Over-powder or Nitro card?

[Eterry]

Put about four on the powder.

That makes a lot more sense... thanks Britt.

 

[Eterry]

Never use card wads that are less than 1/16 thick in a muzzle loading smoothbore , burst barrels are known because the use of them they are prone to be by passed by the ramrod and left on the bore wall this when the gun is ignited becomes a obstruction and ends in a bulge or worse a burst barrel . If you are shooting many loads in a day you will witness the bore becoming coked with fouling making it difficult to seat the card wads a bit of spittle in the bore is a big help.
Feltwad

Using a thin card wad

.

The first problem i ran into with this dbl bbl was the ramrod had a small tip. The OP, Nitro, OS cards ALL turned sideways in the barrel with the .30 diameter rod tip. I have an old ramrod from another shotgun with a 30-30 Winchester case head as the tip... being .505 diameter.
It works much better at starting the cards in the bbl.

BTW, I'm loading a 20 bore dbl, not a 12.

I can see, if you had the wrong rod tip, or was occupied as in competition, you could let a OS card get sideways in the barrel.

I know you said the shooter was an old hand at the game, but that's why they call it an ACCIDENT... things happen.

I am new to muzzle loading shotguns, but shot competition pistol and rifle for over 30 years.

I know what competition does to the mind.

 

[Darkgael]

I got a sample pack from Flintlocks, Inc...AKA Mike's, and inside were over-powder and Nitro card wads...fiber and overshot also.

The Nitro cards are thicker (.080 iirc) than the overpowder wads (.035).

Who uses the Nitro wads? They seemed to cause better penetration of the sheet metal pattern board i shot at a little more than same load with overpowder cards.

Thoughts, opinion, advice ?

The grandpa of the MLing shotgun, V.M. Starr:

I use only one kind of wads and those I cut from cardboard like display signs that are extra thick, about 3/32 is about right and use two of these on the powder and one on the shot. I have had several pretty wise gun men tell me that that is not enough wads before they saw the results but never have had one say a word further on the subject after they had seen one of my guns perform so loaded. You can put in more wads on the powder if you wish or if you enjoy cutting them but my experience tells me that you are just wasting your time and cardboard and in spite of the fact that shot gun shells have felt wads in them and always have had as far as I know I don't think they are at all necessary in a muzzle loader. Anyhow, if my guns shot any better I would not know what to do with the extra efficiency.

I have taken to carrying only one type of wad with me when hunting with my 16 gauge fowler....a pocket full of standard OS cards. I put four over the powder and one over the shot. Works just fine.
Pete

 

[Britsmoothy]

The correct rammer tip is vital for loading a shotgun yes.

 

[Feltwad]

It is best to buy yourself a set of wad cutters in different bore sizes ,enclosed is a image of different sizes from the mighty 4 to small 32 .
Feltwad

Wad Cutters

 

[Eterry]

It is best to buy yourself a set of wad cutters in different bore sizes ,enclosed is a image of different sizes from the mighty 4 to small 32 .
Feltwad


Wad Cutters

Im happy for you to have such a nice set of punches, but that has NOT RELEVANT to my original post.

AND BTW, the replacement value of the 11 punches you have is well in excess of $300 here in the U.S.

For that much money I could buy about FORTY THOUSAND (40,000)
cards and wads thru a vendor.
Thru extrapolation that would require 2,500 lbs of birdshot and approximately 457 pounds of black powder.

I think I'll just buy a few bags of cards/wads from Mike's Quality Black Powder Wads.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[Eterry]

The grandpa of the MLing shotgun, V.M. Starr:


I have taken to carrying only one type of wad with me when hunting with my 16 gauge fowler....a pocket full of standard OS cards. I put four over the powder and one over the shot. Works just fine.
Pete

I may take to carrying one type of wad, i want to work on the pattern board and see what She likes.

That was the reason for the OP, to see what cards others use.

To everyone who suggests cutting/punching them from cardboard...I say if i can BUY them for a penny per, I'd rather spend the time working on a new build, or fishing.

As I stated above... the cost of new punches makes buying ready made cards a no brainer.

I am intrigued by the Skychief Special, and will give it a go.
If it works as advertised I'll give up the idea of a jug choke.

 

[Feltwad]

All you need is a punch of the bore size which can be bought for little money at any car boot sales has we call them here in the UK , If they are set up to work in a pillar drill you can turn out 40 to 50 a minute and in 15 minutes you will have enough wads to last you one year with this method you cannot buy them for less.
Feltwad

 

[Eterry]

I've seldom seen a punch at the flea markets, trade day's, garage sales that I've attended.
But I'll keep watching for some.

 

[Brokennock]

I usually only carry the thin cards sold as "overshot cards," (about the thickness of a cereal box) and my lubed felt wads. Looking for a way to cleanly carry some heavily lubed fiber cushion wads, for over the shot, after a thin card, for the Skychief load. I usually put 2 or three between powder and lubed felt wad.

 

[Brokennock]

A proper size for gauge flat faced jag helps, buy 2 or 3. One for the ramrod, one for cleaning (I cut little notches in the corners of the edge face for the cleaning patch to catch in so I can turn it to clean the breach face), and one to make one of these,

The little tool in the right corner of the box is for setting those cards square just inside the muzzle. After I pour my powder, I build my whole load piece by piece at the muzzle, then push the whole thing down together. I have less issues (read, No Issues) with air pressure holding load components off the powder this way.