Is this a good or bad idea

[six_gun]

Yesterday I was making a couple of holsters out of saddle skirt leather and in the real tight turns while cutting the holsters out, I got a 38 brass and punched out the turn.  Out fell a really nice 357 cal wad.

Now I have been loading cast bullets for 40 years, but I have always used a gas check where they apply.  I have heard of using a felt wad or a cardboard wad on the base of a cast bullet but never a leather wad.  Has anyone tried it?  Did it improve anything?  I would be interested in knowing cause I can get lots of wads out of the leather scraps.

Sixgun

[dakotashooter2]

One thing I can think of is the possibility that the leather probably retains a bit of moisture that may be detrimental to  the powder in long term storage.

[sgtt]

I occasionally use low density poly-ethaline.  (sp) Works well.

[jhalcott]

 Sounds like an experiment is scheduled! I'd drop a bit of powder in a sealed glass container with a "wad" and check if there is any degradation of the powder. The only other PROBLEM i see is a possible pressure increase due to the space the wads take up. Adjust powders accordingly!

[swifty22]

I was thinking about this and the above items came to mind first but what about the acids in the leather?-Muddy

[Sixgun]

All are good points.  It sounds like no one has tried a leather wad on this forum.  I might play with it and report.  My gut feeling is that if it is a good idea, we would be using them.
Sixgun

[Tom W.]

I've used leather patches to shoot way undersized roundballs from my muzzle loader, but no leather wads from my revolvers. Would leather hold more moisture than felt or cardboard?  For something that would be loaded up and shot within a reasonable period of time I don't think it would be detrimental..