Felt wads

[Harold1950]

What is the ideal thickness the felt should be for the ML rifle? I am interested in trying the felt. So far, all the local hardward stores I've looked at only have the rubber or foam weatherstrips. I haven't check the durofelt site yet.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I picked of some wool felt from a sewing store. It is very thin but works well. I got 4 yards for 1.00 per yard. It was a ugly color of brown. Ron

 

[roundball]

What is the ideal thickness the felt should be for the ML rifle? I am interested in trying the felt. So far, all the local hardward stores I've looked at only have the rubber or foam weatherstrips. I haven't check the durofelt site yet.

One approach might be to just consider the Oxyoke prelubed Wonderwad as a reference...they are 1/8" thick and are outstanding IMO

 

[paulvallandigham]

Are you wanting to use the felt wads behind a PRB, or a conical, Harold? It makes a difference.

The Ox Yoke wads come pre lubed, and are a good, if expensive product. Since you seem to want to make your own, You can also lube them yourself, and save that cost.

If you are using the wad to protect the base of a conical and lube the barrel, then an 1/8" thick felt wad should serve the purpose. However, if you are wanting to use the Felt Wad as a gas sealer behind a PRB, I suggest you try both a single wad, and two wads and see which gives you more consistent velocity. I suspect you will need to use two of them, or find a much thick felt to cut your wads from. The gas is trying to escape by traveling up the groove, at the outside edges of that PRB. That means the most pressure on the wood wad will be on its edges. With a PRB, the curve of the ball takes away the support of the wool wad it needs at the edges, where you need it most to seal gases. If you use a thicker wad, or double up on the thinner wads, you can get a better seal. The extra lube won't hurt the barrel, either.

 

[Harold1950]

I will try it with the round ball want to try to improve the accuracy of my Hawken, but still need to shoot the gun more to break in the barrel.

 

[roundball]

I will try it with the round ball want to try to improve the accuracy of my Hawken, but still need to shoot the gun more to break in the barrel.

There's no need to use them with light 50-60grn target loads of course, but I've used them under every full power rifle hunting load in all calibers for 17+ years, both round ball & conicals...Oxyoke knew what they were doing when they made their Wonderwads...they've always been a benefit to my rifle loads and I "don't leave home without them"...:grin:

 

[boondocker]

I picked of some wool felt from a sewing store. It is very thin but works well. I got 4 yards for 1.00 per yard. It was a ugly color of brown. Ron

Wow did they see you coming. :rotf: Just kidding thanks for the idea, I am going to try felt and will check at the fabric shop. :hatsoff:

 

[tg]

Old felt crusher hats or something similar should work also.

 

[sniper68]

Give this a try, I like it much better than felt wads. Felt wads need to be overbore size to work properly. These will be flattened out when the ball is seated and when fired will be forced around the ball into the grooves. This is uncombed raw hemp fibers. It is stronger than the degummed and combed hemp, plus even with no lube it still won't burn. Melt a little batch of lube(a little goes a long way, you'll see :grinthrow the hemp in the lube. Take it out, put it between two pieces of plastic wrap and with a rolling pin, roll out as much lube as you can. Then pinch off enough to roll into a ball about the size of the cal that your using. :thumbsup: Towballs!!
Hemp[url] traders.com[/url]. Click on hemp fibers and or samples.

 

[nw_hunter]

Now that makes sense to me! Got to give it a try :thumbsup:

 

[Bob Gular]

Precision Reloading has unlubed felt wads at a good price. They are listed in shotgun gauge sizes so use 32 gauge for a 50, 28 gauge for a 54, and 24 gauge for a 58. Works for me.

 

[prowler]

I have been using fabric store felt for years, lubed with BW/EVOO. I have three colors, each indicating the percentage of EVOO in the mixture. Makes it very easy to pick the right color to match the shooting temperature.

 

[chrissiegrist]

have not attempted felt as of yet but have read it is critical to use pure wool not any synthetics as the fouling will be bad. Look at my post as a simple card patch made hugh differances in groups.

 

[FPDoc]

If you're looking for additional felt sources try.."Duro-Felt dot com". They have all thicknesses and hardness of surplus/scrap sizes, perfect for punching into wads. They ship quickly.