Your wadding method

[Magungo1066]

What do you wad with and how do you do it? For either shot or ball. I am interested in seeing how everyone does it because I want to do some experimenting of my own. I have used tow for both shot and ball, as well as felt wads for ball. My favorite wadding that I have found for shot is wasp's nest but that is not something that is easy to keep a supply of. I have yet to try using paper cards and such, but I plan to in the future.

 

[Winchester97]

I had always used a card,cushion wad, followed by a post-it note paper shot capsule with nothing on top, just relying on the paper capsule to stay put on its own. However after joining up here, I have been using basically the "Skychief" method with great success. A nitro card, shot capsule, with a big old soggy cushion wad on top, it improved my patterns for sure.

 

[tenngun]

Mostly I use brown paper now. For a .62 2”x1”folded and rammed home and tamped.
I also like tow. I have a tin and cut off balls of tow, roll them with some lard, I make them about 3/4 of an inch and it’s soft enough to ram home. Top wad seems to blow apart when shot and I haven’t got any doughnuting.
But the paper is the easiest I’ve found. It’s historic, and easier to load then commercial wadding, or home cut carding

 

[user 49399]

Wasp nest mostly. Sometimes brown paper like a McDonalds bag.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

I'm mostly using the skychief method with shot. With round ball I use a nitro over powder card and a patched round ball.

 

[Skychief]

Patched ball.

Skychief load for shotloads when I feel like carrying critters back home.

 

[Cruzatte]

I have some rather large scraps of wool blanketing that I have cut up into 2"X2" squares. I load them on top of the ball in my 20 ga. fusil.

 

[rdane]

Look up V M Starr. He was the master of muzzleloading shotguns. He said 2 cards over powder and 1 overshot. I’ve done it that way for 40 years, and it works.

 

[Billy Boy]

The Starr ‘square load’ with double nitro cards has been my top performer for years and years.

 

[Magungo1066]

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of different methods to experiment with. Keep 'em coming!

 

[sawyer04]

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of different methods to experiment with. Keep 'em coming!

I have always used wool tow, This can be had at www.horizontalhives.com. It is raw uncleaned wool and may have a little foreign debris. It is sold for insulating bee hives. I warn that raw wool can be a little stinky, but has always worked well for my old Belgium.

 

[George]

Look up V M Starr. He was the master of muzzleloading shotguns. He said 2 cards over powder and 1 overshot. I’ve done it that way for 40 years, and it works.

http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/starr.html
Spence