Material for over powder wads

I use the heavy leather wads in my smoothbore soaked in TOW Mink oil / beeswax mix (75/25%) and a lighter weight leather wad as an overshot/ball... Sometimes stacking them to get a good cushion under the shot... Minimal fouling and I have a lot of scrap leather... Now it looks like I may have to try them in my rifles as well instead of just a patch...

Thekingd93 said:

Looking for the best material to make felt wads similar to the Ox-Yoke wonder wads. I've been shooting cast .50 cal Lee Real bullets out of my Hawken. The Wonder wads are rather expensive so I figured I'd try and punch out some of my own. Some guys use cardboard milk cartons but that doesn't seem ideal to me. Digging around my garage looking for some sort of felt material that is fairly ridge. No luck yet.

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Dura Felt is the company and Harbor Freight makes the hole punch sets (CHEAP) $15.00 for the set (covers most calibers) Ed

My experience with OP wads is very similar to what freedom475 posted. Any velocity increase was "minimal" in all my rifles but was definitely there. A major difference with op wads also happened to be fairly dramatic, dropping from a 2-digit sd to a very low 1-digit sd. I mostly used felt but other materials seem to do about the same thing. I have two sets of punches from HF and they are good quality. I now have a fair supply of scrap leather and will be testing that again.

For you guys punching leather wads - do you make them bore size or slightly larger?
For a 12 gauge, would you use a 3/4” punch or maybe 13/16”?
I know you need a good seal, but you wouldn’t want the leather to fold. 10-12oz leather is pretty thick.

SciAggie said:

For you guys punching leather wads - do you make them bore size or slightly larger?
For a 12 gauge, would you use a 3/4” punch or maybe 13/16”?
I know you need a good seal, but you wouldn’t want the leather to fold. 10-12oz leather is pretty thick.

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Mine is a 20 g/.62 cal and I use a 5/8 punch... Nice and snug for a heavily lubed wad, for a 12 g I would probably go with the 3/4 but you can always go down from there if it's a bit too snug... I use pretty thick hide but if you were using say, deerhide or something light I think I would stick with the 3/4 and soak it with a fairly solid lube to give it some stiffness to avoid the possibility of folding it... Personally never had it happen but that doesn't mean it can't... Give it a shot and see how you like it... Good luck...

I use 1/2" punch for 50 cal and .625 (5/8) for my 62 smoothie and my 58 cal colonial. A 3/4" for the 72cal kodiak.

The .625 in the .58 cal is a little challenging to start if the leather wad was cut from a 'firm" temper area of the hide... I put the wad in tilted, then I use my short starter to "square the wad in the fist inch of barrel. Then load PRB as normal

Thanks y’all.

ord sgt said:

Why not try a cloth patch and roundball instead of the REAL. No need for an over powder wad then.
But, if you want to make your own wad, any fabric store carries sheets of felt. The only other thing needed would be a punch in your bore size.

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Be sure to get all wool felt. Synthetic turns to a black glue like tar if burned.
Wool blanket works
Wally World and hobby stores sell hemp twine and yarn. These can be cut in to foot long pieced and quickly picked apart in to a pile of hemp tow that works real well as a wad

look at a product you buy in a cardboard box frequently, and cut bore-sized circles out of that. The main thing an over-powder card/wad does is keep the bullet and it's grease off the powder (and allows yo to swab the barrel after powder's loaded to keep the fouling out of the breech). Otherwise, I weigh out hunks of cotton ball and stuff that in the barrel.

tenngun said:

Be sure to get all wool felt. Synthetic turns to a black glue like tar if burned.
Wool blanket works
Wally World and hobby stores sell hemp twine and yarn. These can be cut in to foot long pieced and quickly picked apart in to a pile of hemp tow that works real well as a wad

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you can also go to a THRIFT STORE or a OHNNY CAKE STORE as they are called here in the NORTH EAST, and get a real old felt hat for a bout a buck. works fine!

OxYoke pre-lubedfor me

Interested in the leather wads. Do you soak in straight Ballistol or Ballistol/water mix? What about something other than Ballistol? Maybe neatsfoot oil?

The piece of cardboard that your pizza sits on works well.
Nit Wit

Dances With Coyotes said:

Interested in the leather wads. Do you soak in straight Ballistol or Ballistol/water mix? What about something other than Ballistol? Maybe neatsfoot oil?

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Cloth patch I will sometimes use a 50/50 Ballistol/water mix in a small spray bottle and give it a couple good spritzes (or just plain spit) but for my leather and felt wads I use a 75/25 mix of Tracks mink oil and beeswax... Warm it up and mix well then put the wads in to soak thoroughly, pull them out after a bit and let drip-dry... Then just toss some in an old Altoids tin or small leather pouch and you're good to go... I think its a bit less messy than using just an oil lube alone and adds some stiffness to the felt and thinner leathers... Just my 2 cents...

Most thrift stores have quite a few real wool felt hats that can be used to punch out wads for your gun. You can always double them for extra thickness.
Ohio Rusty ><>