wads for shot in smoothbores

[Dale A. Cathell]

I am curious to know why you have an over powder wad and a fiber wad when you are loading a smoothbore with shot. Thanks

 

[Rebel]

So you get a seal for the gases, and to lube the bore with the lubed cushion wad.

 

[Dale A. Cathell]

Wouldn't the fiber wad accomplish both?

 

[Rebel]

To a degree,but the thick overpowder wad seems to provide a better gas seal. i sometime just glue them both together before lubing the cushion wad. That way you only have one thing to ram down the bore.

 

[Dale A. Cathell]

I guess that could have an effect on pattern and range, by not using a over powder wad. :hmm:

 

[Rebel]

Smoothbores are a strange breed. It takes a lot of shooting to figure out what wad, shot combo they prefer. But it is fun. :grin:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Usually, no. The overpowder card is 1/8" thick, and is intended to seal the bore from the burning gases. You don't want to put lube on its edge. The cushion wad can either be soaked in liquid lube before its used at the range or in the field, or you can wipe on soft lubes or liquid lubes on the sides of the cushion wad as you load the gun( this is slow) or you can run a bead of soft lube around the bore at the muzzle before running the cusion wad down( only a little less slow, and messy). The cushion wad is usually 1/2 to 5/8" thick, and most of us have found that using only half that thickness prevents the wad from trailing the shot and poking a hole in the middle of the pattern. The full cushion wad is so heavy, particularly when it is lubed with any kind of lube, that it follow the shot out past 20 yds. and pokes that hole in the center of the pattern. For hunting, when you are probably not going to shoot a lot, some members are finding it satisfactory to use 2 over powder cards, with some lube in between the two, and the a PRB( or a load of shot) on top of the two cards. And some shooters are doing okay with heavier charges of powder and the softer wool pre-lube wads you can buy. The wool wads don't seal the bore as well as the hard cardboard wads do, so they use more powder to get the same patterns and performance. The wool pre-lubes do a pretty good job of keeping the fouling soft.

As with everything else involving ML guns, you pick your poison and work with it. Much depends on the relative humidity where you shoot and hunt, as much humidity lkeeps the fouling softer, but also turns it into a liquid mess that can foul your next powder charge. In dry country, the lube used is rarely enough to keep the fouling soft, so you have to clean the fouling out breaking up the cake, after each shot. Where I live in the midwest, in the summer we have high humidity, and drying the barrel between shots becomes mandatory; while in the winter, its so dry that we use extra lube and then also clean between shots. Only during our brief springs, and early Falls does the weather allow us to shoot like other folks often do all year round. It took a couple of years to make me a believer on this, so don't feel stupid. In the bad old days, hunters paid attention to everything having to do with weather, and because they shot almost every day, all the year around, they made the adjustments needed to get the guns to go off. They didn't have any choice. Today, we fill our heads with all kinds of concerns other than how we are loading the guns, and why. When they hick-up, we get angy and start blaming the manufacturer of the gun, or the powder, or both. I remind fellas that there was a reason that everyone switched to shooting smokeless powder more than 100 years ago, and that when we decide to shoot ML guns, we take on all those old problems and burdens. That is what makes the shooting so much fun, and so satisfying, when you do it right. :grin:

 

[Dale A. Cathell]

So I guess to some degree that we are relearning what our forefathers already figured out. Thanks for the input. I guess I will just have to scratch my head some and get on back to school. :thumbsup:

 

[redwing]

I have used the same set-up for most of 50 years. I take a thick prelubed over powder wad pich off about 1/3 of it. I put the thick part over the powder and the thin part over the shot. That way I don't need a lot of wads in my bag.
Last week my son and I hunted birds on the Sand Mesa and it knocked them ole Ringnecks right out of the sky.
I shoot a .62 southern hunting gun with 60 grs. of 2f and 70 by volume of number 6 shot. I use NullB in the pan.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Redwing. Your load in your 20 ga. smoothie is the equivalent to 2 1/4 drams of powder, and 1 oz. of shot by volume. Not a bad load, as the shot is 1/8 oz more than an equal amount of shot to powder by volume, and with #6 shot, you can stand the extra pellets to fill the pattern. Hold shots to 25 yds or less and you take home meat every time.

 

[ffffg]

temperature and humidity have alot to do with success with your black powder load.. you will hear different loads from different shooters becouse of different types/and granual difference in powder, smoothbore caliber,choke etc.. so you need to get out there on the pattern board and see what is happening, or your wasting alot of time.. once you feel you have a good load, shoot a campells steel soup can and see if you get pennetration thru one side at the range you want to shoot birds at..you should have three to 4 hits for body pennetrating hits on body sized drawing on pattern(for pheasant and duck.. turkey is toatlly different). i like a little larger shot best for smoothbore. velocity is just not high enough for small shot that gives the fuller patterns.... your loads will probaly change between winter and summer.. i have several loads as the temperature changes.. one shot at the pattern board wont do it.. test number one , five and the #10 shot to see what is going on with your load and that your lube is working right with the fouling..dave..

 

[redwing]

I shoot over a well trained Gordon Setter he is 5 years old and in his prime. So most of the shots are well with in the 25 Yd. range. This load is fast and on right hand pass shots it takes very little lead.
The pass shots right or left will show you how good your loads are working.
Shooting on the rise straight aways and firing from a ready stance does not prove much. I would also note that a 5\64" vent with good priming powder such as NullB is a big help. The flinter does not require any more lead than my 56E Beretta 20 O/U . The flinter with the right load can hold its own the field. A day in the field with a good setter and flint lock smooth bore in Wyoming is grand day. :thumbsup: