The point was made that Wonder Wads do not discourage fouling as much as grease over the ball, so fewer shots are fired before cleaning is required.
I use felt wads --- whether home-punched or Wonder Wads --- almost exclusively.
Long ago, I decided that Wonder Wads were good but their dry lubricant needed augmentation. Thus, I soak my Wonder Wads in an authentic 19th century bullet lubricant recipe.
The recipe is:
1 part paraffin (I use canning paraffin, found in the cooking aisle)
1 part mutton tallow (sold by Dixie Gun Works for a pittance)
1/2 part beeswax
All amounts are by weight, not volume.
A kitchen scale is used to measure 200/200/100 grams of ingredients, which nearly fills a quart Mason jar.
Place the jar with its ingredients in three or four inches of boiling water. This double-boiler effect is the safest way to melt greases and waxes.
When all ingredients are completely melted, stir thoroughly with a clean stick or disposable chopstick. Allow to cool at room temperature; hastening hardening by placing in the refrigerator may cause the ingredients to separate.
To lubricate 100 Wonder Wads, place a thumb-sized hunk of lubricant in a clean tuna can. Place the can on a burner at the lowest setting. Don't cook the lubricant, you just want to melt it.
When melted, add the wads and stir them in the lubricant with the ubiquitous chopstick. Stir until all wads have thoroughly soaked up the lubricant.
Remove from burner. Allow to cool at room temperature. You can use the lubricated wads directly from the can, or transfer to a smaller container. In either case, snap a plastic, pet-food lid over the tuna can to keep dust out and moisture in.
Sharp-eyed black powder enthusiasts will note that paraffin is a petroleum product. Generally speaking, petroleum products and black powder create a hard, tarry fouling that is more difficult to remove and will affect accuracy because it clogs the rifling grooves.
However, a chemist-type once explained that paraffin is unlike other petroleum products. Something about the hydrocarbons, as I recall.
Anyway, all I know is that the use of paraffin doesn't create the hard, tarry fouling so often found with petroleum greases and oils.
In fact, I believe that the paraffin is of great value when this lubricant is used with felt wads. The paraffin stiffens the wad significantly, turning it into a good fouling-scraper.
Recovered wads show a good negative impression of the rifling around their edge --- and the bore of my cap and ball pistols is markedly free of black powder fouling.
Seat the lubricated wad in a separate operation, after charging the chamber with powder. This is a good practice because, if you forget to charge the chamber with powder, it's easier to remove a felt wad than a stuck ball.
Also, seating the wad and ball separately gives you a better feel for how pressure you're applying. Just be sure that you seat the wad firmly on the powder, and the ball firmly on the wad. Leaving a space between powder, wad or ball can create a catastrophic pressure spike.
Felt wads so lubricated will allow you to shoot longer than the standard Wonder Wad with its dry lubricant.
I live in the remote Utah desert, where temperatures can reach 110 degrees and humidity may be only 6 percent. On days such as these, I put lubricant over the ball as well as using the well-lubricated felt wad.
My favorite over-ball lubricant is CVA Grease Patch but you may also Crisco or lard. I hear Bore Butter is very good too; haven't tried it.
Using lubricant over the ball, after using a wad, is an exceptional circumstance. Most of the time, only the lubricated felt wad is needed.
I also use Wonder Wads lubricated this way in my .50-caliber muzzleloading rifle. I can shoot all day and never swab the bore. Just seat the well-lubricated felt wad firmly on the powder before seating a patched round ball.
