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Wad Punches?

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Joined
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Does anyone know where one could possibly find punches to cut wads for various bore shotguns? Years ago they were provided as part of the tools provided with a fine shotgun.

I looked them up on TOW and they seem to only have ones for revolvers(!) None for shotguns.
 
Go to your local( or not so local) Harbor Freight store. I bought a whole set from miniscule to oh boy for about 12 bucks. I mostly use the 3/8" and 1/2" for my handguns.
 
Poor Private said:
Go to your local( or not so local) Harbor Freight store. I bought a whole set from miniscule to oh boy for about 12 bucks. I mostly use the 3/8" and 1/2" for my handguns.

:thumbsup:
9/16 for 28-24 bore.
5/8 for 20 bore.
3/4 for 12-11 bore.

11/16 oughta work for something...

And for the rifled bores;
5/16 works for .32
3/8 for .36
7/16 for .45
1/2 for .50
9/16 for .54
5/8 for .62
3/4 for .75

The 1/8 and 1/4 are extras that you can use for leather punching. :wink:
 
Jethro224 said:
:thumbsup:
9/16 for 28-24 bore.
5/8 for 20 bore.
3/4 for 12-11 bore.
11/16 oughta work for something...

And for the rifled bores;
5/16 works for .32
3/8 for .36
7/16 for .45
1/2 for .50
9/16 for .54
5/8 for .62
3/4 for .75

The 1/8 and 1/4 are extras that you can use for leather punching. :wink:


I use 5/8" in my .58cal, and 11/16" for my .20ga smoothbores...I actually use the next larger size wad for each caliber/gauge respectively whenever possible...takes a couple seconds longer to seat it flat in the muzzle but I like the more snug fit...no science, just my personal choice.

Used to buy Oxyoke wads but started punching my own .58 and .62cal wads out of Dura-Felt a couple years ago, using ARCH punches...lube them with NL1000.
 
I, too, prefer them to be at least bore diameter or larger. That means the 3/8" is great for a .36 but a 7/16" is too small for a good .45 wad. It is good, however, for a .40. The 1/2" is marginal for the .50 but I use it and the 5/8" works for a smoothbore .62 - smooth barrels can vary from barely .600 to an honest .625+.
 
When cutting patch at the muzzle, RB tends to automatically center itself within patching material. Centering appears to be more difficult were precut patch to be used.

What are effective ways to center precut patch, RB, and muzzle?

How significant is an off-center loading?
 
Naphtali said:
How significant is an off-center loading?


As long as the entire perimeter of the ball is surrounded buy the patch, haveing an excess amount of patch on one side is not an issue.

However, if the opposite happens, not haveing enough on one side, or leaving a gap you'll be in trouble. The gasses escapeing on the side of the ball WILL push it off course when it exits the muzzle.

Cutting round patch oversize for the caliber is the easiest way to avoid any issues.

Again, excess material is not a problem. I changed over to cut at the muzzle years ago to avoid the trouble/pita of trying to center precut factory patches.

If I'm caught in a situation at some shoot where I'm required to load quickly I just use my swab patches spit lubbed. Accuracy suffers some but cases like that generaly don't require precision accuracy.
 
Naphtali said:
Centering appears to be more difficult were precut patch to be used.

What are effective ways to center precut patch, RB, and muzzle?

Soon after getting into muzzleloading I got tired of trying to precisely center a ball on the advertised size patch for that given caliber. So I switched up to using the next caliber size precut/prelubed patches for that very reason and haven't had to fiddle around with precise centering since...for example:

.60-.70cal patches for .62 & .58cals;
.50-.60cal patches for .54 & .50cals;
.40-.50cal patches for .45 & .40cals;
 
Roundball and necchi are correct. The pillow ticking (.018) I use has blue stripes and is easy to cut to uniform size. Over sized (more or less) patches are the way to go. Mine often cover the ball completely in the bore.
 
Take Roundball's Advice, if you insist on using Pre-cut patches. Go to the next size ball diameter and buy the pre-cut patch for that diameter.

An off-center ball in a pre-cut patch can be very poor for marksmanship. You not only have to worry about having the patch so crooked that part of the ball is rubbing against the lands, instead of the patch, but the edges of ALL patches fray as the fabric is "whipped" back off the ball as they exit the muzzle. You can have the ball go off to another direction if your patch is off-center enough that the fraying affects the RELEASE of the ball from the patch, moreso on one side than the other.

Pre-cuts came about in the late 19th century, when Target shooters used muzzles with squared crowns, and short starters to seat the ball in the patch. Many of these guns had wide, heavy barrels, and enough metal that you could machine a groove in the flat muzzle that would fit the diameter of the pre-cut patch, acting as a centering guide.

Take a look at the bench guns at the firing line at Friendship to see what the shooters use for patches, and how they load them.

The off-hand shooters will be more likely to use strips of fabric, and cut their patches at the muzzle. Their rifles have the more rounded crowns in them.

How to center a patch? I don't know of a "sure way", but I first try to center the patch on the muzzle, without the ball even close to the patch. I hold the ball curled up in a finger in one hand. When I think I have the patch centered, I Hold it in place with a finger of my other hand, while I bring the ball to the muzzle and try to center it in the bore with the sprue UP. If, as the weight of the ball pressing down into the patch indicates that I don't have it centered, I use fingers from both hands to move the patch over to center it, while the ball is resting on the patch.

This whole effort requires the barrel to be absolutely vertical, or the ball will roll off the muzzle! :cursing: So, its a royal PITA to do, IMHO. I am about through shooting all my pre-cut patches, and have bought fabric to make my own strips. I currently have a .50 cal. rifle, and a .62 caliber Fowler, so my plan is to make the strips wide enough to use in the fowler, and use them for my .50 cal. too.

If you don't want to have strips of cloth flapping in the wind, then you can cut SQUARE patches, larger than the bore, and simply trim them at the muzzle with a RAZOR-SHARP knife.

When hunting, I load the gun before going into the field. I don't have strips of anything tied to my pouch strap to flap around in the wind. However, when I used to do shooting matches, and woods walks, tying the strips to the bag strap was a convenient place to have them. :surrender: :hmm: :thumbsup:

My point is, Don't use everything you see at a target range when going into the woods to hunt, or for a long "scout". There are things you can, and should do at a target range that have no place in the fields. :hatsoff:
 
Contact Don Weimer, aka Ohio Ramrod, at [email protected]. He will make you a custom punch in whatever exact size you want. Amazingly, his prices are extremely reasonable. I don't remember exactly what I paid for mine but I do remember that it was less than $10 postage included.
 
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