Tow Wad Question

[Smokey Plainsman]

Anyone bare ball load with tow wads? Heard that's one period method.

I recall at least one guy putting the ball on the powder with no over powder wad and just a wad of tow on top. Theory was the plasma would "float" the ball and help center it. Seems like the lack of overpowder wad would reduce accuracy and increase leading.

Thoughts?

 

[smo]

There’s a lot of h/c wadding available for shooting smoothbores.
Shooting a unpatched ball , from my experience you’re better off shooting a ball as close too bore size as you can find....
Less dependent on the “plasma float” therory.

I’ve always used some type of wading, be it tow, nest or paper, more as a safety factor too hold the ball in place than for accuracy. Others mileage may vary..

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

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There’s a lot of h/c wading available for shooting smoothbores.
Shooting a unpatched ball , from my experience you’re better off shooting a ball as close too bore size as you can find....
Less dependent on the “plasma float” therory.

I’ve always used some type of wading, be it tow, nest or paper, more as a safety factor too hold the ball in place than for accuracy. Others mileage may vary..

Thanks, Smo.

What groups do you normally get and do you use an over powder wad?

 

[smo]

This was 25 yards benched , the low left shot is where my gun shoots when aimed at the bullseye... the other 4 are using KY windage..

Off hand target at 25 yards... .642 bare ball shot from a .653 bore..
50 grns ffg.

I have used an over powder wad, but usually don’t.
I’m experimenting now with some .010 patching, and smaller ball.. .626..

And I’ve had the barrel tweaked so it shoots more too the point of aim now..

Stuck in 6+ inches of melting snow at the moment however....

Best advice is just play around with different options and see what works best.

 

[Maven]

The bare ball + OS tow wad is the only method I haven't tried in my 20ga. trade gun. Several years ago I ordered a bore diameter (.618 - .619") Tanner mould for that gun and tested it every which way with card stock and tow wads, except the single tow wad over the ball. None of the loads however, was as accurate as using a .598" - .600" patched RB, although some came close. I even tried the .600" RB and the .618" - .619" RB's roughened between two coarse files and got mixed results, but neither equalled the patched, but smaller RB. Btw, I found that powder brand, granulation, and charge made little difference in accuracy; neither did patch thickness for that matter. All my tests were from a rest @ 25 yd. since 50 yd. seems to be the limit for my gun.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

The bare ball + OS tow wad is the only method I haven't tried in my 20ga. trade gun. Several years ago I ordered a bore diameter (.618 - .619") Tanner mould for that gun and tested it every which way with card stock and tow wads, except the single tow wad over the ball. None of the loads however, was as accurate as using a .598" - .600" patched RB, although some came close. I even tried the .600" RB and the .618" - .619" RB's roughened between two coarse files and got mixed results, but neither equalled the patched, but smaller RB. Btw, I found that powder brand, granulation, and charge made little difference in accuracy; neither did patch thickness for that matter. All my tests were from a rest @ 25 yd. since 50 yd. seems to be the limit for my gun.

Thanks, Maven!

 

[tenngun]

I’ve used a lot of balls of tow, rolled around in a little grease and pushed halfway in to the bore. Then the ball put in tho the wad and pushed down. It makes a wad/patch. Not as good as patched ball but accurate for hunting.... though I like PRB for hunting. Fifty yard target: