Wonder Wads In .54 Hawkens

[River runner]

I've found my 1:48 Traditions .54 shoots fairly well with 80 grains of FFFG, using either a RB or the Hornady 425 HPHB Great Plains bullet, (Hornady bullet gives the best accuracy) with a pinch of hornet's nesting over the powder. I was wondering if I used the Wonder Wads, if I might expect to obtain even better accuracy. I don't have any problem with the cleaning as I swab the bore and dry between shots. Has anybody used these in their rifles? RR :?

[LOG EYE]

HI River,  I just bought a pack of these same wads for my .54 T/C Renegade. Last league season,I got interested in them because a shooter  who used'm said he could shoot the whole match without cleaning between shots(I noted your cleaning cycle). He said they did not improve the accuracy. I've yet to try them though, as we are still trying to shoot between snow flakes here.

[johnt]

I tryed them once in an attempt to improve Buffalo Ballettes in my cabelas .54.They did help some,but I found no matter what I did with those ballettes the results were dismal.If you would like send your e-mail addy to me in a PM,we'll swap snail mail and I'll send ya a hand full a wad's ta try,
It's alway's fun meeting new folks,john

[KING]

  I use the wonder wands in my old Tryon rifle,and in by KODIAK S/S.  In general I think it improves groups a small amount,depending on range.  In chrony testing I have found that they seem to cut down on the standard deviation a lot.  An example would be no wad,just a patched ball.  The chrony speeds are about 1650 to 1680fps. for about six shots.  With the wads I noticed that for the same six shots,same powdere,one(1) wonderwad,and a patched rb using pillow ticking the speed was a pretty solid 1680.  The fastet for the six was 1695,and the others were under 1690.  The deviation from shot to shot was smaller.  I also thik that its cuts down on batch blow buy to some extant.  Its kinda fun to screw around with this stuff to see what ya can get sometimes.   I did call a shot into a 1" white bullseye at 100 meters with 100 of cartridge,1 wonder wad,and a .520 rb,patched with apillow tickingpatch.  I also might add that I have an old timey scopey thing on it,brass tube,4 power.  I called the shot in front of 3 other guys I was shooting with,and I made it.  Now,the next shot went 1.5 inches higher,but that in my book was a good called shot.  Notice, I got cocky and tried it again,hence the second,that.uhhh...kinda missed the bull.  YUK..YUK.    Fun..aint it...King

[savageT]

I've found my 1:48 Traditions .54 shoots fairly well with 80 grains of FFFG, using either a RB or the Hornady 425 HPHB Great Plains bullet, (Hornady bullet gives the best accuracy) with a pinch of hornet's nesting over the powder. I was wondering if I used the Wonder Wads, if I might expect to obtain even better accuracy. I don't have any problem with the cleaning as I swab the bore and dry between shots. Has anybody used these in their rifles? RR :?

Riverrunner,

What is hornet's nesting.....Is it the real stuff??  I've got a Traditions 50cal. (1:32 twist) that I can't get decent results for nutin!  

savageT

[KING]

  SavageT.  I thought that I would answer that question fer the other guy.  Hornest nesting is just what it says it is.  Hornet nesting material from a paper wasp  insect.  Ya gotta remember that they like to sting (read in,sting a whole lot),so I get my material in the winter.  If ya find a nest,dont bring it into someplace warm becasue they will come out of thier dormancy,and kinda live up to thier name(as in sting a lot).  I remove the paper from the outside of the nest and it is grey in color.  I will inturn use this nesting material over the powder of either my rifles or my shotguns that I shoot .  The interesting about this material is that it will not catch fire from the detonation of the black powder and makes outstanding wadding material for over the powder type wads.  I will also use the "comb" type material for the same thing,and it also works real good as an over the shot type wad also.  The "yellow jacket,and a couple of other type stinging hornets also make the same type of nest,and they can be found hanging from tree limbs this time of year when the leaves are down.  Now I know this is a no brainer,but,please dont attempt to use the nest of a "mud Dauber "type insect.  It does have sand grains in it cause it is made otta....mud.,and we dont like to shoot sand otta our expensive barrels.  It is good material when you can find the paperwasp type nest,and I try to find at least several nest each year for this material to be used as wadding.  You dont ned a lot of it,just a couple inch suare piece to do the job.  Good luck,and remember,dont bring the nest inside where it is warm.    King

[savageT]

Excellent Suggestion KING!

I'm looking up in the tree tops as we speak.........Some years ago, we had one (White Faced Hornets) in our big maple over the back deck.  Paid some big bucks to get someone to knock down that HUGE paper nest.  Wish I had known that back then.  Do these wads work for sabotted bullets as well?


savageT

[wallynut]

hornet nest or mud wasp nest can be found in most areas where you might hunt, ya just gotta keep an eye out for it.  End of one season, I found one, cut it off the branch and proceeded to carry it out of the woods.  Now yes, I did check to hear if there was any "buzzing" sound from the nest, even laid it down for awhile to bag a few squrriels.  Well, on the way back to the truck, I found out that there were plenty of them MAD devils in it, and they were just slightly unhappy with me.  Got it in the back of the truck and drove home, where I smoked out any more unwanted.  Still laugh about it and I'm amazed that I didn't get stung, I was covered with them!  Well I did try the nest material for patching.  I wasn't overly impressed with it, but liked the idea of using a natural souce for patching when there is a need.

Wallynut

[KING]

  SavageT.  That my friend I cant tell ya,cause I only shoot rb or cast slugs in my mz.  I cant see where it would hurt if ya did put some over the powder and see what happens onna target.  Now ya gots me thinking,and it kinda hurts a little.  In thinking about those hornet nest material......A couple of years ago we were hunting on DRUMMOND ISL.,here in Mi.,  My buddy had his quad back inna swamp hinting with his longbow and he remembered a comment about me not being able to find the wads I use fer my BP shotgun.  It was aabout 20 degrees out and it had been all night.  I came back from hunting grouse and woodcock with my two labs riding on the back of my quad and I parked it where we always park and basically did not pay anyattention to his.  He always had a lot of stuff onna back of it anyway.  He was taking a nap,so I fixed something to eat and basically was relaxing.  He woke up,and we decided to go grouse hunting again,so I just told the labs to "kennel up",and pointed to my  4 wheeler.  Both of em just kinda looked at me and wernt in a talkative mood.  I told em again,but they wernt gunna go.  Soooo I walked over to my quad and they both stayed onna porch.  It took me about 5 seconds to realize why they did not wanna go on my,or fer that matter his quad.   There were hornets all over everything,including me.  He had picked up two nests that we had seen a couple of days earlier that were only a few of feet off of the ground,and put them onna back of his quad under his jacket...He had figured that it was so cold out that all of the hornets had died,and he would just bring em back to the cabin fer me.   Well,the moral of this story is that it is now a prooven fact that my labs are smarter than I am,which was just a rumor before!  Ya know how mad hornets can get when it gets to be 50 degrees and thier house was moved ?   :-D  :-D King

[DannoBoone]

Anyone figure out how to kill 'em without ruining the
nest?  Don't care much for the idea of them gettin'
crawly when it warms up a bit!

[River runner]

Danno, What I do is spray the nest real good with hornet/wasp spray(Raid etc) the hornets will get out and die, and then you have their nest. Naturally I let the nest air out, haven't seen any ill effects using this method on the bore of the gun, and I swab between shots any way. Have yet to got stung, and it sure made a shooter out of my .54 Hawkins. Before I used that stuff, it wouldn't print paper at 50 yards, regardless what I used. Now it'll shoot balls fairly well, and it shoots conicals exceptionally well. As far as using with a saboted bullet, none of my BP rifles will shoot them .45 Kentucky with a 1:66, or the Hawkins .54 1:48, I tried it and at 50 yards key-holed. I'm gonna try some of those Wonder Wads as Johnt is sending me a few to try out. RR