cotton ball

[eph289]

I'm kind of a tightwad,don't like to spend money if I don't have to. Wonderwads are about 6 cents apiece plus the price of cap and powder can make for an expensive shot.Can a cotton ball be substituted for a wonderwad ? Just bought a lb.of Goex the other day for 20 bucks,anit that an awful price. Can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can shoot some of it up.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Can a cotton ball be substituted for a wonderwad ?

NO NO NO. Don't try to change something that works. If they were supposed to be made of cotton balls, you'd see them for sale

 

[brpc]

EPH289:

Are you using the Wonderwads behind a conical or PRB?

I love the smell of Ballistol in the morning...

 

[Stumpkiller]

Well, I think I figured out how you can save some. I've shot b/p since '76 and have yet to buy a "Wonder Wad".

I use a grease patch lube (Crisco, even) over the ball & nothing under in bp revolvers, and a lubed cotton patch in everything else (with home-made lubes).

You can cut Celotex and cereal boxes to get what wads you need for a m/l shotgun, or just use tow and keep it original.

 

[eph289]

The cotton ball idea was for use with round ball

 

[lockjaw]

i don't think cotton balls are really cotton anymore, polyester maybe?

 

Hey Eph, Bill over here in Gaylordy. Just bought a quarteryard of ticking for a buck and a quarter. Looks like it'll make about two hundred fifty patches, gonna make some moose snot, soon as I get the wife to hold him down. Gotta be cheaper than wonder wads. When we gonna get together to shoot. I know it's gotta warm up some first. It warmed up here 45 degrees yesterday, and got all the way to nineteen degrees. This next week might not be too bad supossed to make the thirties. :relax:

 

[musketman]

The cotton ball idea was for use with round ball

You can probably lube the cotton ball, like a patch, making it more resistant to melting...

I think today's cotton balls are rayon, or some synthetic material like that, you can still get pure cotton at the drug store, wound dressing material is pure cotton...

 

Some of tha best dad-gumed "char" I ever had fer flint'n steel, was made out of "cotton" right out of the field. You git thet stuff smolder'n, and ya gotta jump up'n down on it to put it out.

Personaly, I'd think twice 'bout use'n "dry" cotton balls in a muzzleloader on a parched summer day.

YMHS
rollingb

 

[crockett]

Interesting point. If cotton makes good char, then isn't possible a fiber of a cotton ball could get snagged in the cylinder, forcing cone, etc and harbor an ember that could ignite the next powder charge.