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Felt wads under patch and ball?

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gotta admit I searched board incase It was another term that confused me LOL figured it was bore. Thank You
 
I may have missed it or I am just uninformed but, When you refer to a " wad " are you talking say in a 50 cal a peice of material the size of the bore (.50") or a peice of unlubed dry patch balled up and placed over the powder "BEFORE" the lubed patch and ball are pushed down the barrel ?I have read about tow , wasp nest or corn meal being used but I assumed that was in a shotgun barrel not a rifled barrel. Please enlighten me it sounds like it would help in reducing fouling by keeping the powder from getting wet by lube and wiping the barrel when fired
The wads under discussion here are bore-diameter disks of felt or possibly vegetable fiber, I suppose. The wad is loaded over the powder charge and under the patched ball. I believe most people lubricate the wad. I do.

However, if you don't have wads, you can ball up a lubricated patch to go over the powder and under the patched round ball. This will have pretty much the same effect as a wad. There are also a couple of threads on this forum right now discussing the use of cornmeal or cream of wheat over the powder, which also serves a similar purpose.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
Never thought of any of those ideas before. But the thought of using serial over my powder and under my patch ball combo doesn't interest me. I don't want to be hungry while I'm on the Range
 
I have heard they use cornmeal for a cushion in muzzleloading shotguns but I have never tried it
 
I use a leather over powder wad. I cut my own .025 over bore size. It prevents patch burning, or lube wetting the powder when hunting with mini's
 
I have heard they use cornmeal for a cushion in muzzleloading shotguns but I have never tried it
Corn meal was used a lot in the past to "seal" the load for hunting or storage of a loaded rifle. Myself, I would not store a loaded rifle, but ?I know several who did.
 
My default when starting load development is to use an oversized, unlubricated wad or card. In .50’s I use a .54” wad, in 45’s a .50” wad and so forth. I also use vegetable fiber cards at times and they aren’t as radically oversized. If I am struggling to find an accurate combination I may remove the card or wad from the load chain as a last resort. The lack of card or wad has never improved accuracy in my experience. I have also used a golf ball sized piece of raw wool or wadded up extra patch under a patched ball and been pleased with those results Don’t be afraid to experiment!
 
I have a 54 cal with a badly pitted barrel. The use of cream of wheat over the powder before loading the patched ball does improve accuracy in my rifle. Easily shoots 2 inch groups at 50 yds when loaded that way.
 
The wads under discussion here are bore-diameter disks of felt or possibly vegetable fiber, I suppose. The wad is loaded over the powder charge and under the patched ball. I believe most people lubricate the wad. I do.

However, if you don't have wads, you can ball up a lubricated patch to go over the powder and under the patched round ball. This will have pretty much the same effect as a wad. There are also a couple of threads on this forum right now discussing the use of cornmeal or cream of wheat over the powder, which also serves a similar purpose.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
In an earlier thread I spoke of my .54 Kibler shredding my patches. I’ve tried buffing with hundreds of strokes with Scotchbrite. Even after firing 300-400 rounds my patches are shredded. Especially in one side. Lately I’ve tried a bit of grits or corn meal over the powder. My accuracy is about the same but the patches look great after being shot.
I may try a felt wad instead of corn meal.
Do y’all have problems getting the wad to go down straight without tipping in its side or bunching up?
I hate adding extra steps to my loading process but if I must I will.
 
I’m curious about shotgun shell buffer between powder and lubed patch?
For all practical purposes, shotgun shell buffer, corn meal, cream of wheat, grits, ground oats will provide the same results. The big benefit is that when a buffer is used, the nut behind the butt plate is tightened a bit more and performance on target may be improved.

Any sort of buffer between the powder and the ball or bullet can be considered a wad be it a disk of material or some form of granulated buffer. There is some belief that the lubricated wads help to keep fouling soft and helping to maintain accuracy for longer shooting sessions. There are any number of exotic means of loading with a wad. In this application, exotic means that not a lot of shooters use that method, and they will tell miraculous stories of how on target accuracy is improved.

Some will use the unlubricated disc as is, or lightly wipe the edges on some grease to lubricate the grooves and remove some fouling from the grooves as the wad is loaded. Load development and recording of the results over several visits to the range to confirm results will be needed to establish conclusive proof.

In all applications, a wad will not harm accuracy and may improve accuracy. Use of a wad will add a step or two to the loading procedure.
 
I noticed that one of the better shooters at the matches I attend uses a felt wad between powder and patched ball so I decided to try it. I've used a felt wad in three of my rifles, a percussion .45, a .50 flintlock and a .54 flintlock Jaeger that I recently built. So far, I have not seen any difference in accuracy or group size. I will continue to experiment with the felt wads until my supply runs out, but based on my experience to this point, I don't think I'll buy any more.
I’ve been using tow between the charge and patch and ball. I seat the tow over the powder charge then add a smidge of lube at the muzzle, then seat the lubed patch and ball. No change in accuracy just a barrel that seems to never foul up. Each loading is as easy as the first.
 
I’ve been using tow between the charge and patch and ball. I seat the tow over the powder charge then add a smidge of lube at the muzzle, then seat the lubed patch and ball. No change in accuracy just a barrel that seems to never foul up. Each loading is as easy as the first.
The tow takes up the excess lube preventing the powder from being contaminated with lube; I use a pea size amount of lube
 
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