Home made wonder wads

[AZbpBurner]

Wax pills, no need for felt. I've found that 20 gns. 3f, plus a 1/4" pill, plus a .451 ball puts the ball very close to the front of the chamber.

Now, if I can just start hitting the actual target......

What's your recipe for the wax pills?

 

[M. De Land]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrross!
I think I will very happily stay with my punched out felt wads soaked in my favorite lube. Mike D.

 

[Poor Private]

I bought a punch set from Harbor Frt. and used a tube of Bore butter as the lube and what I use for the felt you ask? Well I go to Salv. Army, or Goodwill and buy old felt hats for a buck or so. I can get about 750-1000 .44 and .36 out of a single fedora. soak in in bore butter lay em to dry and then place them in freezer bags and mark em. I do get some unusal colors of wads. pink, purple, red, neon green but they all work and no-one else sees em but other shooters. cost I figure is down around .125 each, not counting my labor. I buy the hats when we are there anyways so no cost in fuel. Nothing like a plastic bag full of weird hats.

 

[dikman]

Sorry, been away for a few days, no 'net access.

Equal parts mutton tallow, beeswax and paraffin wax, similar to Gatafeo's famous mix with a little more beeswax added. I pour a 1/4" slab and punch them out while the wax is still slightly warm. I find that if I let it go cold it becomes brittle and cracks a lot when punching them.

The good thing about using pills is that it acts as both filler and lube. (I was originally using 15 gns of powder, and thought I'd be clever and use two pills to bring the ball closer to the front of the chamber. The wax doesn't compress much at all, and I couldn't get the balls down quite far enough to rotate the cylinder!! Dumb!).

 

[FishDFly]

"The good thing about using pills is that it acts as both filler and lube. (I was originally using 15 gns of powder, and thought I'd be clever and use two pills to bring the ball closer to the front of the chamber. The wax doesn't compress much at all, and I couldn't get the balls down quite far enough to rotate the cylinder!! Dumb!)."

To seat the balls when over filling a chamber, pull a nipple and dump a touch of powder out of the cylinder, put the nipple back and re-seat the ball, works each time.

I was taught that lube was the last item into the chamber, not second. The lube being last into the chamber acts as a lubricant for the ball when the ball jumps from the chamber into the forcing cone and then into the rifling. Thus the lube helps reduce leading in the barrel.

If the lube is put on top of the powder, how does the lube, lubricate the barrel prior to the ball jumping into the forcing cone and into the rifling?

I shoot in temps ranging from 30s to over 100. Do you make pills for each temperature range?

What works at 30 will very runny at 100 and will ruin the powder when it melts.

If it's cold, how do you know the pill actually compressed onto the powder and the cylinder is not ringed due to air space in the chamber when it is fired?

Ringed barrels happen often in rifles.

Thanks for the help.

 

[dikman]

Glad I could help you, Richard. :grin: .

(Sorry, bit of weak humour on my part). I'm well aware, from reading your posts, that you have far more knowledge on the subject than I'm ever likely to have, so your comments are most welcome. I'm constantly learning, and changing ideas as new ideas/information becomes available.

So far, I've been shooting in cooler weather (15 degrees C), and am aware that the pills may become a problem when it's hotter, but as I don't intend shooting when it's above 32C (or so), I don't think it's going to be much of an issue, considering how much heat it takes to melt the stuff in the first place. If I'm wrong, then I'll have learned something new.

As for the possibility of soft wax affecting the powder, I suppose that is a possibility - but not in my case. Where I shoot, the gun is loaded and then fired. We are not permitted to keep a firearm loaded for any longer than is necessary. And if it was too soft it wouldn't be going in anyway.

There is no lube down the barrel for the first ball, true, but after that a small amount should be deposited in the barrel from the pill going down each time it's fired. Or are you saying that it will all be blown out?

I suppose I could always try the pill on top of the ball.

As for an airgap, why should there be any more chance of that than loading a tight fitting ball?

The one constant I've found since taking up this wonderful hobby is that there are no constants - just variables galore . Which is what makes it so challenging.

 

[Darto]

I have always used beeswax and mutton tallow (without paraffin) varied the amount of wax to make it work at different temperatures. I keep these frozen in freezer in little paper yogurt cups labeled on top for different temperatures. It lasts years in there.

But Gatofeo is the real expert, follow his advice, for instance I should have tried adding paraffin.

Dixie gunworks sells mutton tallow