wad diameters

[Elijah Gunn]

Anyone know what the "official" wad dias. are supposed to be for .36 and .44 cal. revolvers? I measured some store bought ones with my machinist calipers and got a reading of .390 for the .36 cal. and .470 for the .44 cal. I just closed the calipers down on the wads till I felt some resistance. They are soft things to measure. Reason why I'm asking is I plan to make punches and cut my own. I bought the felt Gatofeo told us about and made up a batch of his lube recipe. Now I just need to make the punches.
If anyone else has tried measuring wads like this have you gotten similar readings?

[BobJ]

As outlined in older posts, I use 1/8" Duro Felt, and sharpen a .45 Colt or a .357 Mag case, (with a couple grooves, sort of forms two teeth on the end of the case) file off the rims, and chuck them in a drill. You can cut a thousand or so from a $12 roll. You will find more info if you do a search here. Wouldn't worry about measuring, they fit fine in .44 or .36 respectively. Then soak in your Gatofeo. Some of the older posters say the drill thing works a lot better than a punch.

[lrrice]

I've used punches and the drill both.   I Like the drill press better. I go one more step and drill out the primer, put in a machine screw and spring so that it pushes each wad out of the case when you raise the drill press.  I use old felt hats for mine, if you live in cowboy country, you can get them for free.  Sharpen your cases with a deburring tool no muss no fuss.

[Hellgate]

I use the 7/16" for .44 cal cap & ball revolvers and the 3/8" hole punch for the 36 cals. I chuck them into a drill press and  punch them out on low speed over a wood block. After punching them out I lube them in any number of lubes being a mix of beeswax, olive oil, deer tallow, lard etc. Most of the mixes are 50/50 beeswax and either lard, olive oil, or tallow depending on how stiff I want the mix to be and the outdoor temperature I will be shooting in.

[longcaribiner]

My pietta has chambers that run .448 to .450     Wads at .490 would seem to be a bit too large.  and 7/16 would be .01 too small.    I purchased a .455 punch at Ft Shenandoah from a vender there many years back, it is about perfect.  29/64th .453

I use .375 wads for 38-55 BPCR and my 36 cal C&B guns. 

Although, I think I get better accuracy with a plain ball on top the powder and grease over the ball.

[Gatofeo]

I use a 3/8" punch for .36, and a .45-caliber punch from Buffalo Arms for .45 caliber, though a .45-70, .45 ACP or .45 Long Colt case with sharpened mouth would work.
I've found that 7/16" is smaller than I like for the .44 cap and balls (actually closer to .45 caliber). However, the 7/16" punch is perfect for .44-caliber cartridges such as the .44-40, .44 Special and .44 Magnum. Should work fine for the .444 Marlin rifle too.
I sometimes load a felt wad lubricated with Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant in .44-40 cases over black powder, to keep fouling soft. I've fired cartridges more than 6 years old and never had a problem with the lubricant contaminating the powder.