Over Powder/Shot Cards

[rodwha]

Is there a difference in these? And can one punch cardboard cereal boxes for these?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Over powder are typically 1/8" thick. Over shot are 0.010" (1/100th inch).

You probably could use cereal box cardboard. Haven't measured it and I'm not sure there is a standard thickness. Measure some.

Works for water-pump gasket material on a '71 Slant-six engine as well. ;-)

 

[rodwha]

I like to keep things simple, but wondered about those who hunt with a smoothbore and how they’d load, especially something more fast paced like dove. Having different cards seems like it would be just a bit more tedious whereas two of the same card would just be a little more simple, and if one could punch them from the cereal and snack boxes that much better.

Obviously there’s a reason why the thickness differs. What would that be?

 

[BrownBear]

I really like TOW's Type A over-powder cards. They're the 1/8" thick that Stumpy references and really stiff. They do a terrific job of scraping soft fouling from the bore when you load, eliminating buildups that make loading difficult when doing a lot of shooting. I can fire a couple dozen shots without swabbing.

The critical half of that combo is the soft fouling. While I'm sure other lubes would work, I quit looking once I tried olive oil on my fiber wads.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Stamp away, a few thin cards work just fine for a wad.
You need to visit bars to, to collect beer mats too :thumbsup:

B.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Stamp away, a few thin cards work just fine for a wad.
You need to visit bars to, to collect beer mats too :thumbsup:

B.

I have gone to bars to get the beer mats, but by the time I leave forgot what I came to get. In the morning no beer mats or money.

 

[rodwha]

Had a little time before we leave so I measured a box that I didn’t finish punching (for revolvers). Measured about 0.018”.

I’m unfamiliar with the cards used for these shotguns. Being that an over shot card is so thin I’m assuming it is quite rigid. I wonder how cardboard box cards would compare.

Cardboard boxes these days aren’t what they were when I was growing up! Sure are thin now.

 

[rodwha]

What other lubes have you tried?

I have Gatofeo’s #1 and Ballistol, which I figured I’d try for this as well. G#1 works quite nicely on my pistol and rifle conicals, and felt wads, and some claim it works excellently on patches for balls, which I figured I’d try, along with Moose Milk from Ballistol.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Stamp away, a few thin cards work just fine for a wad.
You need to visit bars to, to collect beer mats too :thumbsup:

B.

I have gone to bars to get the beer mats, but by the time I leave forgot what I came to get. In the morning no beer mats or money.

Leave your wallet at home next time :thumbsup:

 

[Britsmoothy]

Don't worry about it, as long as they are +.025"-.030" over D they will hold shot and a few together will make an adequate wad.

B.

 

[BrownBear]

What other lubes have you tried?

I have Gatofeo’s #1 and Ballistol, which I figured I’d try for this as well. G#1 works quite nicely on my pistol and rifle conicals, and felt wads, and some claim it works excellently on patches for balls, which I figured I’d try, along with Moose Milk from Ballistol.

Let us know how they work. I started with olive oil, intending to move on to an olive oil/tallow mix and then TOW's mink tallow. The olive oil worked so well, I never moved on to test the others.

 

[rodwha]

I don’t have a smoothbore yet but fully intend to.

 

[Six-Gun]

Stamp away, a few thin cards work just fine for a wad.
You need to visit bars to, to collect beer mats too :thumbsup:

B.

That's how I do it these days; stack up 3 overshot cards in lieu of a single, heavy overpowder wad. Donuts patterns were common when trying to use thick cushion wads over the powder. Using the stacked overshot cards, with their light mass and quick dispersion (at least in theory), quelled that problem and patterns normalized. A turkey dropped this spring to that very setup using #7.5 shot and 70 gr. Goex FFg.

 

[rodwha]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that!

What of cushion wads or felt wads?

 

[Six-Gun]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that!

What of cushion wads or felt wads?

Nor problem!

The ones that gave me trouble were the .500" fiber cushion wads (like the Track of the Wolf "Wad-C"). It seems that their mass was carrying them into the shot column, opening it up, and the end result was a nasty donut pattern, almost completely devoid of pellets in the center, even at 20 yards.

Using the thin, stiff overshot cards, manually pinhole vented and placed over the powder in a 3-card sack (Track of the Wolf's "Wad-B" card) has proven much better in my 20 GA smoothbore.

I tried a few other combinations using cork, felt and combinations thereof, but straight overshot cards used as described above worked best.

 

[Black Hand]

I punch my over-powder cards from posterboard and over-shot cards from shipping envelope (about cereal box thickness). All cards are lubed and the overshot cards have 2 vent holes poked through with a heavy needle.

If all you have is thin cards, you can stack 3-4 cards over the powder and a single card over the shot

 

[Stumpkiller]

I don't lube my cards, and only roll the edge of my wads (held on a pin) in a melted beeswax/Crisco mix lube.

Dipping the whole wad just adds velocity-reducing weight to the load.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've punched wads and cards out of about everything you can imagine...cracker boxes, regular carboard, leather , rubber, clear plastic packaging, cork, felt, belting, paper plates, automotive insulation, basically anything I think I can make a wad a card out of.
Under the plastic coating of most 3 ring note book binders is a thick cardboard suitable for punching over powder cards.

My favorite OP wad is .20 vegetable tanned patent leather.
Favorite OS wad is a wheat thins cracker box or similar.

 

[Feltwad]

I still prefer 2 number 1/8 card over powder wads and 1 number 1/16 over shot card wad . A look around a builders yard will find some suitable card in different thickness .Has for ramming home 3 number thin wads for a over powder wad will do the job but if you are shooting pest control from a hide there will be a lot of pieces of wad laid on the ground just like confetti.
Feltwad

 

[B.Habermehl]

Working in a warehouse has its advantages, we have cardboard slip sheets destined to go to the baler. All types and thicknesses, I use the ones that are solid and about 1/8 inch thick. One sheet makes a lifetime supply unless you are a trap shooter. Ove shot cards are easy, beer case material, that tends to follow me home every couple of weeks. :wink: BJH