Felt Wad Filler

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rodwha

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I don't care much for shooting cereal grains out of my guns. I also think it hard to be consistent as you've now added another variable, though I'm not as concerned with this. It would make loading easier, especially if it's windy.

I had wondered about using 1/4" thick felt wads from Durofelt. I'm wondering if soft, medium, or hard felt would be ideal. I'm thinking the 1/4" thickness would get the end of my 170 grn bullet fairly close to the mouth of the chambers, and probably also work with my 195 grn bullet too.

Cost is always a piece of my puzzle, but it seems the cheaper soft felt may also help a bit with controlling the amount of compression when using Triple 7.

When loading anything I always apply a firm amount of pressure, which may or may not be more than what many claim is ideal for T7. And though Hodgdon's site states to use "firm" pressure when seating projectiles other than in a cartridge, they have never responded to my few inquiries about what "firm" is.

Were it you, which would you choose and why?
 
I couldn’t agree more with your opening statements. I’ve tried cornmeal filler in the past and while it is dirt cheap it’s more of a pain. I use wads exclusively either the Ox Yoke or the Circle Fly to fill the chambers up to where the ball is sitting at the mouth of the chamber and, more importantly, as close to the rifling as I can get. Some people have revolvers that aren’t that demanding, in fact I had a 51’ Navy that didn’t seem to mind where that ball sat in her chamber, but my 1860 Army gets real finicky about it and using the wads adds some needed consistency to the load.

I’ve never used Triple 7 so I don’t know.
 
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I tried the cereal my dad gave me long ago, but I didn't notice any real difference in my Ruger. Part of that could very well be that I'm no pistolero too.

I shoot well enough, I suppose, but if it could reduce my group size a bit, why not?

So what density of felt would you use? I'm leaning towards the soft as it's both cheaper and has some crushability.
 
I’ve been experimenting with this 1860 Army for about two years now and my last recipe was 30 grains of GOEX 3Fg and 2 Ox Yoke felt wads and that puts the ball right near the mouth of the chamber. But, if I drop down to 25 grains I’ll either start using the Circle Fly again or go to 3 Ox Yoke felt wads. I still want to work with this revolver more as I know I can get her more accurate shooting between 25 and 30 yards.
 
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I’m not sure but they are the pretreated Ox Yoke wonder wads. I’m debating whether to work up another load at 25 grains slowly dropping down grain by grain from 30 grains to see if I can tweak this revolver a little more. If I do then I’ll order the Circle Fly felt wads as using 3 Wonder Wads per shot could get a bit expensive.

But if she likes the Wonder Wads well who am I to deny her? ;)
 
I use the 1/8" hard felt from Duro-felt for revolver wads. It works well so I've not tried the softer materials. Wonder Wads are softer and also worked well before I bought the Duro-felt, so I'm not so sure it matters much. As far as affecting compression during loading - I don't use 777, so I can't say for sure that it matters, but I agree with your theory.
 
I've also been shooting with Olde Eynsford, which I like too. I disliked Pyrodex.

I also have the 1/8" hard felt from Durofelt for lubed wads. These would purely be as filler and dry.

I have the cheap little powder measure Cabela's sends out with the free starter kits, but I don't really care much for it. Instead I have been using the CVA measure my dad gave me for rifles, which has increments of 10 grns. So 5 is only a close bet. I don't care too much to try for 2.5 or 7.5 or any other increment. Sounds silly I guess...
 
Soft wads stink. They flop around, go in crooked and really being so soft, they cannot do their primary job, scrape the barrel on their way out.

Stick with the 1/8" material from Durofelt, Rodwha, quit trying to reinvent every wheel. :)

Use two wads if you need to get your lead closer to the chamber mouth.
 
Swathdiver gives sage advice,

Rodwha, quit trying to reinvent every wheel." :)


Not trying to be argumentative, but you have a lot to learn about pistol shooting.

Not one of the top pistol shooters uses felt wads, they all use a filler for good reason, they win with it.

Get yourself a pistol powder measure, 0 to 30 grains.

You need to find a mentor who can teach you and you need to read and learn from the top master shooters.
 
2 wads may very well be too much.

I'd much prefer to use something like a felt wad than cereal grains. And the only function is as a filler as the bullets are lubed.

I can't help myself but to come up with ways to improve things in some fashion.

I've been trying to figure out how to make a wiffle ball mold! :D
 
I buy dry wads from the Possible Shop and lube them with gatefoe #1. If they may be loaded for a while I put a dry smoke wad on top of the powder first. I can shoot quite a few rounds out of my 1858 rem. before it starts to bind up. I mostly use Goex in my 44s and Olde Eynsford or Swiss in my 36s.
 
Re: powder measures.

I have 4. They vary by as much as 15%. Conclusion: You can't trust them to measure with any reasonable accuracy, and certainly not 2.5 grains!. Just get one, calibrate it by weighing different charges, and then stick with it regardless.
 
I bought a couple of 1/4 inchX9X12 felt squares at Hobby Lobby. They are soft felt, but when soaked in beeswax/crisco they get pretty stiff. I shot two days without cleaning at my last CAS shoot with no fouling problems.

I've always belonged to the overball lube side of the fence, but tried these and am happy with them. One of the chemists at the mill gave me a bunch of flip top sample bottles that will easily hold 5 balls and 5 felt wads. Made work at the loading table easier.
 
I buy .45cal X 1/2" fiber filler wads from Circle Fly and then soak in melted BP lube as fillers. I split them in half or thirds to get the right thicknesses. Buy two bags of 500 andn you'll have 2000 wads for a decent price.
 
I buy .45cal X 1/2" fiber filler wads from Circle Fly and then soak in melted BP lube as fillers. I split them in half or thirds to get the right thicknesses. Buy two bags of 500 andn you'll have 2000 wads for a decent price.
Click to expand...

If my 1860 Army likes the lighter charges that's exactly what I'm going to start doing. Buying the Circle Fly wads, soak them then split them to fill out the chamber.
 
Punches

I have a punch set so I just use my old flannel shirts and the proper size punch for over powder wads but I have kept some of my BP pistols charged for years so I also use an over ball wad and for that I use an oxyoke and use a toothpick to put a bead of bullet lube around the edges.
 
Durofelt.com, 1/8" hard felt, soaked in DDs pearl lube.
I don't necessarily subscribe to the notion that the ball has to be up to the mouth of the cylinder.
I was shooting a SASS match. A wad turned sideways in a chamber so I added another on top of it.
One of the shots from that cylinder, and I do not know if it was the double wad chamber, split the barrel on the 1860. My gunsmith said he found felt fibers in the crack in the metal.
Did the sideways wad allow the powder to burn around it while it made it's way partially down the barrel only to act as an obstruction for the next shot?
I don't know but I don't put two wads in a chamber any more.
 
Noz,
I think the problem is the wad turned sideways. I have often stacked wads over a very small amount of powder to create a "cleanout shot" to swab the bore for the trip home so I see no problem with multiple wads as long as they lay flat. Geeze, now I gotta go get a pair of tweezers for my shoot box in case I tip a wad. Like I don't have enough crap in it already but I don't wanna split barrel either.
 
I shoot Lee 200gr conicals with a honest 25gr charge of fff black powder. A 25gr charge on a powder measure may only be 18gr. A 45ACP case is very close to 25gr. I mix up a simple lube of 50/50 bees wax olive oil lube. I put my conicals standing up in a pie pan and pour lube in the pan until it covers the lube groves and let the wax set up in the freezer. Then push them out of the wax and use a paper towel to wipe the lube from the base of the bullet. I use these pan lubed bullets with no wads or over the top lube.
 
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