1842 smoothbore- Armi Sport

[smokeblower]

I traded for a Armi Sport version of a 1842 Springfield smoothbore. I want to shoot lead shot on the cheap. I was considering using thick cardboard between the charge and shot and to cover the shot. anyone with experience using this po boy method? Advice welcome.

 

[Rocky Johnson]

I have no idea. I think you need a cushion between powder & shot of half inch. Is that a smoothbore. what ga. ? Rocky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[roundball]

Not sure what kind of 'cardboard' you're talking about, but remember, the first and most important function of the OP card is to be a firewall...I'd think simple cardboard wouldn't survive.
I've found that Oxyoke prelubed wonder wads give me the best patterns, performance, and reduced fouling, but they are annoyingly expensive. Prior to that, I used smoothbore "Hunter Packs" from:

Flintlocks, Inc. John G. Eder, Nineveh, IN, 46164
317-933-3441
A "Hunter Pack" = Qty 100 SETS of three wads:
100-Over Powder cards (.125" pressed fiber card)
100-Over Powder cushion wads (.5" lubed fiber cushion)
100-Over Shot cards (.030" pressed hard card)
$6.00 / Hunter Pack

 

[smokeblower]

Could you describe the "lubed fiber cushion". I enjoy making my own "stuff" as much as shooting. What type fibers?
Smokeblower in Tennessee.

 

[roundball]

These fiber cushion wads are like the material in those big 4'X 8' sheets of pressed dark black / brown insulating sheeting that's been around for decades...usually nailed onto a house right after it's been framed up...somewhat soft, you can break it apart with your hands, etc...pressed paper or cardboard or wood fibers, not sure...and they're lubricated (soaked) with some sort of non-petroleum lube.
I've seen posts where people who have bought some dry cushion wads have lubed them with regular vegetable oil.

But the best I've used are Oxyoke prelubed wonderwads and have switched to them for smoothbore hunting...they'd be pretty pricey if you were to shoot 100 trap or skeet targets with them every weekend, but performance wise I think they're the best.

Also, check this URL...

http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html

 

[squirejohn]

I also like the Oxeyoke Wonder wads. I find the fibre wads are too stiff and blow through the pattern. I've also used toilet paper instead of a cushion wad with good results. However when the woods are dry they are a fire hazzard.

 

[Zonie]

Ah heard the ole timers often used a wad o grass fer the overshot, and once in a while whan they needed it they used it fer overpowder too.

Course ye don't want any Feds a watchin ye if'n ye use it fer the overpowder wad tho. They take a dim view o anyone smokin grass.

 

[Donny]

The late V.M. Starr was kinda the big guru for ML shotguns a few years back. He used only a card, no fiber wad. Do a google, there is an article by him on loads.

 

[Crow-Feather]

I always thought that the wad was supposed to prevent pellet deformation and prevent the pellets from being melted together in the barrel (heat Barrier).

C F

 

[Deadeye]

I can't remember the name, it may have been Starr, but it was the man who has won more muzzleloader shotgun shoots than anyone and he said he cuts his wads from plain cardboard, less than 1/16 thick, and puts 2 over the powder and 1 over the shot. On the other hand, I use an 1/8 over powder and a lubed 1/2 cushion and a thin overshot. I lube with spit or windex.
Deadeye

 

[musketman]

The late V.M. Starr was kinda the big guru for ML shotguns a few years back.

Here is his shotgun link...
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/starr.html

I use a heavy overshot card followed by a 1/2 inch fiber wad, then the shot and finally a thin overshot card...

As for the fiber wad, I made a blanket coat once, I took the thick scrap wool sections and cut them into smoothbore wads.

I would stack a few of them (4 = 1/2 inch) like little sandwiches with Wonder-Lube as the butter... ::

 

When I first started shoot'n smoothbores, I ordered all tha wads reccomended, from TOTW (over-powder, cushion, and over-shot).

After git'n'n patterns thet looked like "doughnuts", I finally eliminated some problems by use'n exacty the same wads thet feller uses, what Deadeye mentioned. Two "over-shot" wads on tha powder, and a "over-shot" wad on tha shot and, I really like carry'n jest "ONE" type of wad!! (makes my simple-life, simply-simple'er ::!)

I also use a bit bigger "volume" of shot, then powder!!

 

[musketman]

Good tip.
I'll have to try that with my bess...

 

[smokeblower]

I have also seen the thin, were talking, shipping box cardboard used. A dry cut on the powder, a lubed cut on top of that and a larger size that was coned, or cupped shaped and lubed. This was placed on top of the shot . Like the expansion chamber of a hollow base mini.

Sidenote, hay musketman, I live in west Tennessee-north Mississippi, and have been running a metal detector longer than shooting. I like your posts with the bullets. I have a collection that I am proud of, Gardners, French Triangular, Sharps, Colts, Savage, Enfield, Swiss Chaucher-Demmick (sp), two ring Mississippi Rifle and so on. leach and rigdon, memphis novelty works, yadda, yadda. Sold some to pay for college, (a bitter sweet regret)kept a few. Tell me how to post pictures and I will provide some peep shows. You guys have helped a collector who has turned shooter, and legal deer slayer. I can not shoot yankees, so now I shoot deer. How could you honor a hobby any more?? To T.G. on offense taken, I was select in my wording to 'play possum". I am a digger turned shooter. The smoke blows from the muzzle, not the mouth.


My qoute,
"smoking causes cancer, smoke blowing, however, causes venison"

 

[musketman]

Tell me how to post pictures and I will provide some peep shows. You guys have helped a collector who has turned shooter, I can not shoot yankees, so now I shoot deer.

How about shooting yankee deers? ::

To post a picture, click the IMAGE button in the Instant UBB Code box below the reply area that you type in...

This will bring up the EXPLORER USER PROMPT...

Just type your immage address in there, (usually a jpeg format) and click OK...
This should do it...