Some time ago in the mid 1970's, I along with my father & cousins were takeing down my late grandfathers old falling down barn. Found quite a few items inside that had not seen the light of day in decades!
One of the items found was an old hand made bandalier with carved wooden plugs. Inside one half was lead shot and in the other was black powder. This black powder had a deep blue gloss look to it that appeared almost wet. Don't worry, it was disposed of with a match & never seen the inside of a gun.
Another item found in the barn was an old possibles bag. As I looked inside, there was a couple of small feathers and to my amazment, a handfull of paper wasp nesting material,(hanging ball type paper-wasp nest)!
I first thought that maybe the wasps had made a nest inside. But this material seemed to be neatly organized. Knowing nothing about muzzle loading at that time, I thought nothing more about it & tossed the bag aside & continued work on the barn.
It wasn't till about a decades and a half later that I read an artical in some dated black powder magazine that mentioned paper wasp nesting being used as wadding in a shotgun!
I can see it being uses as wadd over shot keeping the shot from falling out as well as offering an uninterupted pattern once fired. Makes very good sence to me.
Not sure about its use as wadd over powder though. Maybe if packed hard enough using enough material it might work, just don't know.
My question is, have any of you folks ever heard of "Paper Wasp" nesting material as wadding or ever "gave it a shot" yourself???
One of the items found was an old hand made bandalier with carved wooden plugs. Inside one half was lead shot and in the other was black powder. This black powder had a deep blue gloss look to it that appeared almost wet. Don't worry, it was disposed of with a match & never seen the inside of a gun.
Another item found in the barn was an old possibles bag. As I looked inside, there was a couple of small feathers and to my amazment, a handfull of paper wasp nesting material,(hanging ball type paper-wasp nest)!
I first thought that maybe the wasps had made a nest inside. But this material seemed to be neatly organized. Knowing nothing about muzzle loading at that time, I thought nothing more about it & tossed the bag aside & continued work on the barn.
It wasn't till about a decades and a half later that I read an artical in some dated black powder magazine that mentioned paper wasp nesting being used as wadding in a shotgun!
I can see it being uses as wadd over shot keeping the shot from falling out as well as offering an uninterupted pattern once fired. Makes very good sence to me.
Not sure about its use as wadd over powder though. Maybe if packed hard enough using enough material it might work, just don't know.
My question is, have any of you folks ever heard of "Paper Wasp" nesting material as wadding or ever "gave it a shot" yourself???
