Do You Use Wads For Hunting?

[Pete Gaimari]

Do you use unlubed wads between powder and PRB? It would seem over time the PRB would foul the powder.

What say you?

 

[buford87]

I use op wads for all shooting especially for hunting. During the 1980's some friends I hunted with at the end of the day often had loads that would not fire due to the powder getting wet from the lube. Ever since I've made sure to have a wad or at the very least a dry folded up patch between my powder and prb..........watch yer top knot...........

 

[jtmattison]

I use them all the time. Not so much to protect the powder. I did an experiment on the subject some time ago and found no damage occured to the powder from lube on either the patch or wad. I use them because they better accuracy as well as lessen fouling.

HD

 

[ohio ramrod]

For over twenty years I used a dry patch between the lubed patch or mini while hunting. And for the last two years I switched to leather wads for all of my shooting simply because I hve a lot of scrap leather and can make wads cutting dies myself.

 

[nchawkeye]

Nope...If your lube is contaminating your powder it's either too wet or too much...

 

[crowkiller]

No.
I see no need for them.

 

[hanshi]

I use them for all shooting, actually toilet paper, wasp nest, etc, when at the range or plinking. In the field, when hunting I use felt or card wads I punch out myself. This is not so much to protect the powder as for the benefit it imparts to ballistics.

 

[George]

I never do with rifles, always do with smoothbores shooting round ball. I'm not a believer in powder contamination by a greased patch, my patches don't have that much grease, but I'm firmly convinced the gas seal provided by wads is very important to accuracy in a smoothbore.

Spence

 

[Mattole]

This newcomer looks forward to giving them a try soon!

 

[Stumpkiller]

I take a little piece of waxed paper - maybe as big as 1-1/2" square - and crumble it up to set on the powder before I put the lubed patch/ball down. Sometimes I leave the rifle loaded a weekend or longer and I do think lube leeches into the powder some.

Cheap insurance.

 

[buford87]

I never had a powder contamination problem myself, I just thought to prevent it before it happened. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.......watch yer top knot.............

 

[roundball]

Do you use unlubed wads between powder and PRB?
It would seem over time the PRB would foul the powder.

No, I actually use Oxyoke's "lubed" wads (called Wonderwads) between PRB and powder...they're lubed with wonderlube 1000 which does not harm powder.
I use them with all PRB hunting loads in rifles for the improved sealing and extra lube they carry into the bore...in fact, I use the next larger caliber size wad for even better sealing as the material gets squeezed out into the grooves some.
And OP wads can reduce velocity fluctuations from shot to shot that allegedly contributes to better accuracy.

I do not use OP wads with PRBs in my smoothbores for a couple reasons:
There is no rifling to seal, a strong thick snug fitting PRB combo seals perfectly, and thorough testing at the range has shown me that a wad will cause me an occasional flyer in both .28 and .62cal smoothbores.

 

[Bill Hall]

I'm with you Buford. I always pack a little toilent paper between powder and patch. I've never had a problem with oily powder from the patch (that I know of), but I did have a real problem once with a patched RB in a speedloader. There was no separation between powder and greased patch, and the powder touching the patch had turned into a glob at the end of the tube, and it also oozed into the patch and swelled it up quite a bit. I almost lost an elk because of it.

I haven't used speedloaders in years, but my daughters do, so I make sure they put a little wad of paper between the patch and powder, and I do the same in my barrel. Just in case. Bill

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Thanks guys. I think to be safe i'll use something between patch and powder just to be safe if I think the load will be in the barrel for a long time.

Better to be safe than sorry.

You'd never know if the powder was a little contaminated unless you chronographed every shot.

 

[hanshi]

Guess I should add that while I punch out felt wads for all calibers I own, there is one exception; my .45. I have yet to find a punch that works for a .45 - roughly about 15/32. I have two sets of punches but there's a gap where the .45 would fall. The lubed Wonder Wads for c&b revolvers (.44) work beautifully and I buy these specifically for hunting. At the range it's normally wads of toilet paper.

 

[jtmattison]

Guess I should add that while I punch out felt wads for all calibers I own, there is one exception; my .45. I have yet to find a punch that works for a .45 - roughly about 15/32. I have two sets of punches but there's a gap where the .45 would fall. The lubed Wonder Wads for c&b revolvers (.44) work beautifully and I buy these specifically for hunting. At the range it's normally wads of toilet paper.

I purchased a 15/32 punch online from some tool outlet for use with my .44 C&B revolver. They are easy to find and I only paid about 10 dollars delivered.

HD

 

[roundball]

Just an FYI...

.50cal wads work fine in .45cal rifles...to try and get an even better seal, I've been in the habit of using the next larger caliber size wad in any given caliber for a long time now.

If you only use "the caliber" wad, you're just sealing the land to land bore size...but using the next larger size wad lets the pressure expand the wad out into the grooves some...when I pick them up off the range, they look like they have little gear teeth around the circumference.

Have I decided to go on the national tour because of this idea...no...I just assumed more wad = a better seal which SHOULD be goodness.
:hmm:

 

[ebiggs1]

I started using a 1/8” OP wad for my hunting flintlock. This year it had been loaded for three days and Saturday evening I shot a doe and it shot perfectly. Would it have shot without the wad? Probably. I did some target test shooting at 25 to 50 yards and could see no difference using the wad or not using the wad in accuracy. So if it helps keep a guns powder from lube contamination, why not? Of coarse you need a tight fitting round toothpick stuck in the touchhole. Little extra effort for more reliability, right?

 

[Blizzard of '93]

yes I do - but not for fast rifle (caplock) re-loads, in spare cylinders for my revolvers I do, dry felts under the greased Lee mold conical.

 

[hanshi]

I punch out plenty of .50 wads but never thought of using them in my .45. I'll try that next time out. Thanks.