Making My Wads

[rodwha]

So I'm looking into cutting my own wads by buying a set of hollow punches from Harbor Freight and buying felt from Duro Felt.

Duro Felt sells fairly thin sheets of 1/16" and the more common 1/8" as well as others. Since a small piece of this can go quite far (36 x 12" = 864 1/2" wads) I wondered about using the 1/16" size (hard/dense) so that one won't take up much powder room when conicals are used. But that I could take up as much space with them as I needed to instead of using cereal grains.

Would it not work well? Am I looking at this wrong?

I also considered buying both sizes...

 

[duelist1954]

I use 1/8th inch hard Durafelt. I soak sheets in my lube and then punch out wads. They work great.

 

[rodwha]

Does using 1/16" wads, as I mentioned, not work? Should I abandon that idea and just use the 1/8"?

 

[rodwha]

Measuring out cereal grains (Malt O Meal) adds another bit to the consistency of your loads that I figured I could avoid by filling that void with more wadding.

 

[BADUNAME30]

I use 1/8th inch hard Durafelt. I soak sheets in my lube and then punch out wads. They work great.

duelist, what lube do you use ?

 

[rodwha]

Is 1/16 too thin to work properly despite being the thick stuff?

 

[mykeal]

I suspect 1/16" thick wads would be too flexible and hold less lube, so I'd use the thicker ones

 

[FreddyKruger]

ive only been ably to find 1/16th stuff over here without buying the fancy organic 100% whatevers for craft stuff.

would it be a better idea to even just use them dry?

 

[duelist1954]

My lube is 2 pounds of lamb's tallow mixed with one pound of bee's wax.

 

[mykeal]

would it be a better idea to even just use them dry?

Better? No.
Acceptable? Yes.

 

[arcticap]

I cut over powder cards from 1/2 gallon wax board orange juice containers.
They're plenty stiff but don't hold any lube.
There may not be any benefit to using lube with some substitute powders.
For instance, the American Pioneer Powder website states:

No lubes are needed, and the use of lubes that come in contact with the powder will result in unburned powder, fouling and lower velocities.

http://www.americanpioneerpowder.com/loading.html

I'm not so sure that there would be any benefit to using lubed wads with 777. IMO that's a matter of personal preference and experimentation. I didn't feel the need to use any lube with 777. However I believe that using lubed wads would be beneficial if using Pyrodex.

 

[BADUNAME30]

My lube is 2 pounds of lamb's tallow mixed with one pound of bee's wax.

Thanx duelist.
I'm gonna order me up some felt from Duro and make some.
$16 for over 800 wads vs. $72+ for the same amount is a no brainer.

 

[rodwha]

"$16 for over 800 wads vs. $72+ for the same amount is a no brainer."

That's the way I saw it. Plus another $11 for hollow punch set w/ 6 sizes and I still come out much better.

I'm going to be trying the lube Gatofeo posted. It's (by weight) 2 parts canning paraffin, 2 parts mutton tallow, and 1 part beeswax. The tallow and beeswax are in my shopping cart at DGW.

 

[rodwha]

No lube with 777?

 

[Honest John]

I use a dry wad with 777 and put some Bore Butter over the ball.

 

[arcticap]

No lube with 777?

It's personal preference depending on the amount of powder loaded and the number of shots.
It doesn't produce as much or the same type of residue as some of the other powders.
For instance, folks don't use lube when shooting sabots with rifles that are loaded with 777. They usually do swab the barrel because the tight sabots are being rammed down the muzzle and the 100 grain powder loads are large which creates much more residue.

Some folks only use a small bead of lube in every other chamber. So there's no absolutely correct formula for every type of gun and powder. IMO the Gatafeo lube is primarily designed for use with black powder & Pyrodex.
The main purpose of the lube is to help keep the barrel fouling soft and to help the bore stay cleaner, and secondarily to help lube the cylinder pin during firing particularly if there isn't a cylinder pin bushing like with the Remington 1858.
And even then additional lubrication of the cylinder pin is usually a separate & necessary process.
With 777, a person may be able to swab the barrel every 50 - 100 shots and forgo the lubed wads altogether.
The lubed wads may also affect accuracy. Experimentation would show if using dry or lubed wads helps accuracy or not.

 

[Hammerdown77]

I recently started making my own using the Durofelt 1/8" hard felt, and Gatofeo lube (mutton tallow, beeswax, and paraffin).

I punch out the wads first using a Harbor Freight punch. Then, I put them in a saucer or small pan and pour the melted lube mix over them. Push them around until they soak up all the lube, then dump them on a sheet of wax paper. When dry, I just fold up the wax paper with the wads in it and put that in a small tin.

They work pretty well. Some have said their barrels are clean and they have minimal fouling using this combination, but I have not found that to be the case, although I'm using Goex and maybe that's dirtier. It is still worlds less hassle than putting grease over the balls

 

[rodwha]

I certainly would not put any type of lube over the ball/bullet as it only gives the opportunity to get all over everything else including the holster.

I still have ~2 lbs of Pyro P and ~1 lb of RS so I suppose I ought to use something when using those.

I've read that Hogdgon's states to use a wad between the powder and projectile (conicals?).

It would seem to me that using a wad in place of cereal grains makes sense in that it's much more uniform and less hassle with reduced loads. I suppose I need to eventually try no lube/wad at the range...

Hammer: Which punches did you get? And how are they working? I read the cheaper set had mixed reviews, which pushes me into choosing the other set, though I've yet to make it down there to buy them. It stated they weren't very sharp and lost their edge easily.

 

[arcticap]

If buying the Harbor Freight punches, especially for use with an ROA, then check out this thread about how to adjust the size the punch:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=561415&highlight=wads

In post #6, Howdy Doody mentioned that he mounts the punch into a drill press:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=590922&highlight=harbor

Gatefeo mentioned that he sometimes uses 1/4" Durofelt instead of filler:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=7107859&postcount=6

 

[Hammerdown77]

I certainly would not put any type of lube over the ball/bullet as it only gives the opportunity to get all over everything else including the holster.

I still have ~2 lbs of Pyro P and ~1 lb of RS so I suppose I ought to use something when using those.

I've read that Hogdgon's states to use a wad between the powder and projectile (conicals?).

It would seem to me that using a wad in place of cereal grains makes sense in that it's much more uniform and less hassle with reduced loads. I suppose I need to eventually try no lube/wad at the range...

Hammer: Which punches did you get? And how are they working? I read the cheaper set had mixed reviews, which pushes me into choosing the other set, though I've yet to make it down there to buy them. It stated they weren't very sharp and lost their edge easily.

I got these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-hollow-punch-set-3838.html

Some were sharper than others. They are easy to sharpen, though. It is also important what you use as a backer when you are punching out the wads. Use the end of a piece of wood (or a log), or one of those polymer cutting boards. You want something that is firm but allows the punch to easily sink in, preserving the cutting edge.

 

[rodwha]

How do you sharpen them?

 

[towboat_er]

Add pics

I've used old felt hats that I find at yard sales and goodwill.
Lately I have just been using home made lube pills.

 

[Hammerdown77]

How do you sharpen them?

A round stone works, or one of those conical grinding tips for a Dremel. Doesn't take much. They don't need to be razor sharp, but it helps to sharpen them a little.

 

[rodwha]

OK. I recently bought a conical grinding cone from Sears...guess it ought to work if need be.

towboat: Curious about your lube pills. What is it made of? How does it compare to lubed wads?

 

[arcticap]

What is it made of? How does it compare to lubed wads?

There are some different recipes for lube pills but the one below was among the first which was posted by rifle who has a wife that sells them.

The recipe fer the Lube Pills if ya want to make yer own and not buy them from Junk Yard Dog (1-740-824-5566) is "equal parts of bees wax,paraffin wax,mutton tallow. Punch them out from a thin 1/8th deep wax sheet made from pouring melted lube in a shallow pan and after it solidifies go to punchin them out with a brass tube pill puncher.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=3335950&postcount=5

More info. can be found by using the [advanced] search tab that's located on the top bar of every page under the words "Private Messages" and "your PM box". Make sure to specify a black powder forum search. I would suggest to use the word pill as a search word. There have been many previous threads about them.