Home made wads

[Feltwad]

For me when I cut wads I use a pillared drill press the shank of the punch I turn round and fix in the jaws of the press , with a piece old flat wood in the vice on the press I place the card and working the up and down movement of the press to cut the wads . It is quite easy to cut 30 to 40 a minute the only trouble with this method is collecting the cut wads which are thrown in all directions .
Feltwad

 

[Canute Rex]

I'm from central Vermont. Lots of felt lined boots up here. Good point by John E: Make sure the liner is pure wool, or at least all natural fiber. With waxed wool wads I find my cleaning to be easier. They seem to squeegee the bore with each shot.

 

[morb]

i have a smooth bore that measures .85 i am most likely going to need to make my own wads since there isn't many places in canada to get this kind of stuff. i read all the posts in this thread and it looks like have what i need to make my own, i do leather works as hobby so i have lots of scrap in various thickness'. my only problem is i'm not sure how big to cut the wads, is there a standard for how much bigger the wad needs to be compared to the bore?

 

[Black Hand]

i have a smooth bore that measures .85 i am most likely going to need to make my own wads since there isn't many places in canada to get this kind of stuff. i read all the posts in this thread and it looks like have what i need to make my own, i do leather works as hobby so i have lots of scrap in various thickness'. my only problem is i'm not sure how big to cut the wads, is there a standard for how much bigger the wad needs to be compared to the bore?

I punch my 20ga wads (poster-board and cardboard mailing envelope) with a piece of sharpened 20ga barrel. Has worked well for some time.

 

[rawhide]

I use paper towels works awesome

 

[Juice Jaws]

Aren't they a little thin and burn up?

 

[Grenadier1758]

The paper towels are not too thin if you ball them up. You can make wads from similar balls of tow. A wad of leather of bore size will work as a wad.

 

[morb]

do you lube the paper towel or tow?

 

[Juice Jaws]

The paper towels are not too thin if you ball them up. You can make wads from similar balls of tow. A wad of leather of bore size will work as a wad.

OK, thanks, I understand now.

 

[Grenadier1758]

You can lubricate balls of paper towel or tow. I would use an over shot card (nick the edge to let air pass the card) to separate the powder from the lubricated wad. Then you load the shot and a final over shot card.

 

[morb]

You can lubricate balls of paper towel or tow. I would use an over shot card (nick the edge to let air pass the card) to separate the powder from the lubricated wad. Then you load the shot and a final over shot card.

thanks, good to know

 

[Carbon 6]

Just don't set the woods on fire.

 

[arcticap]

I use highly compressed newspaper as wadding.
It works in a pinch.

 

[Desperate Lee]

I too use paper towels. I lay 2 sheets together and soak then in my talo, beeswax, olive oil lube. Lay out flat, let dry, then cut out cooties with my punch. I use a card, made from old business cards, between lube, powder, and ball. This works great in my c&b pistols. Have not tried in my Hawken yet.

 

[theoldredneck]

Played with the paper towels in shotguns and smooth bore handguns. Stopped using them because they would often catch fire after smoldering a little while. Too many other things that doesn't for me to use.

 

[Le Loup]