cotton balls

[brubincam]

if patches are shreading <----did i spell that right? can a cotton ball be put down the barrel on top of the powder then a patched ball seated on top???would the cotton ball compress enough??? :thanks:

 

[roundball]

if patches are shreading <----did i spell that right? can a cotton ball be put down the barrel on top of the powder then a patched ball seated on top???would the cotton ball compress enough??? :thanks:

I would think the cotton would compress enough OK so there would be no safety issue...

BUT

There's a very good chance that you'd be sending a flaming fireball out into the grass and leaves each time you fired.

IMO, a spare lubed patch or two down on the powder, if not wonderwads themselves, would be the surest/safest solution.

 

Not recommended, The rabbit will complain too much :crackup: Actually most cotton balls are rayon, and not cotton and will melt in the barrel. better to figure out why yer cuttin patches. There could be many reasons for it, anything from roughness in the barrel to overcharging, to being to tight. Ya need to work on a solution, and not some halfway fix. Scientific method works best. Start by changing only one factor of your shooting process, and see what happens, then work your way through each piece of the process. Just :m2c: Bill

 

[Slamfire]

Cotton balls is rayon? :shocking: Somehow I don't think that'd hold much water. :crackup:

 

[uncrichie]

You can still get 100% cotton balls. I use them as space filler in reduced loads for my .50-70 trapdoor. I'd agree with Roundball and use wonder-wads. Uncrichie...

 

[roundball]

Actually most cotton balls are rayon, and not cotton...

Actually that's a good point...most of the brands have gone to synthetics or at least a blend...I think "Purity" still makes 100% cotton balls...the smaller, original size cotton balls

 

I shoot newspaper wads and am careful of the tinder effect. I wonder about cotton balls... Would they smolder longer....

 

[roundball]

I wonder about cotton balls... Would they smolder longer

I would think so...I've seen where they are sometimes recommended as firestarters...pretty fair amount of mass there

 

[ashtar13]

What about toliet paper? In the book "Buckskins and Black Powder", the author used a piece of wood and drilled holes in it for the size wads he needed. He then soaked tp with water and stuffed it in to the holes. Let them dry and pop them out. A thick piece of wood let him rip the wads into two pieces, a over the powder wad, and a over the shot wad. I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds good. Don't know it they would catch fire too.