Making your own OS and OP cards

[Dan Baker]

Have seen throughout the forum where a lot of people cut out their own over shot and over powder cards from various material from cereal boxs to construction paper. What is the easiest method to do this? Are there tools available to cut out sizes for different gauges?

 

[BrownBear]

When I was shooting so much 12 gauge I did. I just ground the end of a pipe the right diameter to a sharp end, then put cereal boxes on a hard rubber mat. Had to resharpen once in awhile, but it worked great. Never tried to make my own fiber OP wads, but probably would have if I ever could have found the right material.

 

[paulvallandigham]

You can find punches sold through several suppliers, for the various gauges. See Dixie Gun Works, for one. And you can get the caliber/gauge information here on the forum. Go to Member Resources towards the top of the index page, then scroll down to " Articles, Charts, and Links."

The links takes you to the names of lots of suppliers, while the charts takes you to a number of different charts, including the one you need. Click on the name of the supplier, and you will bring up its website, and catalog.

Harbor Freight sells cheap punch sets, that go up to 1/2". Most shotguns are going to be 28, 24, 20, 16, 14, 12, and 10 gauges, for MLers. A 3/4" diameter ( inside) iron water pipe can be made into a good punch for a 12 gauge shotgun. A 5/8 Inside diameter water pipe works for the 20 gauge. The other sizes are made from other sizes of pipes found for other uses, or for most of us, its less a hassle to buy the punch for the less common sized barrels.

Before going to the trouble of making your own wads, price them through the suppliers. Most wads are being made by Butler Creek enterprises. Some are made by the successor company to Ox Yoke( formerly located in Maine.) Unless you are going to do a lot of target shooting, its probably less trouble for you to simply buy the wads, and cards.

 

[dbutch]

check out this topic..........hope this helps..
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...d/243347/post/817611/hl/DURAFELT/fromsearch/1/#

 

[ohio ramrod]

I make my own punches for up to .625 diameter. from stressproof steel. If you are interested send me a P.M. And we can talk about them.

 

[Dave K]

I get all mine from "Mike's Quality Black Power Wads" and some from "Fly Circle". Of course I shoot often enough, that I really don't care to spend time making. I buy a 1000 shots worth at a time. Of course the next problem is I shoot too many guages. 10,12,13,14,16,18 and 20ga. They are really too cheap for me to make and not buy. JMHO

 

[hanshi]

I was lucky; I already had a 20ga punch among my other tools. Have no idea where or when I got it. Being cheap I punch all my fowler card and felt wads. My .62 is the only smoothbore I own.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

As has been said, you can often find some metric or English size of punch or a size of tubing to give a useful size 10-20thou larger than your bore. My late gunsmith made a very nice punch for my .665" 16ga by sharpening a cut-off section of 12ga barrel with a full or extra-full choke. It punches .685-.687" wads, depending on the material. He made another one for a buddy's 12ga out of another barrel cut-off, either a choked 10ga or an over-sized (back-bored?) 12ga - I can't remember which.

You use something for a backing that has enough give that your punch can make it completely through the material you are cutting, but which won't get chewed up too fast. Various modern materials will work, but the traditional backing is end-grain on a block of wood. When the wood finally gets too soft and uneven, you saw off the chewed-up layer and you have a brand new surface to work with.

As you have probably already read, a lot of us have gone to using multiple over-shot cards in place of the 1/8" over-powder wad. Besides working better for us, it avoids having to punch cleanly through something that thick & stiff. Almost anything reasonably stiff that mic's .020-.030" works. Cereal boxes, new-shirt backers, milk cartons, picture matting, and lots of other things all work. Empty shotgun shell boxes often make very good material. The best material I have found is called "25 point pressboard" (25 points = .025"). It is very stiff, and is used, among other things, for some index and records cards, and for extra-stiff dividers and file folders often used for legal or financial records. A thinner or somewhat softer material may mean that you have to use one or two more cards over the powder to get a good seal. Hard felt wads and soft felt and fiber cushion wads are a whole nother topic.

Regards,
Joel

 

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I grew up with the Make it yourself mentality. It just is to me much more satisfying to not be at the mercy of suppliers. Traditionally many of the frontier felllers got by real good making do. Maybe my stuff will not win any matches but I have never starved to death along with alot of other resourcful people.
So it just comes down to how you thinker ticks. I enjoy being able to make mine own. There are some things I have to buy... but maybe not forever.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I'm about as poor as the proverbial church mouse but even so I don't find it worthwhile to punch wads when I can buy a thousand perfectly formed wads from Circle Fly for under ten bucks. I work cheap but not THAT cheap. Now on the other hand, Oxyoke Wonderwads are expensive, so expensive I've never bought any and can't understand why anyone would when there are much less expensive alternatives. But with that one exception, one can buy a thousand manufactured wads for less than the cost of a wad punch and spend more time shooting rather than hammering a punch.
So yes, I have punches and certainly can make my own, but personally, I'd rather not.