Cork wads for salutes in GB mortar?

[Terry C.]

This New Year's celebration will be strictly "salute-only."

That said, I will, as is my usual practice, be maintaining a strict safety zone forward of all muzzles.

The quarter-scale Napoleon is a veteran of multiple NY celebrations and sounds off in ear-splitting fashion with nothing other than the prepackaged blank charged.

But the new GB mortar does not. Even a 220 grain charge (a full chamber if prepackaged) will give a disappointing "foosh"  with no ball. I'm considering an overpowder wad to increase pressure just to the point that I get a decent pop. It doesn't have to be that loud, I just want it to sound more like it does when firing a golfball.

I have some ¼" cork-board that I could cut for overpowder wads. I would cut it for a very easy push-in fit.

This would be considered a projectile and be treated as such. I'm hoping that it will disintegrate upon firing, but I'm not banking on it.

This mortar is overbuilt and no one (other than me) will be allowed anywhere near the danger zone.

What say?

[Artilleryman]

"Sounds" good to me.   It doesn't take much to increase the report.  I was told once that one layer of cardboard greatly increases the sound of an eight inch mortar. 

[Terry C.]

I originally considered heavy cardboard, or even crumpled newsprint, but when I saw the ¼" cork-board it looked like it would be much easier to work with (and easier to control).

[Rickk]

I have used cardboard myself. two pieces of  1/8 inch of corrogated cardboard in a 2.25 inch bore mortar makes a significant difference in "Boom".

If you have 6 inches of snow covering the ground (I do atm), then don't worry about the fire factor.

Two springs ago I lit my wife's garden on fire (she was pis#$#), and now I always soak the cardboard wads in baking soda-saturated water solution.

I have no idea how flamable cork is... if it can burn, make sure it does not burn anything down.

Rick

[Terry C.]

According to the forecast, it will be a little windy. I'll test a scrap piece tomorrow to see how flammable it is. If I'm not happy with the result, I'll do the baking soda treatment.

Where I plan to shoot will be somewhat sheltered from the wind, but better safe than sorry.

[lance]

 you can take two or three pieces of bread and hand form it golfball size. it's all a matter of what's cheapest and works the best.

[Tropico]

Bread works best for me., and no-one gets into trouble with fresh biscuits. 

[Spuddy]

My preference is bread also.  Donut holes work well also.

[accuratemike]

I'm a bread sabot over a marshmallow kind of guy myself. Still not as loud as a ball, but good. MIKE

[Double D]

Lets do this test.

Everybody in favor of a flat cardboard or cork wad, stand 10 feet from your TV  and just as hard as you can wind up and throw the wad at the screen.

Now everyone in favor of the bread make a big bread wad like you would stuff in your cannon and do the same thing...would you/

Just keep that in mind when you fire your bread.  I would fire bread in Montana, i would not fire it in  Herndon, VA.

[lance]

 I guess my bread was too dry, but lot's of crumbs made it to the tv screen. maybe a slower pitch?

[Terry C.]

The main reason that I didn't consider bread is that I wanted to come up with something that could be stored indefinitely and be ready to load at a moments notice.

I made some cork wads today. They do have disadvantages. The cork is very hard to cut cleanly with scissors. It wants to crumble at the edges.

If I do this again I will make a wad cutter.

Another disadvantage is that the cork-board, as it comes out of the package, is not very absorbent. And it will burn, if you hold a flame to it. I believe that the glue base is more to blame for this than the cork itself.

I got around this by putting my wads into the mixture (2 heaping tablespoons of baking soda in a small bowl of hot water) and putting the bowl in the microwave. Heat until boiling, flip, repeat. Not only did this make the cork soak up some of the solution, I believe it also broke down the glue base somewhat. The more fragile the wads, the better.

I finished by 'flouring' the damp wads with a layer of the baking soda, rubbing it in especially around the edges. Most of this will come off when the wads are dry.

This initial batch turned out to be more work than I anticipated, but with a little better preparation I can cut the labor down considerably.

[Blacksher]

Gents, I very much liked Double-D's TV test for wads. I am very much of the old school concerning safety and the general "iffy-ness" of wads for blanks. Please allow me to suggest a safe and simple solution to the over-powder wad question for blanks--dry grits.

Make a 2-wrap aluminum foil cylinder with a flat, crimped bottom over a sub-caliber wooden mandrel. Fill it with dry grits--I have found that a volume about twice bore diameter is satisfactory, but you may want to start with less and work up. I would use no more than what gives you a satisfactory report. Twist the end shut and cut with shears.

Load over the charge. A stroke of the ramrod breaks the foil and when the gun is fired, the grits instantly turns into dust and the foil container mostly disintegrates (I occasionally police up a small fragment or two of aluminum foil, usually there is no trace.) I have fired over water, and all the grits is gathered on the surface of the water just a few feet from the muzzle. It does not catch on fire, it is cheap, it is good for the environment, and yes, I would crush the foil container in my hand and throw it at my TV.

There is no truth to the rumor that Jim-Dandy Grits works better than Quaker Grits because it is manufactured in the South....

[Artilleryman]

Sounds like a good use for grits.   

[Terry C.]

Sounds like a good use for grits.   

I got a better use fer grits.

It involves butter, salt, pepper, bacon, and eggs!



Smoke and fire photos (and hopefully video) are comin' up soon.

The cork wads did their job. And nothing got set on fire.

I made some smaller wads for the ¼-scale mortar, but after the boiling bicarb solution treatment they dried a little undersized. They still worked, they were just a little loose on the bore.

Now that I have a baseline to work with I think I can make them come out perfectly.

I'll go more into detail when I post the photos.