Revolver wads

[QuailKiller]

I found this website selling wads for percussion revolvers, https://www.sageoutfitters.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=WADS&keywords=all and I am wondering if I should get the felt wool wads or the vegetable fiber wads.  Is there a difference in performance?  The vegetable fiber wads are cheaper, but I would much rather have the wool wads if they work better.  I am also open to any suggestions on other kinds of wads or places to buy wads.  I am currently shooting an Uberti 1858 .44.

Thanks

[Cowpox]

Hello QuailKiller,

     I perfer the wool felt wads.  They are tougher and hold more lube than the vegetable fiber type.

     Here in Minnesota, every hardware store sells wool felt weather strip for doors.   I use this to cut wads with a wad punch chucked in a drill press, and a short time produces a lot of wads for the two bucks the door strip kit costs. Then I heat up some lube in a pan, add the wads and stir them a little, then spread them out on some waxed paper to harden. 

     I add extra lube to puchased wads also.

     

[coyotejoe]

The fiber wads as listed on that site are intended for reloading metalic cartridges, they are too thin to carry enough lube and to seal the cylinder of a cap & ball revolver. I'd suggest you check out Circle Fly wads, they actually produce many of the wads other people sell at inflated prices. Generally, only felt wads are suitable for C&B revolvers, the fiber wads tend to fall apart when saturated with lube. I have had good results with the 1/2" dry fiber wads. I first split them to 1/4", (half the cost) seat that atop the powder, then add a dab of Crisco before seating the ball.
http://www.circlefly.com/html/welcome.html

[buffermop]

I use vegetable wads right from the package dry. Should I lube them first? If so , with what?

[crazyyankee]

Ok guys,
Here is what we use for wads. Please note we are Civil War re-enactors, so we are not using lead balls/bullets. But these wads will work with live fire also.

#1. Get a blender, no not your wifes' blender in the kitchen.. They tend to get upset..
#2 Get some toilet paper, put into blender
#3 Add water, just a little you only want to make it a paste like substance.
#4 Put into wood mold blocks (These are blocks of wood, drilled the correct size for the caliber you are using.. Just a tad bigger isn't a problem. Yo do have to drill them all the way through.. Screw it fast to another piece of wood.
#5 pack the paste into the molds..
#6 unscrew mold from bottom piece of wood..
#7 Allow to dry, we set them on top of lamp shades to dry..
#8 Once dry push wads out of mold..

Now the advantage is safety for us re-enactors. We can't have the "wonder wads" or any other hard item coming from our pistol. When you shoot these wads they disengrate to a white power which is hidden in the smoke..
Now if you add just a little bit of lube to the top of them they may work for live fire..
You do need to make sure that thay are the correct size just to avoid chain fires.. Which we as re-enactors do suffer from since there is no ball...

Hope it is useful info

Mike

[Gatofeo]

Lotta apples and oranges being compared in this thread ....

Vegetable fiber wads, as has been pointed out, are not designed for the same purpose as wool felt wads.
Veggie wads are used as a "gas check" between the bullet's base and black powder, to minimize the effects of the hot gases on the bullet's base.
These wads are thin as paper and don't hold but a stain's worth of lubricant. They are useless as a lubricating wad for cap and ball sixguns, though a vegetable fiber wad can be placed between a greased felt wad and the powder, to discourage powder contamination if you carry your sixgun in hot weather.

Wool felt wads are typically 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. They hold ample grease for lubricating the bore and to keep black powder fouling soft.

The paper-pulp wads used by reenactors contain no lubricant. They're designed to fragment within a few feet of the muzzle.

To make your own wads, you'll need wool felt wads. Many "felt" products today are not true wool felt, but made of polyester (plastic). Polyester felt will leave melted plastic in your bore.
Beware of window sealant felt. It used to be made of wool but for the past 10 years or so I've seen a lot of it made of polyester. Read the package carefully.

The best wool felt I've found comes from Durofelt, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The nice lady who owns it offers sheet felt, made of pure wool, in various thicknesses. An internet search will find her site. Shipping is free to retail customers within the U.S.

I use Gatofeo No. 1 lubricant with my felt wads and have found it the best, in my 35-plus years of shooting cap and ball revolvers. The lubricant is named after me, because I used very specific ingredients, but the general recipe probably dates back to the 19th century.
My specific ingredients are:

1 part canning paraffin (sold in 1 lb. blocks in grocery stores)
1 part mutton tallow (sold by Dixie Gun Works)
1/2 part beeswax (the real stuff, beware of synthetic stuff. Most toilet seals sold today are synthetic)
All amounts are by weight, not volume.

This results in a medium-hard lubricant that is very good for all black powder applications. It is especially good with wads because the paraffin seems to stiffen the wad, helping to scrape out fouling.

Hope this helps.

[coyotejoe]

I use vegetable wads right from the package dry. Should I lube them first? If so , with what?

Anytime you fire lead bullets you will need some sort of lubrication to prevent leading the bore. If you lubricate atop the ball, as was universally done before the world got onto the wad kick, then you don't need a lubricated wad or any wad at all for that matter. The purpose of the wad is to replace the lube atop the ball, which does reduce the mess, and so the wad must be lubricated with a relatively soft lube. The vegetable wads are generally just not thick enough to hold any lube and the thicker fiber wads, like those used in shotguns, tend to disintegrate when saturated with anything at all. You may be able to lubricate the sides of the wad by just rubbing a thick paste lube onto the wad but it generally seems to just soak in and in time the wad still falls apart. You can seat a dry wad, at least 1/8" thick and add a dab of semi-soft lube to each chamber before seating the ball. That method, lube between the wad and the ball does work well and without the mess that normally comes from lubing over top of the ball.