Wonders! That's what a felt wad will do!

[burlesontom]

I like wads over the powder and use them quite a bit. They will certainly protect a prb in a rifle.

When shooting a PRB I always use a patch below the PRB in my loads. I pour in the powder then a lubed patch then the PRB on top of that. It acts like a firewall and protects the ball patch. When I find my ball patch they are in such good shape they could almost be reused. The firewall patch is normally pretty well burned up. Anyway that works for me.

Bottom line is has any one ever shot a hollow base conical with a wad and what were the results
I would think not good however I read Can't recall where or how authoritative the author was) where there were battleground pickups with the hollow base filled ..which I would think would defeat the purpose of the hollow base??

IIRC original Minnie Balls had either a wood plug or a plug made from clay. The idea was that the explosion of the powder would drive the plug deep in the base and ensure expansion. I think they found out after testing that the plug wasn't really needed so it was omitted in later bullets.

It was James Burton at Harper's Ferry that improved the Minie ' Ball by making the cavity deeper and doing away with the base plug.

"Captain James H. Burton, an armorer at the Harpers Ferry Armory, developed an improvement on Minié's design when he added a deep cavity at the base of the ball,[clarification needed] which filled up with gas and expanded the bullet's skirt upon firing. The result was not only better range, but also a cheaper bullet, which was used in the Crimean War[citation needed] and then the American Civil War.[3] Burton's version of the ball weighed 1.14 ounces".[2]: 314–315 

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

I use Dura-Felt, then drop them into a 50/50 mix of lard and beeswax. Work very well in both C&B pistols and flint rifles.

 

[chorizo]

In all fairness: I have an additional Navy Arms buffalo hunter that I recently bought as a back up , secondary gun with an equally large bore...5818. I could not, no matter what, patch, bullets, wad, powder, get it to group well.. Hell, I even tried standing on one leg and holding my mouth just right to no avail. That sorely disappoints me. One would think that identical guns, from the same maker would behave the same....not so. I have burned half a can of triple 7 and a goodly part of my musket caps trying to find something that will work. I give, not that I like rolling belly up much, but I have some sweet .54's that I can use , so why drive myself insane.

So it is moving on to someone else as maybe they will have better luck. Very pretty gun in great shape, but as Col Whelen said, only accurate guns are interesting.

Guns are like women...you can have twins who look alike, but God forbid can you ever find two that will think and act alike. And that is the mystery and allure of ML guns. Too old to speculate about women anymore.

She is on GB if anyone is interested and are turtle turners and think that they can do what I cannot seem to do...I have not and will not list it here for sale.

 

[burlesontom]

She is on GB if anyone is interested and are turtle turners and think that they can do what I cannot seem to do...I have not and will not list it here for sale.

I only found two listed on GB. Is yours the one with the Williams fire sight on it?

Oops! I see that gun is from Indiana and you are in Idaho.

 

[Muley Gil]

I only found two listed on GB. Is yours the one with the Williams fire sight on it?

Oops! I see that gun is from Indiana and you are in Idaho.

ID is Idaho. IN is Indiana.

 

[Muley Gil]

Have any of you all tried Minies in your Buffalo Hunter? After all, the BH is a sporterized Zouave and Val Forgette designed the Zouave for the Minie, with fairly shallow three groove rifling. The Zouave I owned would put 3 rounds into a one inch cloverleaf at 50 yards, off of the bench.

 

[burlesontom]

ID is Idaho. IN is Indiana.

Oops!!!

 

[wganz]

Here is a link to where I researched all the info given in a thread about wads if anyone needs any resources.

My Bookmarked linkage, info, and tables.

 

[dehart.stephen]

Lubed felt wads have done well in Whitworths, Percussion revolvers, and cartridge guns as well. Even a drop of Ballistol on a wonder wad kept my 1860 Colt repro bore amazingly clean. Just needed to shoot is soon and.not store it with any oily stuff next to bare powder. Thin beeswax may be one answer for protecting the powder if it's not fired right away. There is such a thing as TOO much, though. I got a little heavy on Bore Buttering felt wads in a .54 Lyman Plains Rifle. Shot 5 into about 4 inches.at 100 off the bench, two cutting together, then excess lube drooled.down into the flash hole and caused a misfire. A little more judgement and less butter would've prevented it.

 

[Jayhawkdan]

I've been using lubed wonder wads in all my rifles for quite a while now.

For conicals. A 58 1-48 Lyman and 54 Renegade1-28 (GM barrel) using Hornady GP bullets 525 gr and 425 gr respectively (glad I have a stash of those as 58 + 54 are NLA), and a 50 Renegade 1-28 (GM barrel) using 385gr Buffalo Bullets (also NLA). They all group great using FFg.

Avatar shows 5 shots with the 50 at 50yds, 80gr FFg. Groups good w/90gr too but that makes a much more noticeable kick and it's a "max" load.

I also believe in the wads for PRB, the above 58 and another TC with a 1-66 TC barrel. Protects the patches

Huh?

 

[deerstalkert]

tried some 415g minnie's in my GPR today. 5 shots without wads shot a shotgun pattern.
5 shots with a .620 felt wad between powder and the hollow base got them shooting 5 inches right but dead on elevation and in a 2 inch group at 40 yards.
PRB from the same barrel with the same charge cuts clover leaf on the 2 inch bullseye.
the rot is 1-60 on this .54

 

[chorizo]

tried some 415g minnie's in my GPR today. 5 shots without wads shot a shotgun pattern.
5 shots with a .620 felt wad between powder and the hollow base got them shooting 5 inches right but dead on elevation and in a 2 inch group at 40 yards.
PRB from the same barrel with the same charge cuts clover leaf on the 2 inch bullseye.
the rot is 1-60 on this .54

Damn, that was as a dramatic improvement as I had. I guess that answers the minie question also.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

I am currently working on a slug gun to use for hunting. Had been trying to decide if I wanted to try felt wads. I think this has answered any question I had,

 

[deerstalkert]

Damn, that was as a dramatic improvement as I had. I guess that answers the minie question also.

i really had no hope of using the minnies hunting until i tried this. i have a date with a big red bear and was wanting more lead for the dance. now i am more comfortable with whatever i have it loaded with.

 

[chorizo]

i really had no hope of using the minnies hunting until i tried this. i have a date with a big red bear and was wanting more lead for the dance. now i am more comfortable with whatever i have it loaded with.

Well that should do it. A 2" group is definitely "minute of bear".

 

[deerstalkert]

Well that should do it. A 2" group is definitely "minute of bear".

should hope so! this particular bear is a 350 pound lard butt!

 

[Idaho Ron]

Over powder wads work. I've been using over sized over powder wads for a long time. I use wool felt that I cutvwith a 5/8 punch. They come out at .620 I slightly lube them.

 

[deerstalkert]

Over powder wads work. I've been using over sized over powder wads for a long time. I use wool felt that I cutvwith a 5/8 punch. They come out at .620 I slightly lube them.

i had read some of your data Ron, that is why i tried wads with the minnie's.
just call me a slow learner!
i kind of figured that there was no way the Minnies would group from the 1-60 twist. old dogs can learn. now to remember!

 

[TDM]

Finally made some lubed wool felt wads, anxious to try them over powder.

 

[kopelli]

I am in process of prepping for a December hunt in Idaho's Hells Canyon. Could be "Cold and Wet" or it could be "Cold and Cold"! I plan to use/test wool wads for 50 Cal. TC over the powder and use a ballistol lubed patch on RB. I am thinking to use the the wool wad to aid in accuracy, but also wanting to protect the powder from soaking up any ballistol from the patch after several days. I have not seen any discussion of "lubed vs non-lubed"felt or wool over the powder wads. My question is this, "if i lube the patch, I could still have problems of the powder soaking up the lube, but if I don't lube the patch, will the dry wool help with accuracy?"