historic wadding, episode 9

[George]

I continue fooling around with wadding methods I find in original documents, and continue to have fun. I've previously reported on using both tow and "rubbed brown paper". The tow worked much better.

The paper wadding, which is just two layers of brown grocery sack over powder and over shot:



This was obviously a low pressure, low velocity load, and not impressive for density or evenness.

The tow wadding



This pattern is better, is consistent on the patterning board, and I have used it in the field, taken several squirrels and a couple of rabbits with it.

I had the idea to combine the two on a squirrel hunt yesterday. I loaded the powder, then the paper wad, then the tow overpowder wad, shot and then the overshot tow. I hadn't patterned this combination, but made a clean kill on a gray squirrel at what I estimated to be closer to 25 yards than to 20. After the hunt I decided to pattern my remaining load. Hadn't planned on that ahead of time, so all I could find to shoot at was a sheet of newspaper, sorry 'bout that. I was pleased to see what appears to be a more even and dense pattern at 25 yards than I had gotten with either of the two separately at 20. I'm going to be trying this some more, film at eleven.



This one was shot at 25 yards. (I touched each hole with a Sharpie so you can see them amongst all the clutter.) I aimed at the pineapple, and juice flew everywhere. :grin: I think this may give a better seal than the tow alone, keep the gasses from blowing through the shot a little better.

All patterns were shot with my 20 ga. smooth rifle, 46" barrel, using 70 gr. 2F Goex, 70 gr. equivalent #6 shot.

Spence

 

[Black Hand]

Spence,
Have you tried crumpled/wadded pieces of brown paper? It seems that you might get a better seal than with either tow or straight paper.

 

[Wes/Tex]

You definitely harvested that pineapple! Playing the wadding game can be very interesting. I've even used clover with results similar to yours here. When in the woods, any leaf litter will probably work. :wink:

 

[George]

Spence, Have you tried crumpled/wadded pieces of brown paper?

No, I haven't. The method I use for the paper is that given by Thomas Page in 1767. He described it in detail, and so far, I've followed his instructions. The reason I've done that is that he expresses the opinion that shot loaded directly on powder can shoot as well as with a proper wad, and says that proves the thickness of the wad isn't important so long as it prevents powder and shot from mixing.

My little experiment today was just a personal whim, not described by anyone.

Wm. Cleator also recommends soft brown paper in 1789, but gives no description of the method.

Spence

 

[pargent]

I plan on trying your wadding again this weekend at the spring rondy at Tin Can Bay :thumbsup:

 

[George]

Good luck with it. Not exactly my system, but if you win I'll claim it, if you lose it belongs totally to Thomas Page. :haha:

Spence

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Spence,

The biggest problem I have had is, when I think I have the best combination of wadding, I find the on the next shot or several shots latter the pattern may not be as smooth.

This was especially true when I was devising shot cups of various materials to tighten the group.

Do you see much pattern variation from shot to shot?

 

[George]

Yes, I find that most any wadding system I use in my cylinder bored barrels gives me patterns which are less consistent than in modern guns. In general it's areas of more or less density... holes... not usually big enough to cause a miss at the game, but easily seen on paper. I don't feel too badly about that, though, because it seems to be HC. :grin: Wm. Cleator said in 1789:

"There is a curious circumstance attending the shot of barrels, which is, that sometimes the grains of lead, in place of being equally distributed over the space they strike, are thrown in clusters of ten, twelve, fifteen or more, whilst several considerable spaces have not a single grain in them."

and:

"We have fired the same piece from a rest, twenty times in succession, with the same charge of powder and of shot, and at the same distance; and have, during the course of firing, thrown into the mark from 30 to 70 grains, with all the intermediate numbers. We have repeated this trial a great many times with the same piece, and also with different pieces at the same time, without having ever observed so much uniformity in the same piece, or difference in different pieces, as to prefer one over another."

and later:

"...we cannot venture to determine what degree of closeness or dispersion in the shot, will intitle any piece to the name of a good or a bad one; but would observe, that if a fowling piece charged with an ounce of No. 4. patent shot, and a suitable quantity of powder, throws 60 grains into a sheet of paper 18 inches by 24, at the distance of 50 paces, we may consider it as very capital, although these are only about one third of the charge; and that the same piece continuing to be fired at the same mark and distance, will not in the mean of four or five successive discharges, throw 36 grains into the paper;"

Spence

 

[dbutch]

Thank You Spence.. :thumbsup:
Another good post going right into my favorites bucket.

 

[BCarp]

Interesting aside: I'm currently reading "Oliver Twist", and so far Dickens has twice described characters loading their pistols. The wadding in the first instance is cut from a felt hat, and in the second is "brown paper." The novel was written in the 1830s....

 

[George]

Neat. He gets high marks for historical accuracy.

Spence

 

[BrownBear]

Hey Spence,

I've often speculated about the role of bore fouling in variable patterns. Variability seems to get worse with long strings of shots. It's improved with a good bore swabbing, and my impression is that it's reduced with well-lubed wads.

For my own long strings in the field hunting snowshoe hare (no bag limit) and ptarmigan (20-bird bag limit) I've settled on fiber wads saturated with olive oil, and damn the theories about blow-through and donut patterns. If powder charges are held down the donuts go away, while I see fewer holes when I've patterned at the end of a long day's hunt.

Nothing more than impressions without a whole lot more testing, but the impressions have sure affected my load choices.

 

[George]

I expect you are right about the effect of fouling, and my experience with modern wadding seems to agree with yours, lubricated wads keep things working consistently for a longer period of time. In these experiments, though, using soft wadding, I'm never even aware of fouling. I'm sure it's there, especially since I've been using 2F in the trials, and it's dirty, dirty, but you don't feel it so much when ramming tow or such.

Spence