Over Powder Wads

[nw_hunter]

I went to the local sporting goods store (the woods). Found a good supply of over powder wad material. The price was right!and now I'm set for the hunting season :grin: Actually my friend (Rebel)on the forum found it, and took his time checking it out before breaking it off the limb. He was in luck... No residents.

 

[hanshi]

I'm a big proponent of over powder wads. They give a number of benefits such as protecting powder from the lube, preventing patch burn-through, push down any powder granules that may have clung to the bore, etc. They also contribute to more uniform velocities and sd. I prefer the nice felt ones but because of cost only use them in the field. For the range & woods wasp nest is great. Being cheap (make that "frugal") I've come to prefer toilet paper. It's cheap and works splendidly. It doesn't burn and turns to dust a few feet from the muzzle. Never tried a live wasp or hornet as I prefer to leave that to the adrenalin junkies.

 

[Billnpatti]

Over powder wads do work and work quite well in my experience. Whie I have not tried using wasp nest, I have heard of using it and have heard that it works well. I have also heard of using just paper as your OP wad. I, too, am frugal and refuse to pay the seemingly outlandish price for felt wads. What I am now using is leather wads and they work marvelously. I bought a set of hollow punches from Harbor Freight for a very reasonable price. Then I first used an old belt and punched out a pile of wads. I put them into a pill bottle and poured in some Ballistol and let them sit for a couple days for the Ballistol to soak in. Then I let them drain and dry on a rag for another couple days. By this time, they had the appearance of oil soaked leather but were not dripping wet. I loaded them on top of my powder and then loaded a patched round ball on top of the wad. It made a heck of a difference in the consistancy of my muzzle velocity and my standard deviation. Now I buy scrap 6 to 8 oz leather scraps from a leather worker for next to nothing and make all of my own wads. They are cheap and they work. One caveat, if you are using them when you are hunting, I would recommend using a dry poster board wad on top of the powder before loading the leather wad. Since the wads are not juicy, you may not have a problem with the powder absorbing any of the Ballistol, but I would not take the chance. It is just too easy to use a dry poster board wad between the powder and the leather wad for insurance.

The day after I ran my chronograph test to determine the effectiveness of the wads, I shot in a woods walk and used the wads. There are 28 targets in the woods walk and I never had to swab my bore because of fouling. It was as easy to load the 28th shot as it was to load the first. Those wads kept the bore clean of fouling in addition to the improvement in the performance. My conclusion? Use the wads.

 

[trdixon1]

I’m intrigued, toilet paper, and poster board as over powder wads? I need to try this! What diameter are you making these wads? Are they square or round?

 

[Glenfilthie]

Hi all~ hunter, how long with that last you if you had to guess?

It is good that somebody finally has found a good use for the friggin yellowjacket. Besides tax collectors I consider the hornet the most awful of all God's creatures.

 

[Tumblernotch]

Are we talking about wadding for shotguns/fowlers here or rifles?

 

[Ron_T.]

Toilet paper? Leather? Felt?

I've been pondering the kind of material I think would be useful for protecting the powder from any possible "wetness" from the patch in a hunting situation wherein the patched ball would sit on the powder in my .50 caliber flinter for hours on end.

And I was thinking that a square piece of common waxed paper, pushed down the barrel with the jag after the powder was put in the rifle, would possibly be the best type of "wad" since it would be "liquid-proof" and yet, burn up rather easily once the rifle was fired and not increase the length powder/ball column noticably.

Has anyone attempted to use a small piece of waxed paper as a "wad" in hunting situations where the rifle was left loaded for several days in a row?

I'm seriously considering leaving my flinter loaded until either I shoot at a deer or leave for home. Of course, I won't take the rifle into the cabin or motel room (depending on what State we eventually hunt in) where the warmth would cause it to "sweat" and thus wet down the powder inside the barrel, but rather I would put the rifle in the trunk of the car overnight after I brushed all the FFFFg powder out of the frizzen pan, swing the frizzen all the way back out of the way and lower the hammer all the way down so that there was no chance of an accidental discharge.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

 

[roundball]

One possibility is an Oxyoke "wonderwad"...they're wool wads prelubed with Natural Lube 1000 and are made to be used as OP wads because they have no effect on powder...bag of 100 costs a few bucks.

And Natural Lube 1000 is also an excellent patch lube...all I've ever used for hunting has been precut/prelubed NL1000 patches for the very reason you described.

 

[musketman]

Toilet paper? Leather? Felt?

I've been pondering the kind of material I think would be useful for protecting the powder from any possible "wetness" from the patch in a hunting situation wherein the patched ball would sit on the powder in my .50 caliber flinter for hours on end.

You can make your own compressed paper wads at home, I see that you are shooting a .50 caliber, so that will make things easier.

Take a plank of wood about a half an inch thick or so and drill a bunch of holes with a 1/2 in drill bit, then lay the board onto a solid surface that you don't mind getting wet. (like another solid board)

Take some old newspaper and tear them into thin strips (about an inch wide) and dip them into some water for a minute thereabouts.

Remove the strips one at a time and squeeze out the excess water and then stuff them down into the holes of the board, pack each hole to slightly over-filled.

Once each hole is filled with the wet paper, place another board on top of the drilled board that is filled with the paper and weight it down with something heavy. (this will compress the paper)

Leave it alone for a few days until dried, a sunny place will speed up the drying process. Once dried, just pop them out and you now have compacted paper wads.

The neat thing about these are that you can peel off as much as needed, making two 1/4 inch wads by splitting them in case a half if a full half an inch seems too thick.

 

[LeMat1856]

.
. sep 21 / 1:55pm


only *real men* shop where you get those things !

i have seen wasp nest material recommended in books, and it has some properties similar to asbestos in that it will prevent patches from burning.. it's all yours though.

for my smoothbore, i use a .125” thick “A” card firmly on the powder charge.. this moisture-resistant, fiber card seals the bore, and keeps the powder dry.. they can be had from circle fly for $10 / 1000 per bag.. circle flys seem a might safer too.

~d~

 

[Billnpatti]

I ran my test using a .50 cal rifle. For this caliber, I used a 1/2 inch hollow punch to make my wads. In as much as my bore is round, I use round wads. Square wads would be, of course, more appropriate for those who have a rifle with a square bore. :grin: If you have a triangular bore, use triangular wads, etc. :thumbsup:

 

[gmww]

Anyone try cereal boxes? I would think you could soak them and stack them depending on how much you want to add for depth.

 

[hanshi]

I don't see why wax paper can't be used over the powder. The problem is with a too wet patch rammed down on top of it. Depending on the lube used, it could go around the wax paper and into the powder if kept loaded for too long. With patches that are not soaking wet it should do a little better. A more absorbent material works best by catching lube that WILL be squeezed out by loading pressure. Even if the patch is just well dampened, some liquid will be squeezed out in the loading process. At any rate there is no upside to using a too wet, drippy patch.

 

[nw_hunter]

I like your idea Musketman, and I'm going to give it a try next time I have time on my hands.....Like tomorrow :grin:

 

[Ron_T.]

Toilet paper? Leather? Felt?

I've been pondering the kind of material I think would be useful for protecting the powder from any possible "wetness" from the patch in a hunting situation wherein the patched ball would sit on the powder in my .50 caliber flinter for hours on end.

You can make your own compressed paper wads at home, I see that you are shooting a .50 caliber, so that will make things easier.

Take a plank of wood about a half an inch thick or so and drill a bunch of holes with a 1/2 in drill bit, then lay the board onto a solid surface that you don't mind getting wet. (like another solid board)

Take some old newspaper and tear them into thin strips (about an inch wide) and dip them into some water for a minute thereabouts.

Remove the strips one at a time and squeeze out the excess water and then stuff them down into the holes of the board, pack each hole to slightly over-filled.

Once each hole is filled with the wet paper, place another board on top of the drilled board that is filled with the paper and weight it down with something heavy. (this will compress the paper)

Leave it alone for a few days until dried, a sunny place will speed up the drying process. Once dried, just pop them out and you now have compacted paper wads.

The neat thing about these are that you can peel off as much as needed, making two 1/4 inch wads by splitting them in case a half if a full half an inch seems too thick.

Ahhhhhhhh HA!!! Great idea !~!~! :hatsoff: