making cartridges with wonder wads??

[David Y. Snellen]

Gentlemen,
I hope this is the right forum-
Have y'all ever made paper cartridges and used wonder wads IN the paper cartridge?
If yes, does the grease from the wad damage the cigarette paper?
I look forward to any experience y'all have had with this.
Thank you,
David

 

[Zonie]

I haven't worked with paper cartridges for a pistol but I have done a lot of shooting paper patched bullets in my Schuetzen.
The paper I used to patch the bullets is from a dress pattern and it's about the same strength as the paper used for cigarette's.

I apply the patches and then dampen them with water. That causes the paper to shrink when it drys making it "skin tight" on the bullet.

Normally, I leave these alone until I am ready to shoot one. Then, I lube the outside of the paper with a bee's wax and Vasoline mix just before loading.

Now, we get to what I wanted to tell you.
Once, I decided to lube the bullet's paper right after I finished patching them. A few days later, I went to the range to shoot them and the paper on every one of them peeled off as they entered the muzzle.
Based on this I am sure a greased wad would soak your cigarette paper after a few days and cause it to fall apart as soon as you started to handle it.

 

[user 33697]

I have found that dipping an assembled paper cartridge's protruding bullet in a beeswax and tallow mixture has worked the best for either a ball or conical bullet. Dip the bullet just short of the paper and store the lubed cartridges bullet down in a cartridge box as in video below.

 

[Mean Gene]

I shot paper cartridges last weekend, I used a round ball over felt lubed wad and 25 grains of powder, I never experienced any problems.

 

[David Y. Snellen]

HHmmm. Maybe the issue is how much grease/lube is on the wad that could absorb. Zonie, those pictures are amazing and look like a lot of work!
David