Using tow for wads?

I have a bag of hemp tow that I bought from Turkey Foot Trading that I'd like to try using as wads in my smoothbores. I have a Euroarms Magnum Cape Gun 12 gauge, a Middlesex Village Fusil de Chasse 20 gauge, and a Jackie Brown percussion canoe gun also 20 gauge.

I understand that each gun will require experimenting to find good loads but I am wondering what a good starting point is for how much tow to use both under and over the shot or ball. Also, do you use an over powder card between the tow and projectile?

Finally since we're in a drought and everything is dry, has anyone experienced the tow burning? I don't want to set anything on fire.

Thanks.

I have used it in my fowler for round balls. Just roll up enough to fit the bore like a very oversized ball. One wad under the ball and one over it. Whenever I have used it, it most certainly comes out smoldering. Do not use it if fire danger is an issue.

Raw sheep's wool works very well, comes pre-lubed, is period correct, and it will not start fires.

Have used it plenty of times, like mentioned it will be smoldering, but otherwise seems to work very well.

freedom475 said:

Raw sheep's wool works very well, comes pre-lubed, is period correct, and it will not start fires.

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Am I correct in assuming you use the raw, unwashed wool?

Thanks.

Dave Markowitz said:

Am I correct in assuming you use the raw, unwashed wool?

Thanks.

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Yes sir. I read that it was period correct. I have some woolies, so I tried it and it worked great. Now I use raw wool and leather wads for fall Grouse, when everything is super dry.

Very neat. I'll order a bag to try.

Dave Markowitz said:

Finally since we're in a drought and everything is dry, has anyone experienced the tow burning? I don't want to set anything on fire.

Thanks.

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Yes, I have. And I used flax fiber by the way. It will do OK as a wad on top of shot. But I would caution against using it unlubricated directly over the powder charge. You might be able to use it safely as a cushion wad over say a card wad, or a leather wad. I haven't tried that.

I pinch off a piece and lube it with a little lard.
Tow burns, powder burns, lard burns, talk about an issue
However lard has to get hot before it can burn. and there isn’t the time when exposed to the heat of the charge.
It’s like passing your hand through a candle flame, or melting lard to season a hot cast iron skillet.
Most of the stuff we shoot burns, from cloth patch to paper cartridge. But the flame has to stay on long enough to transfer enough heat to start the fire.
Now logic aside, you don’t want to be saying ‘honest your honor I didn’t think it would burn, I read Tenngun and he told me it was ok’
A dense fiber wad may be a better choice when shooting in a tinder box.
Now the practical
Tow was used in the past, and it works. But as early as Pteryplegia or the art of shooting the flying in 1727 said ‘now search for tow and some old saddle pierce
No wading lies so close or drives so fierce’
The felt stuffing in an old saddle compress by the riders weight was wad of choice. Then in 1767 Thomas Page wrote “ Tow I think is uncertain’ he goes on to thin brown paper 2”x1”, folded and rammed tight.
These guys figured out something modern test reveal.
Black powder TV found shooting over a chono that a charge using tow, all else being equal, lost about 200 FPS compared to a solid wad

freedom475,where do you find raw sheep's wool. I have tow but now am living in Arizona and it is in the desert.

I use enough to create a dense ball about the same size as the bore and work some lube into it. I often preroll several balls, including lubing them, before going shooting. I break them/flatten them a bit at time of use. Kind of making a dense nest for the ball to sit on. I do use a thin overshot card between powder and tow in one gun or an unlubed felt wad between powder and tow in the other gun. Nothing between tow and ball.
For shot loads I don't make my wad of tow as dense but might actually use a little more, just not packed as tight or rolled into a ball.

Brian Sweeney said:

freedom475,where do you find raw sheep's wool. I have tow but now am living in Arizona and it is in the desert.

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I found it on eBay and Amazon. I picked a vendor on eBay and put in an order for 1 lb. Hopefully I'll get it by next weekend.

I hated sheep when I was younger. I can't stand the taste of mutton, got soaked with lanolin and ticks when I sheared the darn things and had to round them up when they found a hole in the fence. Finely, maybe a good use for them! Other than wool hats, shirts, and coats of course.

I was a teen in school and there was farm help to be made shearing in the spring. Sheep and goats. Long days!!!!
That and bucking bales.
Back still hurts.
Hard missable work, and we had so much fun.
My school was about half Navajo, and the cafeteria served mutton a couple times a week

Brian Sweeney said:

freedom475,where do you find raw sheep's wool. I have tow but now am living in Arizona and it is in the desert.

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From my sheep....

tenngun said:

But as early as Pteryplegia or the art of shooting the flying in 1727 said ‘now search for tow and some old saddle pierce
No wading lies so close or drives so fierce’
The felt stuffing in an old saddle compress by the riders weight was wad of choice. Then in 1767 Thomas Page wrote “ Tow I think is uncertain’ he goes on to thin brown paper 2”x1”, folded and rammed tight.
These guys figured out something modern test reveal.
Black powder TV found shooting over a chono that a charge using tow, all else being equal, lost about 200 FPS compared to a solid wad

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A modern replacement for "saddle pierce" is wool pack boot liner. The felted wool liners eventually get beaten down in the sole and don't insulate so well. I cut them apart at the seams and have at the sides with an arch punch. Then I melt/mix up 2/3 beeswax and 1/3 olive oil in a double boiler, dump in the wads and fish them out with a fork. I let them cool on an aluminum pie pan. They seal up tight and lube the bore nicely. Under a round ball they give the shot some snap. They never smolder.

I agree with Firelock, I usually use mt tow for fire starting

Dave Markowitz said:

Finally since we're in a drought and everything is dry, has anyone experienced the tow burning? I don't want to set anything on fire.

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I might be a bad person and this could be regarded as off-topic.
I'm sitting here snickering with visions of you on the firing line, a smoldering hemp wad, and Officer Friendly smelling the burning hemp and his K9 doing the wild thing on your leg.

Dave, I like Tow but since my Sheriff friend gave me a huge Hornets nest, dried out, i am lovin’ those big, black stingers. A small wad of nest over 60 grains 2 or 3f and a blue tick patch around a .615 or .610 ball shoots consistent into a 1” circle 35 yds away and i am shootin’ a self drilled out .50 cal. Percussion Mountain Rifle converted to 19 gauge smoothbore Flintlock. I meet old Dan’l in the woods to talk and shoot.

Can you use raw wool in the same way you use tow for cleaning the barrel?
Mike Beliveau uses tow for cleaning as well as wadding. Most of the small farmers around here are happy to give away raw wool, or if they do sell it they don't ask very much.