Another question about wads in revolvers

[AeroE]

Has anyone tried cotton balls treated with lube under the ball, or how about dry cotton over the powder followed by a lubed wad of cotton?

Another combination that I think I will try is a piece of dry cotton over the powder with a synthetic felt wad (cut from weather stripping) treated with lube - the cotton may prevent the felt from getting hot enough to foul the bore with plastic residue.  Besides, the plastic buildup can't be any worse than in my shotguns aftet 2 or 300 rounds; Butch's Bore Shine works well fro taking the plaxtic out.

[jeager106]

Plastic fouling? What plastic fouling?
I've used felt wads over the powder and never saw plastic fouling.
Now I buy .45 wads from Circle Fly. They are hard cardboard, or thick paper and have no plastic in them. I only swtiched to Circle Fly 'cuase they are MUCH cheaper than lubed felt wads.
You don't need lubed wads anyway if you lube over the ball, and you really don't even have to do that.
I lube over he ball 'cause I want to.

[Bigdog57]

One thing you haven't figured on - that cotton wadding will cause a major stink!  A buddy makes his 7.5 French loads by fire-forming 6.5 Swede cases, with the small powder charge covered with cotton wadding and wax.
The stink is pretty foul.  The pre-lubed Wonder Wads are wool felt.
After trying several different greases, I like the Wonder Wads better.  Not only neater, but quicker to load too.  I don't generally shoot C&B so much that the cost is too severe.

[AeroE]

Plastic fouling? What plastic fouling?
I've used felt wads over the powder and never saw plastic fouling.
Now I buy .45 wads from Circle Fly. They are hard cardboard, or thick paper and have no plastic in them. I only swtiched to Circle Fly 'cuase they are MUCH cheaper than lubed felt wads.
You don't need lubed wads anyway if you lube over the ball, and you really don't even have to do that.
I lube over he ball 'cause I want to.

The day of wool felt weather stripping seems to be gone, and the only stuff I can find here is synthetic; i.e., plastic.  The price of Wonder Wads is unconscionable at 6$/100 at Graf's, or $8/50 at Bass Pro if you really want to get ripped off.  I agree that cardboard wads might be the most economical way to go.

BigDog57 - nope, I didn't think about stink from cotton wads; I've never had that problem in long guns, so it never occured to me.  On the other hand, black powder and substitutes stink too, so I guess I will see if it turns out to be a big deal.

[filmokentucky]

I've never used wads. I just use a full load and happily bang away. I've
never found any reference to wads in old writings about C&B revolvers. I
lube over the ball and let it go at that. Plastic and black powder are an unhappy mix in a gun barrel to say the least.

[willysjeep134]

I use cottonballs for a wad colum in my .70 flintlock. I soak them in melted lard. I also tried them in by C/B revolver. I cut them in quarters with shapr scissors. They are mushy enough to flatten out and seal the chamber under the ball. I would guess you really don't need to use weatherstriping wads at all with saturated cotton balls. If you absolutely soak them in melted crisco or lard they don't seem to catch fire, and then don't stink. I have shot a few unlubed out of my .70 and had to go stomp out a smouldering cottonball in the woods. I think the lube is essential. They seem to work fine on their own. I use cards over and under in my .70. I didn't use cards in the .44 cap and ball.

[R.M.]

If you are looking for felt so you can make your own wads, look here:

http://www.durofelt.com/products.html

I bought a sheet of seconds, 1/8"12"X24", delivered, for $5.00, the good stuff was $8.00

Good deal in my mind.

[Gatofeo]

Hey, R.M.:
Good tip on Durofelt. I went into its website and they have exactly the kind of felt I prefer: hard, 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, and made of 100 percent wool.
In fact, I plan to visit the company in a little more than a week!
DuroFelt is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm flying to Little Rock next week, to spend the holidays with my brother.
I contacted DuroFelt via email and, after expressing an interest in visiting their shop, was warmly welcomed. So, if I do visit DuroFelt I'll let you know what I saw.
Here's a little math I worked out:
The DuroFelt sheet I'm interested in is 36 X 48 inches
36 X 48 = 1,728 square inches.
Now, I figure that I can get four .36 or .44 caliber wads per square inch (two across and two down).
That comes out to ... steady boys ... a whopping 6.912 wads from a 3 X 4-foot piece of felt!
DuroFelt sells that sheet for $27, as I recall. I already have the wad punches.
Just to simplify things, let's say that --- accounting for waste --- I only get 6,000 wads from that piece of felt.
That calculates as 4/10ths of one cent per wad. So, that's 100 wads for 40 cents!
Of course, it takes a little time to punch out wads but this can be done in front of the TV. I put a 2 X 8 section over my lap. On this, I rest an 8" diameter piece of end-cut log. I can crank out hundreds of wads in one evening while watching the boob tube.
From what I've learned thus far, it appears that DuroFelt offers the perfect felt for making wads. I'd suggest you visit its website and look for yourself.

[powderman]

There is still some real felt around. I found some 100% wool felt in a fabrick shop. Just takes some looking, but it's out there. POWDERMAN.        

[R.M.]

Gatofeo
 
Glad to be able to help.
What is it that you're using for a punch?
 
I took a .45ACP case, drilled the flash hole big enough to insert a #10 machine screw from the inside, tightened a nut on the outside, and chucked the screw shank in a drill. If you sharpen the case mouth, it will cut the felt as you run the drill. The biggest trouble I found is the brass doesn't hold an edge very long.  
 
I bought the soft felt. It looks much like the Wonderwads. I wasn't happy using WonderWads, just because of the price, but now, if I can find an efficient way to cut them, I'm off to the races.
 
R.M.

[Flint]

Gatofeo, and RM, try to fing some old GI steel cases for the 45ACP wad cutter.

[leverfan]

What is it that you're using for a punch? ......if I can find an efficient way to cut them, I'm off to the races.
 R.M.

Buffalo Arms Co. sells ready made punches in all calibers.  They also sell some expensive drill-mounted and reloading press mounted cutters and punches for wads.  Any of them would pay for themselves in short order, if you shoot a lot.

I made my own .453" punch out of pipe.  I heated and hammered a piece of mild steel pipe down on one end, then drilled it out with a 29/64" bit.  Put some temper in it, and sharpened it up with a file and Dremel.  It works great.  With the right pipe and drill bit, you can make your own for pretty much anything.  If you need to buy some odd-sized bit, it might be cheaper, and will certainly be easier, to just buy the punch from Buffalo Arms.

[Gatofeo]

For my .36 caliber wads, I use a 3/8 inch wad punch.
For my .44-40, I use a 7/16 inch wad punch.
These punches are sold at major tool stores such as Harbor Freight. They're most often used by mechanics to make holes in homemade gaskets and such but they also produce good wads.
For my .44 Colt and Remington revolvers, and my .45-70, I use a .45-caliber wad punch sold by Buffalo Arms. It cost me $18 a few years ago which seems pricey but other .45-caliber wad punches cost $35 or more.
The Buffalo Arms (of Sandpoint, Idaho) version works great. No complaints with it.
Yes, years ago I used .45 Colt and .45-70 cases, with their mouths sharpened, but found that they dulled too quickly for my tastes. The suggestion to use a military, steel .45 Auto case is a good one. Haven't tried that --- but then I no longer have the need.
I don't have a good .31 caliber revolver so I buy what few I need from Ox Yoke (Wonder Wads). However, I should think that a 5/16-inch wad punch would be about right. This would create a wad of about .30 caliber.
Perhaps an 11/32 inch (Gawd, I wish we'd go to Metric and get rid of this foolishness!) punch would do.
If you find metric wad punches then I'd hazard a guess that the following would work:
.31 caliber - 7.5 or 8mm
.36 caliber - 9mm or 9.5 mm
.44 caliber cap and ball - 11 mm
.44 caliber cartridge - 10.5 or perhaps 11 mm
.45 caliber cartridge - 11.5 mm
.50 caliber - 12.5 or 13mm
These are just guesses but felt wads do compress a bit, in both diameter and thickness, when pushed into a chamber or case. You want a firm or slightly tight fit against the sides of the chamber or case so that when it's fired, it will seal the bore well. This also helps it scrape out fouling.
YIKES!
It's after work time!
I'm outta here!
<SONIC BOOM>

[Hancock]

I have a slightly different way to skin the same cat, (sorry Gatofeo). I too was very shocked at the price of W Wads, which is kind of how I found Graybeards in the first place. I knew there had to be a place where the great minds of the cap nandball world hung out, and that I could find all the answers to my new found passion, (cap n ball) questions.
After reading Gatofeo's lube recipe, I ordered the mutton tallow from Dixie, and used the recipe..I cut wads from window felt with a punch that I made from a closely sized roll pin that I ground a bevel onto . Then I dipped them in the melted mix and had sort of mixed results. Only that some would resemble the W Wads, and some would be very gloppy.I thought that the fringe of the rough cut wads might be hanging on to too much lube, or that when pulling them out of the melt , and setting them down that they would puddle up.Anyway , after some more trial n error, this is what I do now. I gave up on the muton tallow,and replaced it with "Snowcap" lard,(cheaper,and easier to get), I bought 2 different sized drill press mounted wad cutters from Buffalo Arms.(36, snd 44) these are made by Lee Shaver I believe, high quality, and will last forever. And now I dip 4 foot lengths of the window felt thru the melted stuff and let the whole thing dry thourouly. Then the pre-lobed strips are run under a cheap drill press with the wad cutter mounted in it .The results are very consistent wads , very much resembling W Wads . (Isn't it funny that W Wad are much smaller than a nickle , but cost more, and there not even shinny?)but I digress.
I like using wads opposed to lubing the cylinder mouths with gunk, simply because it is faster. I can powder up 5 cylinders, then place wads on top, seat them, and roll 3 balls on top , loosely place the thumb on my left hand on the 2 that are not under the rammer , and seat 3 ball in about 2 seconds , then repeat this for the remaining 2 cylinders. If I were to try that without the wads , I would have all the powder from the other holes going everywhere.I might even get some on my cigar, and that probably would hurt.I need this speed because if I were to hold up the show at the monthly CAS shoot that I attend, while I was on fire, or pumping gunk into my guns with a turkey baster, I might become the target on the next stage. (those guys are brutal). And while I will never be able to out shoot my old buddy "Cowpox"  , at least I can burn more powder.
Kip