wad ideas

[relicshunter]

I was walking my local Florida woods and was pondering some of the wad post's Ive read on this site, and was wondering if there are records or if anyone here has tried to use deer lichen and/or cabbage palm hair for wad materials? I thought the lichen might work much like felt wads for over powder wads and it has a course texture which would help clean the bore and the palm hair could be balled to be a cushion wad.
Any thoughts on this?

 

[54ball]

In 2006 a nearly intact Carolina gun was recovered from the Suwanee River in North Florida. The gun still had a charge. The ball had flats suggesting it was cut down to fit the bore and the wadding appeared to be Palmetto fibers.

 

[Patocazador]

Is deer lichen that pale green stuff that grows in bare sandy spots and is usually about 2-3x the size of a golf ball?
If so, it compresses a whole lot and you would need a bunch of it for any repetitive shooting.

 

[George]

I've used palm fibers. Don't know what kind of palm it was, it's a decorative one I have. Had occasion to chop some of the top off and wound up with some sheets of fibrous material which was easily separated.



It made a wad of stuff similar to tow, but the individual fibers were bigger, stiffer and not so easily compressed.


I was able to mold it into proper wads and did some trial shots. It worked OK, gave me accuracy comparable to tow or shredded cedar bark, but was more difficult to work with.


Spence

 

[relicshunter]

Is deer lichen that pale green stuff that grows in bare sandy spots and is usually about 2-3x the size of a golf ball?
If so, it compresses a whole lot and you would need a bunch of it for any repetitive shooting.

Yes sir thats the stuff. It can be kind of crunchy at times and it grows prolific by my house. I figure I will give it try when I get time.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

In looking at that wad material I am curious as to weather or not it smolders from the ignition of the powder, or is there another wad being used ahead of the natural wad.

 

[George]

I only shot a few times with it, so I didn't learn a lot about it. I didn't see any smoldering, but I would be surprised if it didn't. I didn't use any other wads.

Spence

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Thanks for that,

Here in the PNW we can have extreamely dry summer and fall seasons which can be a problem with dry type wadding, I suppose it is less of a problem in the central and eastern states.

Hell we had a group that had to shut down the rifle trail 2 weeks ago on our big yearly shindig to stamp out a flaming patch, they most likely were using a grease type lubed patch on the ball.

 

[George]

In my area starting a fire from wadding residue isn't as big a threat as it is in some places, most of the year. Some years, some times during most years it's something you have to be aware of and take precautions with. What isn't, these days? :grin:

One of the first men I ever hunted BP with was an old professor of mine. He was nuts about SxS BP shotguns, but never used any wadding except crumpled newspaper. I was with him on two dove hunts in the stubble of harvested corn fields when he set the field on fire. Not surprising, standing on the side and watching him shoot was like watching fireworks, a great shower of flaming confetti rained down after every shot.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

Spence, I use dismanted sisal rope, looks verry similar to your pictures, only light tan in color.
I roll it into a small ball similar to your last picture. then I lubricate it with a soft beewax/olive oil mix by re rolling it in the palm of my hand. this helps to prevent smoldering as well as cleaning and lubricating the barrel

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Flaming confetti

:haha:

All through the summer and fall around these parts we that shoot muzzle loaders are on high alert for fire as it can get out of hand in a hurry. We typicaly have gallon jugs of water at each station along the trail, if hunting it is wise to police the area where you shot from just to be safe as the early deer seasons are very dry.

There is a club that hosts a nice shoot in September over at Yellow Jacket Lake and they do not allow any form of grease patch due to the dry conditions there, liquid lube only is their rule.

I would be interested to know what a period wadding would have been here on the High Deserts of Oregon, not wet enough for much moss to grow in these parts.
:idunno:

 

[Patocazador]

[/quote] I would be interested to know what a period wadding would have been here on the High Deserts of Oregon, not wet enough for much moss to grow in these parts.
:idunno: [/quote]

Probably dried out and shredded cactus. :grin:

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Probably dried out and shredded cactus. :grin:

we are called the High Desert for the elevations, cactus cannot hold its water at -20 like we had this winter. :wink:

as I look around I just do not see much thats viable for wadding unless you used green/dried grasses, maybe crushed up juniper.
:surrender:

 

[Oudoceus]

Don't Prickly Pear pads get tough and leathery when dried? They could even be punched out with a wad punch! :grin:

 

[coloradoclyde]

got any trees...inner bark :hmm:
many plant fibers can be broken down into wad material...just have to experiment.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Probably dried out and shredded cactus. :grin:

we are called the High Desert for the elevations, cactus cannot hold its water at -20 like we had this winter. :wink:

as I look around I just do not see much thats viable for wadding unless you used green/dried grasses, maybe crushed up juniper.
:surrender:

Dried yucca leaves? I vaguely recall yucca fiber being used to make cordage.

Regards,
Joel

 

[George]

got any trees...inner bark :hmm:
many plant fibers can be broken down into wad material...just have to experiment.

In an anthropology paper by Dr. Gilbert L. Wilson, _Eagle Trapping_, a Hidatsa/Minataree indian named Wolf-chief said: "The ammunition bag [shot pouch] was of dressed buffalo skin and held a small tin box of percussion caps, a small bag of buckshot, or small bullets, and wads made of shavings of kinnickinick, or some other green wood, rolled up into a small ball about the size of a marble, to fit the barrel of the gun [a double-barrel muzzle-loading shotgun]. I had about twenty of these wads in my ammunition bag."

Spence

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Do appreciate the input and attempts but again yucca and cactus do not grow here, we are on the high desert steppe that extends from Mexico thru to Canada, our particular area has a fairly harsh winter climate with freezing temps up to 3 weeks straight. Not sure on the juniper bark other than it is hard on chain saws due to the sand content within the bark.

Looks as though the only hope is if Oregon ok's industrial hemp, it was quite prolific at one time in this countrys past.

 

[Patocazador]

How about horse hair? They had feral (wild) horses there, didn't they? It would stink but probably would work. :dead:

 

[coloradoclyde]

got any trees...inner bark :hmm:
many plant fibers can be broken down into wad material...just have to experiment.

In an anthropology paper by Dr. Gilbert L. Wilson, _Eagle Trapping_, a Hidatsa/Minataree indian named Wolf-chief said: "The ammunition bag [shot pouch] was of dressed buffalo skin and held a small tin box of percussion caps, a small bag of buckshot, or small bullets, and wads made of shavings of kinnickinick, or some other green wood, rolled up into a small ball about the size of a marble, to fit the barrel of the gun [a double-barrel muzzle-loading shotgun]. I had about twenty of these wads in my ammunition bag."

Spence

That's what I was talking about.
Kudos on the documentation Spence :bow:
Impressive!