Revolver wads

[cougarmagnum]

Looking for an alternative to Wonder wads, has anyone tried cork? Wonder wads are great, but hard to find and expensive in my neck of the woods! Everyone around here uses those those new fangled cartridge guns, but I don't think those will ever catch on! I'll keep my 58 Remmie and my 51 Navy!

 

[Toomuch_36]

Don't know about using cork. :hmm:
You might try getting some sheat felt from the fabric shop and a hole punch and make your own, the biggest expence would probably be your time.

Toomuch
...........
Shoot Flint

 

[cougarmagnum]

I'll look for some of that! Where in Pennsy are you from?

 

[Toomuch_36]

Just north of State College on the Clearfield Co. line.

Toomuch
...........
Shoot Flint

 

[cougarmagnum]

Know where ya mean, I'm up in the Alleghanies, just south of New York state line, in the great northwest! Keep yer powder dry, watch yer topknot. Oh, bye the bye, I also tote a Renegade and a Great Plains rifle. I also flintknap, except ther's no flint up my way, but for some dern reason, the Senecas up here are better at it than me, can't figure out why?

 

[renovato]

Check out http://www.durofelt.com

They have 1/8 inch hard felt sheets that are perfect for punching your own wads from. You can find punches at Dixie, TOW, etc. Works out much cheaper in the long run and it's fun to make your own stuff.

 

[cougarmagnum]

Just checked out Durafelt, thanks for the tip, stuff looks good! As far as making your own stuff, that's the only way to go, hate to buy, what I can make or trade for! Guess I've been reading Backwoodsman too long! Thanks again.

 

If you don't like to punch out the Durofelt, Buffalo Arms sells .36 and .44 unlubed wads about $20.00/1000. I soak them in 50/50 paraffin/crisco shortening.

Was tired to pay $7.50/100 for .36 Wonder Wads

May be next time I'll give Durafelt a try.
[url] http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm[/url]

 

[peashooterJoe]

Harbor Freight has a set of hollow punches that I use(cheap). Have you tried cardboard wads, after I tried them I don't buy felt anymore. Just wax them like you do felt wads or use old milk cartons (cheap). Cheaper and easier to get, I use drink containers,cereral boxes etc. You are using something that was going to be thrown away,like getting something for nothing. I may use 1 or 2 according to load, your mileage may very. did I mention that they are cheap.IMHO Good Luck..

 

[cougarmagnum]

Don't know why I didn't think of milk carton wads, cause that's what I use when reloading BP shotshells in my double!

 

[renovato]

The only benefit I can think of for using felt wads rather than cardboard is that they carry a lot of lube and help scrape fouling. I find they help keep the barrel cleaner, longer.

 

[defib_wizard]

I bought a 7/16 punch at the hardware store and a sheet of felt ( about the size of a piece of paper $0.25c ) and got over 200 out of it.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I've managed to find pieces of steel tubing which I run in my drill press to cut wads from a number of materials. Spinning makes the cut smooth and effortless even in thick leather. I grind away one side of the tubing about 1 1/2" above the cutting edge as a place to remove the cut wads. I stop the press after cutting a dozen or so and run the tubing down over a dowel to push the wads up to the removal opening. Or- you can just let it spin and keep cutting wads until they rise up to the opening and they will fly out but you'd need some sort of fence to contain them or be willing to spend a lot of time on hands & knees picking them off the floor. :grin:

 

[Lone Carabiner]

I make my own with felt from 'Durofelt' and a punch I made but you can buy punches ready made.
Definite accuracy improvement and probably safer.
Less messy also as lubing the felt wad you won't have to put lube on the ball/slug.
Actually this is my favorite shooting. Like U I doubt them brass thangs are gonna catch on- what if they fergit :shocked2: to put ary bit of powder in 'em?

 

[the priest]

You should be able to walk into about any hardware store and pick up good sheets of felt very inexpensively. Cheaper than hobby stores or fabric shops and it's usually thicker and harder. (which helps to keep the bore clean longer) I soak mine in homemade lube and go at it.

 

[renovato]

I've never been able to find good felt locally. I always find that floppy stuff you put on the bottom of coasters. I shouldn't be surprised though, I can't find anything I need locally.

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Run "Durofelt" past Google. They have all you need. 1/16 will work (med or hard density) but 1/8 is better.
put wad on top of powder in chamber then place drop of lube atop wad. Or use pre-lubed wads. I use GO-JO but lard will work fine, or a myriad of others. then slug or ball and press down with load lever to seat firmly.
happy hunting :thumbsup:

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

I read that you already got most of what I'm going to reply, but I'll add my $0.02 anyway...

Harbor Freight has some incredibly inexpensive punches that do seem to work well thus far. Otherwise, you can probably find an appropriate sized brass cartridge case and make your own punch--yes, it does work and the edge is very sharp if you're diligent when making it.

I buy the same kind of "floppy" sheets of felt that everyone else is talking about, but then I starch them with Argo Gloss Laundry Starch. It makes them fairly stiff (not enough to break), and the punch will work on them pretty good.

Then it's up to you to use your favourite lube (generally I use some form of Bore Butter or Wonder Lube), either BEFORE you punch them out or AFTER punching them out ... sometimes it works a little better doing it different ways.

I keep the lubed wads in a piece of that lightweight plastic tubing from Ace Hardware. I don't think it's PVC... wait, I'll go look...

1/2"CTS-5/8"OD Zurn Pex for hot/cold potable water
(This holds the .44/.45 cal wads nicely.)

It's also available in 3/8"CTS for the wads that fit the .36cal revolvers. (but the larger size tubing CAN work for both size wads).

I use corks on both ends and use a piece of wooden dowel rod to push the wads through as I need them.

It probably sounds like a lot of effort and expense to get things setup like this for making your own wads... but those factory wads can get pretty expensive, and it adds up quick if you do any significant amount of shooting.

Even with using the wads, I still put some lube/grease over top of the ball. That extra bit of lubrication seems to keep the gun operating longer before things "gunk up" and need wiped off. I use a small syringe to put the grease (sparingly) around the outside diameter of the balls where they contact the chamber walls.

I don't know if doing things this way really makes a difference on chain-fires (and I really am NOT trying to start that topic up again), BUT I haven't had a chain-fire in over 20 years, and the gun keeps functioning better and longer during shooting sessions.

Good luck on your wad making!

Regards, and shoot safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I was just on the "Circle-Fly" web site and they offer 1/8" hard card wads in .380" and .455" for $5.00 per thousand or 1/2" fiber wads at $8.00 for 500. Splitting them in half or even thirds would make them really cheap. They also offer a prelubed 3/8" fiber wad at $16.00 for 500 and again I would think you could split them in half.
At those prices I'll not bother cutting my own. Doubt I could buy material for that price and even though I'm retired I still consider my time to be worth "something". :grin: