Over Powder Cards

[rickystl]

.62 20-guage smoothbore. Do any or most of you find that an over-the-powder shot card helps improve accuracy while shooting PRB? Thanks.

 

[rabjr]

I use a 1/2 of a lubed fiber wad in my .20 over the powder for shot loads and it works just fine.

In my .12 ga I use a full lubed fiber wad over the powder with a patched ball on top and this combo is very accurate in my gun.

 

[Leatherbark]

I tried all sorts of wads under a .600 ball with patch...........I couldnt help to believe that the wad caused fliers occasionally that I didnt get with just a patched ball. But you never know that maybe the gasses acting against a patched ball with maybe a crooked crown might act differntly if a wad is used.................Bob

 

[paulvallandigham]

Ricky: Use Jim Rackham's suggestion of using ONLY os cards in your smoothie. 4 cards on top of the powder, for a good gas seal, then the shot, or PRB, and then 2 OS cards on top of the shot. In a single barrel gun, there is no reason to need the OS cards on top of a PRB, unless you are using too thin a patch and you can move the ball by shaking the barrel. In a double barreled shotgun, using the OS cards are prudent. Recoil from the first shot can move the PRB forward in the second barrel, without the cards holding it in place.

Jim puts a dab of his favorite lube on the underside of the 4th OS card he puts down on the powder. This practice greases the barrel in front of the burning powder so that the residue stays soft.

I just run a greased cleaning patch down the barrel after seating the PRB or OS cards.I found the added grease helps the shot slide down the barrel, rather than rub lead off onto the bore, it protects the entire barrel during a hunt from rusting, and it still leaves enough grease in the pores to soften the fouling in the barrel after the gun is fired.

Using my technique with a PRB, it simply adds more grease to my lubed patch so that there is no chance that the patch will run dry and leave me a crud ring towards the muzzle of the gun. This is more a problem during Fall hunting seasons, when our relative humidity can be very low. When its raining, or damp out, I don't see much of a crud ring in either my rifle or shotguns.

 

[roundball]

I tried all sorts of wads under a .600 ball with patch...........I couldnt help to believe that the wad caused fliers occasionally that I didnt get with just a patched ball. But you never know that maybe the gasses acting against a patched ball with maybe a crooked crown might act differntly if a wad is used.................Bob

I've proven to myself over many years now that every high power PRB or conical hunting load I've used in .45/.50/.54/.58/.62cal rifles are improved with the use of Oxyoke prelubed wool wads over the powder.

So naturally, when I began experimenting with PRB loads in a .62cal smoothbore, and then a .54cal smoothbore, I used Oxyoke wads over powder. I then spent several range trips, many powder charges, different size balls, different thickness patches, etc, and I could not eliminate a wild flyer every 5-7 shots. One day at the range after the last failed test of anything else I knew to try, I sat down in utter disbelief going over and over everything I had changed...what else could there possibly be.

Then in pure desperation...because I KNEW Oxyoke wonderwads had been golden for me for years and never caused any problems...I said what the heck and shot a group without a wad...no flyers.
Shot another group, no flyers.
Shot a 3rd group, no flyers.
Hey, can this possibly be...shot another group WITH wads and had 2 flyers out of 5.
Shot another group WITHOUT wads and no flyers.

Next weekend ran the same tests with the .54cal and had the same results. No question the OP wad was the culprit for me.

In then wondering why, I thought maybe gas was prematurely blowing out along one side and tilting things at muzzle exit, so I tried to eliminate that by using 2, then 3 wads stacked on each other but I still got flyers. So I don't know what it is but when I use prelubed Oxyoke OP wads in my GM .62 & .54cal Flint smoothbore barrels, I get flyers.

The good news is that a well lubed patch works fine in both smoothbores without a wad so it's become a non-issue...but I do wish I knew exactly what the failure mechanism is.

 

[mazo kid]

"The good news is that a well lubed patch works fine in both smoothbores without a wad so it's become a non-issue...but I do wish I knew exactly what the failure mechanism is."

Thus the old saying "every gun is a law unto itself". What works in one gun might not work as well in another (or maybe it will work better)!

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't think that the wool felt wads with the lube in them were ever intended to be used as gas seals. They are for lubing the bore to make softer residue in the barrel for cleaning. If you were to try a stiffer, unlubed wad for an OP Wad, I think you would get differernt results.

My first experience with the Ox-Yoke Wonder wads was shooting a .36 Navy 1851 Model Colt Replica Revolver. The wads worked " Wonderfully " at lubing the barrel and minimizing the residue I had to clean out of it. They didn't do much for the debris that gathered around the front of the cylinder or the rear of the barrel, but the barrel was cleaner than when I coated the balls with lube in the cylinder chambers. I frankly don't remember now if they gave me better accuracy or not. The sights on the gun were way off, and just keeping a shot on the paper at 25 yards was a big deal. The rear sight " Notch " in the nose of the hammer was cut off to one side, rather than in the center of the hammer. That made shooting that revolver a bit more exciting than I found interesting, and I eventually sold the gun to a dealer to use as parts.