Felt wads

[410-er]

Got a pack to try.Do they work to help accuracy?Can they be used with both Maxi's and RB's?Do you just drop one on top of the powder charge and seat bullet or do you seat separately to keep it flat?Do you put a little lube on the back of a maxi to keep it in place while maxi is being seated?

 

[Swampman]

I've never seen the need for them. A piece of wasp nest will do the same thing.

 

[strongarm]

Wasp nest works great when you can find it otherwise try a felt pad. I cut my own, they have helped a little in the past, don't use them much any more. They worked better unlubed. I used to hot dip them in a 50/50 mixture of bore butter and beeswax and then let them dry on a sheet of wax paper. They build a lot of compression and prevent gas erosion to the bottome of conicals and help prevent burn-through on rb patches.

 

[roundball]

Got a pack to try.Do they work to help accuracy?Can they be used with both Maxi's and RB's?Do you just drop one on top of the powder charge and seat bullet or do you seat separately to keep it flat?Do you put a little lube on the back of a maxi to keep it in place while maxi is being seated?

Ordinarily, wads are sold either dry or prelubed.
I use OxYoke's pre-lubed wads with any high power hunting loads. If you buy pre-lubed, you don't need to add any lube.

I haven't noticed a need for wads them using target loads.

I suspect it's best to keep them flat to ensure they're able to get their maximum sealing effect.

I just start one flat into the muzzle, then start the patched ball and seat everything together.

 

[Keppy]

Has anyone tried lubing cotton balls for wads between the powder and ball? Just a thought.

 

[roundball]

Has anyone tried lubing cotton balls for wads between the powder and ball? Just a thought.

I haven't...and in a recent discussion on this, it was pointed out that virtually all of todays cotton balls are a synthetic blend.

Implying that plastic melt might result...as well as a flaming missle flying downrange.

Sounds like a good range test subject...when can you post your Range Results?
:grin:

 

[Wehrmacht]

You will find that felt wads do improve accuracy,but IMO for hunting purposes it might not matter that much. Ride the chunkgun circut,however,and you'll find that those shooters who take home T-Bone Steaks instead of hamburger meat will almost always use felt[url] wads.In[/url] competition target matches,however,you search for any little trick that will give you a 1% improvement in accuracy :winking:

 

[playfarmers]

I started using felt wads over the powder and find they work good on my hunting loads. I also like the fact that they keep my patch lube from contaminating the powder.

 

[Chiefs50]

Do you think a guy could punch wads out of the beer coasters they use in bars?

 

[Keppy]

Hey Roundball I'm good at poking holes in my finger with the ram rod. :grin: So I guess I could try flaming missles since there is snow on the ground here in Minnesota. :rotf: Oh yes my finger is healing good.

 

[Swampman]

It sure seems strange that we have to complicate something as simple as shooting a muzzleloader. All kinds of crazy brews and stuff our forefathers never heard of nor needed.

 

[biliff]

Found that, in my .54, a lubed 20 ga felt wad under a PRB would tighten groups up considerably with heavy hunting loads (ie 90-100 grain charges). Anything less than that and they didn't make any difference.