are not gas seals; their only purpose is to carry lube.

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How about any “cleaning” action the wad may do as it travels down the bore. Think they remove and powder residue as they exit. I typically shoot 48 rounds and at the end of the session the bore is pretty grungy.
Cleans up pretty with Dawn and hot water though.

I didn't know the price of wads went up that much- I have a big supply but now I'll cot my own. Thanks.

Whugett, this is strictly my take on the actual cleaning effect. Please dont take it as a slight.

Ok, here goes. There is no cleaning action by the wads. None. Any fouling from previous shots is in front of a press fit ball. The ball will push out any soft fouling, kinda like squeezing out the last little bit of toothpaste. As for fouling from the current shot, its behind the wad. High pressure gas is pushing the wad against the ball at 8000 to 10000psi, or more. The lube is squeezed out of the wad and vaporized by the pressure and possibly the heat. Its the same concept of how a diesel engine works. I believe the vapor coats the bore and possibly mixes with the fouling, carrying it out of the bore. The vapor has more weight and momentum than the ash from burning black powder, so pulls it along for the ride. That's the reason the bore is clean immediately after shooting.

And there you have my personal take on that. Everyone is free to disagree, no offense taken.

Pete453 said:

Whugett, this is strictly my take on the actual cleaning effect. Please dont take it as a slight.

Ok, here goes. There is no cleaning action by the wads. None. Any fouling from previous shots is in front of a press fit ball. The ball will push out any soft fouling, kinda like squeezing out the last little bit of toothpaste. As for fouling from the current shot, its behind the wad. High pressure gas is pushing the wad against the ball at 8000 to 10000psi, or more. The lube is squeezed out of the wad and vaporized by the pressure and possibly the heat. Its the same concept of how a diesel engine works. I believe the vapor coats the bore and possibly mixes with the fouling, carrying it out of the bore. The vapor has more weight and momentum than the ash from burning black powder, so pulls it along for the ride. That's the reason the bore is clean immediately after shooting.

And there you have my personal take on that. Everyone is free to disagree, no offense taken.

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Asked and answered, far as I know as good an answer as any.
Next trip I’ll take two 1860’s to the range. Load one with powder wad and ball the other with powder ball and over ball grease.
Say four cylinders each on two targets. After the first, pop the wedge and eyeball the bores, if your theory is correct shouldn’t be any noticeable difference. Check again after the fourth.
See if there’s any difference in bore fouling.

I prefer wads over grease for the simple reason it’s just cleaner, no fudging around with knife or fingers forcing grease into the cylinder mouths.

I don't know what lube you're using, but if it's a good one i think you'll be surprised. After a couple dozen shots, my 1860 and 1858 barrels look like they have a coat of fine dust in them. They clean up easily by running hot tap water through them, then wiping with a patch, dry patch, then oil patch. Im using beeswax and deer tallow with enough olive oil to soften it a little. If you would, take pictures of your bores, i would like to see the difference.

The best media to use for punching wads is lead melted into a shallow pan. When it gets too rough to suit you a couple of minutes with a propane torch gives you a new surface. It’s a good use of the too hard lead alloy we all have.

William, thanks for the tip, i bet thet works well. I'll try it.

I make my revolver wads from 1/8" Durofelt using a Harbor Freight 7/16" punch in a drill press, bearing against a piece of scrap wood. For lube I've mostly used a 50/50 mix of beeswax and mutton tallow, but I also tried just soaking them in pure neatsfoot oil and squeezing out the excess. I'll be using with neatsfoot oil going forward since it seems to work about as well and they are easier to make.

Smokey Plainsman said:

I use a cutting mat for fabrics etc. It works very well, and doesn’t dull the punch as quickly as wood.

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a piece of semi truck mud flap does the job for me
Bunk

Okay, i shot my 1860 army Thursday. Heres a picture( i hope) of the barrel after 6 shots of 30gr goex 3f, a lubed wad, and a ball. Then, 6 shots of 30gr 3f, a lubed wad, and a 195gr conical. Finally. 6 shots of 35gr 3f, lubed wad, and a conical, for a total of 18 shots without cleaning. Lube was equal parts of beeswax and deer tallow with a splash of olive oil to soften it a bit.

Let's try that photo again. Much better.

Whughett said:

I use a cheap Harbor Freight set designed for use with a drill. I can run off hundreds of wads quickly. Don’t have the patience to hand punch them and making the wads isn’t part of the appeal of percussion revolver shooting.
I also use the 1/8th material and for availability Crisco with the bees wax.

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Come on, man! That's my favorite scene from The Outlaw Josey Wales- where he sits plotting his revenge and punching out lubed wads!

Found this at Michaels, under $4 for the large piece. Says 100% wool so I did the Bic test and burned the same way as my Bass Pro store wad. Can probably punch out 400 .36 or 300 .44 size wads on this 12”x12” piece.

Took me about 45 minutes to punch out 347 .44 wads from the 12”x12” felt piece. I picked up on sale a one pound brick of beeswax with coconut oil at Hobby Lobby and a cheap one pound brick of lard from the market to make a 50/50 lube blend for the wads and some conicals I have coming to make into paper cartridges.