1/8" thick enough for wads?

[stevekl]

Are these wads thick enough for a .56/28 gauge smoothbore? I made them with a .60" wad cutter of my own (well, my dad's) invention. They have been soaked in parafin and olive oil, and they come out stiff but greasy, which is what I am looking for.

But although they seem to be the right fit, I worry about the wads turning sideways while being rammed down the barrel. Do I need something thicker, or am I worrying too much?

 

[roundball]

Are these wads thick enough for a .56/28 gauge smoothbore? I made them with a .60" wad cutter of my own (well, my dad's) invention. They have been soaked in parafin and olive oil, and they come out stiff but greasy, which is what I am looking for.

But although they seem to be the right fit, I worry about the wads turning sideways while being rammed down the barrel. Do I need something thicker, or am I worrying too much?

If you start them flat in the muzzle the cleaning/seating jag will push them on down flat...if you don't they probably won't. I use 1/8" Oxyoke prelubed wool wads with all PRB hunting loads and they're excellent...used .58cal size in my .56cal SB when I had one.

NOTE:
If you're using shot loads in your smoothbore and use an over shot card, you should use a flat faced cleaning/seating shotgun jag...the flat face seats the over shot card flat on top of the shot.

However, if you used a concave faced cleaning/seating jag designed for balls, the edges of the curved design will force down the edges of the card all around it's perimeter, effectivly making it smaller/shorter across the bore and it will not hold as tight of a grip on the bore walls as it would if it remained flat.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I know folks who use two of the 1/8" over shot wads instead of a cushion. Lower dry & upper lubed. I like a dry 1/8" for the over-powder wad and then a 1/2" fiber wad rolled in lube for the cushion (and a thin card, I believe 0.0125", for the over shot card).

Pattern her and see if it's working for you.

 

[roundball]

I know folks who use two of the 1/8" over shot wads instead of a cushion. Lower dry & upper lubed. I like a dry 1/8" for the over-powder wad and then a 1/2" fiber wad rolled in lube for the cushion (and a thin card, I believe 0.0125", for the over shot card).

Pattern her and see if it's working for you.

I use two Oxyoke wads in my .62cal turkey load...gives me the tightest 40yd pattern out of that jug choked barrel

 

[Britsmoothy]

One of them will be just fine and if in doubt try two but why the smelly parafin? :wink:
As the others have said, the shape of the ram is quite important when only using thin cards.
:hatsoff:

 

[Joel/Calgary]

One of them will be just fine and if in doubt try two but why the smelly parafin? :wink:

I suspect some may miss the two-nations-divided-by-a-common-language humo(u)r.

Paraffin in UK usage is kerosene in US usage. Dunno what US paraffin (canning wax) is in UK-speak.

Joel

 

[paulvallandigham]

With the thin wool wads, you are better advised to use 2 or three of them to seal gases, because they will expand enough to seal the barrel, where one will not do so all the time. If you use only one wad, you begin having erratic patterns, and performance, and you find yourself scratching your head to figure out what might be the source of the problem.

I have fiddled around with several types of fillers, and with several different wads, including felt wads, in various guns, using my chronograph to tell me when something doesn't sound right, ISN'T!! I was very frustrated with not being able to get my wool wads to perform well, until someone else suggested that I use more than just one. I tried it, and the SDV dropped significantly, over multiple shots. I believe that the added mass also helped the powder to burn more completely, because I seem to feel a difference in the amount and size of the powder residue when I cleaned the barrel after each shot. Velocity was a bit higher, as I expected with the performance of other fillers, when I used more than one wool wad. That fact alone indicated I was getting a better seal of gases, than when I used just one wool wad.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Cheers CJ :grin: I think we would refere that to be candle wax then, yeah bet that works :thumbsup: