Wonder Wads

[Gray Beard]

I have never used this product, but I see Mr. roundball has and likes them. I have a 44 cal Rem cap and ball revolver which I love to shoot but hate to smear grease into each cyl. before shooting. Apparently wonder wads eliminates this step. Has anyone used this product in revolvers? Also, would you recommend them in rifles when using conicals or sabots?

 

[musketman]

OX-YOKE WONDER WADS:
Pre-lubed with Won-der Lube 1000 Plus. 100% woven wool fabric. Use over the powder, under the patched round lead ball. Safely seals each chamber, prevents any chance of chainfires. Made in the USA.


REMINGTON WONDER WADS:
Pre-lubed with all natural Wonder Lube. Use behind conical bullets or sabots. Can be used with Cyclone shells.


A good thing for the cap-n-ball revolver shooter to have, they seem efficent...

The smearing of greese on top of each chamber is a bit teidious, also your hands are greesy when it's time to cap and shoot, wonder wads would "MINAMISE" this effect...

I wouldn't put them over conicals or sabots (like you would in a cap and ball revolver to prevent chainfires), the Remington ads says to use them between the powder and sabot.

 

[TwoShadows]

Mr greybeard, My pal Doc Deadeye uses them religiously in his cowboy action shooting. I have shot with him through several matches where he would shoot sometimes as much as 80 shots through his Ruger old armies and Remingtons during a days shooting. They saved him a lot of time and the mess of using grease or "crisco".

Doc Deadeye stands about Five feet Four, and said he wasnt about to use Crisco on anything....said he wasnt taking any chances on being around anything that said "shortening" on the label !

I would think a wonder wad in front of any projectile from a long gun would be detrimental to accuracy...and possibly dangerous due to the fact that it has a good opportunity to become a wedge between the leading edge of the projectile and bore of said long gun. It would however be a suitable cushion between powder and shot(behind the shot being expelled) in a smoothbore I suppose. The cylinder gap on a pistol could/would serve as a gas release for any extreme pressure buildup.
I never saw Doc experience any problems though several thousand shots.

Having said this, my thoughts and observations are just that. I have no first hand experience.

 

[roundball]

OxYoke makes the wonderwads including those marketed under other names such as Remington, etc.
Other than being a bit annoyingly expensive, they are outstanding in every application I've ever used them for and I've used them in everything I shoot for 15 years...better sealing, tighter groups, and fouling is reduced to almost nothing, shooting 40-50 shots at the range without wiping.

I now use the next larger size caliber wads as I've found I get even better seal, consistency, and accuracy using a 50 in a 45, 54 in a 50, 58 in a 54.

Normally the caliber size wads are cut to fit inside the lands, however, using the next larger caliber size, they are compressed all the way out into the grooves...when you pick them up off the ground, they look like little gears showing the land/groove marks around their edges.

I also use them in .62cal & .12ga smoothbores... a couple over the powder as firewall & cushion wads, plus controlling the fouling.
Some have posted that they use them as overshot wads also, so they only have one size/type wad to bother with when loading shot charges...I haven't tried that yet.

 

[Rocky Johnson]

I use wonder wads in my cap lock 10 ga.Two over the power work better than a half inch fiber cushion wad and over the shot a wonder wad or an over shot card dont make any differance. but like roundball said annoyingly expensive. Rocky

 

[musketman]

So why can't we get some Wonder Lube 1000 Plus and an old 100% woven wool fabric blanket and make our own wonder wads?

You can pick up old wool blankets at army surplus stores or ebay and depending on the size you cut the wads, you should be able to cut 5'000-30'000 wads from a single blanket...

A 5/8 pipe can be sharpened to make a nice wad punch, then just place the blanket over a block of wood and stamp them out...

Then bulk lube them and store until needed...

 

[Zonie]

Wal MoskeetMan, as yar a sa'in "an old 100% woven wool fabric blanket and make our own wonder wads?" sounds like a good idear!
Now jus whar are ye keepin yur blankets so's I can pick um up 'n get started?

edit: (afterthought) I got some of these Wonderwads when I bought a used BP gun at a gunshow. Seems I usually get some extra goodies when I buy a used gun.
Tried them in several of my cap 'n ball guns and really liked them. They loaded great and took one step out of the loading process (the schmeering of the grease). Then when I went to my friendly gun shop and found out what they thought they were worth I knew what the "Wonder" was and I decided "short'ning was more in my price bracket....So....I'll repeat my question...Whar ar 'm durned blankets Moskeet man?

 

[musketman]

e-bay has a few cheep blankets to choose from...

A 72x90 blanket will yeild 25'920 .50 caliber wads, if you cut them close enough.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=wool+blankets&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&BasicSearch=

"One man's trash is another man's potentially hazardous material."

 

[Gray Beard]

I think I'm a likin' Muzzleloader's idea of makin' your own. What would be a good tool for a punch? Maybe an old shell casing or pipe? Could you pour hot lube on them or smear on the lube manually one by one?

 

[musketman]

I would use a 4-8 inch long pipe with the I.D. to match your caliber, then take the pipe to a grinder and put a beveled edge on it around it's circumference...

You could hammer the patches out fast and then use a dowel rod to push the patched out of the pipe like a roll of coins.

I would bulk lube them, heat the lube up and place the wads in a large zip-lock bag, pour in the lube, zip and shake. The lube will soak into all of the patches.

I would try a few patches first, just to see if the patches expand when soaked, I don't think they would because wet sheep don't look too fat, but you never know...

Another way is to place them flat in an old shallow baking dish, then pour on the lube, then a sheet of wax paper, wads, lube, wax paper, wads... Build it up in layers...

Or, you could just wash the blanket in lube before you stamp them out, but you better be able to out run the Mrs. once she sees what you did to her washing machine...

A word to the wise...
"Never do anything that you wife can bring up years later in a argument..."

 

[Rocky Johnson]

Musketman- I don't think the wool blanket will work the same. When you get a chance take a look at the wonder wads they are an awful tight weave and stiff. Rocky

 

[musketman]

The pictures in the ad looks close to old wool blankets I have seen, I think I'm still going to try it...

Maybe once lubed, the wads will look thicker and tighter knit.

http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com/store/products/displayProductImage.asp?imageName=0506161%2Ejpg&imageDescription=WONDER+WADS

"Now, all you need is a wool blanket, or a friend that has one."

Just punch a few holes in his blanket and give it a try, and hey, if it doesn't work, tell him its moths...

 

[roundball]

I'd be interested in seeing the results if you make some home made wonder wads.
All of my half hearted attempts just turn out to just be a gooey mess...the problem is not finding / cutting / lubing some sort of material, but the real trick is getting the lube INTO the material yet leave the outside relatively dry.

Oxyoke wonderwads are actually impregnated with the lube under pressure...most of the lube is "within" the wads yet it remains reasonably clean & dry to the touch...heat & pressure of igniton instantly melts the lube and forces it out of the wad against the walls of the bore.

I hate paying the price for them cause I shoot a lot but I like shooting with them so much I'm hooked

 

Obviously not a person among you has read "Sixguns" by Elmer Keith of if you did your retention was either very short or non-existant. He tells the story of he and a friend shooting with their sixguns a Stetson thrown into the air and the owner giving it to them for their prowess. In the next sentence Keith tells about cutting felt wads from the hat and soaking them in lube for the express purpose of wads for the C&B revolvers. No, a blanket won't work but any felt hat will. Cut the discs to your required size and soak them in warm whatever you want for lube. Works as good as Wonderwads.......but they should, they're the same thing.

Vic

 

[roundball]

In which calibers have you made wonderwads out of felt and how did their performance compare to the Oxyoke wool type wonderwads?

 

[Chuck Deaton]

The blanket wool is spun and woven, while a hat is made of felt.

Most likely there are different grades and thicknesses of felt.

 

[Zonie]

Hay MouskeetMan. At ain't one o them felt hats whats sittin on yer head is it? This are soundin like more fun by tha minute.

 

[RJR]

Every fabric store in my area carries felt for crafts in various thicknesses. Might just have to make a concetrated form of moosemilk and give it a try. I would think soaking them and then putting them on a screen to let the excess run off. Does that sound realistic or do you think moosemilk would be too thin? Take care, Rick.

 

[musketman]

It's been a while since I milked a moose, (as fun as that sounds) but I would want something a little thicker...

Since wonder wads use Won-der Lube 1000 Plus, I would try to use this, or any paste type of lube, or cut it with moose milk 75-25 mixture...

I would melt it in a old pan, soak and screen them until dry, once cooling starts, the lube should convert back to a paste, scrape off the excess and there you go...

FELT HATS?
Great, now I have to go and raid a cowboy bar...

I think my two star beaver felt hat is safe, only because of the cost...

Isn't a pool table covered in felt?

"If you can't stay young, you can at least stay immature."

As for Elmer Keith's hat, I think felt of the 1940's & 50's is different than todays felt, I can pull a sheet of felt apart with ease, I have some craft grade felt in front of me now...

Here, I'll pull it apart....
See, I told you is was weak...

 

[Aline]

Hi guys,
Just wanted to add a comment. I have some thick felt I bought sometime ago at a crafts store. I got it to cut little pieces and glue them to the furniture so it doesn't scratch my tile floor.
After reading this post I went look at it more carefully to see if it looked like something I could make wads from. You know what? The sheet I got comes with a little tag that says "Made in China. 100% Polyester".
Wouldn't polyester just partially melt and leave some nasty residue in the barrel?

Aline