Dude what source did you post.
It's like a not even a sentence
He posted a link to a book written in 1791 by W. Cleator, called
An Essay on Shooting: Containing the Various Methods of Forging, Boring, and Dressing Gun Barrels… Remarks on the Properties and Action of Gunpowder… the Methods of Training Pointers- - and a Short Description of the Game of this Country … The Whole Interspersed with Summary Observations on the Various Subjects of the Sport.”
I swear they must have gotten paid by the pound for titles back then!
You can find it here by clicking on the blue letters:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Q3ECAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-Q3ECAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1
Here’s the section, with the pertinent information in
bold type. The takeaway is that the author says cotton and wool are crap for wadding- felt from hats is the best, and soft brown paper is a decent, cheap alternative to felt.
“WADDING . MANY ſportſmen are of opinion, that the wadding, of whatever material it may be compofed, or whether it be rammed looſe, or tight, into the barrel, has no effect, either on the range of the fhot, or the clofenefs with which they are thrown. Now, although it may be granted, that the material which covers the fhot, and which is uſed only for the purpoſe of keeping it down, is of little importance, yet, the ſubftance which covers the powder is undoubtedly of much confequence. It ſhould be quite cloſe in the barrel, and that without being rammed too hard; the wadding fhould therefore be of a foft and tractable material, but at the fame time of fufficient confiftence, to carry the ſhot in a body, to a certain diſtance from the muzzle of the piece. For, if the wadding is rammed too clofe, or is of a hard and rigid fubftance, fuch as ſtiff brown paper, the piece will recoil, and the ſhot will ſpread more wide: if, on the contrary,
the wadding is not sufficiently clofe, and is compofed of a flight and too pliant a material, such as wool or cotton, it will not be of confiftence enough to carry the ſhot, and the diſcharge will lofe its proper force. Befides, a certain portion of the ſhot which is more immediately in contact with the wadding, will be melted by the exploſion of the powder. In the former part of this treatiſe, where we treated of the hot of fowling pieces,
we have given our reaſons for preferring wadding made of hat, by means of a punch fitted to the bore of the piece, to every other; but as this is not eafily procured in fufficient quantity, we muſt employ fome thing that is at once cheap, and adequate to the purpoſe . Next to hat, therefore, experience teaches, that nothing is better for wadding than ſoft brown paper; it combines fuppleneſs with confiftence, and moulds itſelf to the barrel: and it is further obfervable, that ſuch wadding never falls to the ground, in leſs than twelve or fifteen paces from the muzzle of the piece.”