1/8" wool felt powder wads for .50 cal............

[Svashtar]

I use oversized 1/8'' wool wads under all my flat base, full bore conicals/bullets. I have never checked the difference of not using a wool wad with the chronograph, but for bullet grouping size it makes a big difference.
In my black powder sidelocks and in-lines I will use the lubed wads for target practice. For hunting I use the dry wads for fear of contaminating any of the powder.
Dry wool wads make a big accuracy difference in my smokeless muzzleloader as well.

Sure, under flat based I get it. But my big conical .58 bullet has a huge thin walled domed cavity on the bottom, with a distinct driving band on the skirt base, which flares out when fired, sealing the bore. It can’t hurt to put a 5/8” día felt wad underneath it I guess, but in this particular instance I don’t think it’s as necessary. I’ve been shooting it without a wad, but will try it with one and see if it helps accuracy.

 

[Svashtar]

I told him the same thing. That oversized wad filling the entire groove depth instead of just to the lands makes for a far better seal over the powder charge. Numerous obvious benefits there.

Yes, my only potential issue in doing that well is with the .54, because the 9/16” .5625 wad will nicely oversize for the .50, but leave only a .0225 overlap for the .54. If the extra material didn’t hurt I could just use the .625 5/8” for both the .54 and .58 instead. I’ll cut both when I get the Dura-felt and try them out, see what works best in real instead of theory.

 

[Svashtar]

With PRB the patch is to act as the interface between ball and barrel. A wad between powder and PRB can provide extra protection to the patch from burn thru especially in heavier charge weights

Great, I’ll start trying that, especially on a couple of my loads where I use very thin patches. Appreciate the suggestion!

 

[Svashtar]

It's not ,reread previous posts !/Ed

I did, but not sure if you’re talking about wad size or skirt flaring. But I have both covered I think, using 9/16” and 5/8” wads for all three calibers.

The Dura-felt lady gave me figures of like 2100 .45 wads out of one of their large sheets, but I figure with cutting mostly .50 and .54 with just a couple hundred .58’s I should get at least 1500.

 

[eekjellander]

Sure, under flat based I get it. But my big conical .58 bullet has a huge thin walled domed cavity on the bottom, with a distinct driving band on the skirt base, which flares out when fired, sealing the bore. It can’t hurt to put a 5/8” día felt wad underneath it I guess, but in this particular instance I don’t think it’s as necessary. I’ve been shooting it without a wad, but will try that and see if it helps accuracy.

As previously posted by Bad Karma he uses a 1/2 a cotton ball or straight from the sheep and sticks it in the hollow base ,says it works great . Don't be stingy with the Dura felt use 1 size bigger for every thing ! This info has all been posted again , don't try inventing the wheel (it's all been done previously ) just heed the advice and accuracy happens !/Ed

 

[Svashtar]

As previously posted by Bad Karma he uses a 1/2 a cotton ball or straight from the sheep and sticks it in the hollow base ,says it works great . Don't be stingy with the Dura felt use 1 size bigger for every thing ! This info has all been posted again , don't try inventing the wheel (it's all been done previously ) just heed the advice and accuracy happens !/Ed

Will do, thanks. I’m finally getting a chronograph next month, been saving up, and bet from what I’ve read that this will probably give me some velocity gains as well.

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Sure, under flat based I get it. But my big conical .58 bullet has a huge thin walled domed cavity on the bottom, with a distinct driving band on the skirt base, which flares out when fired, sealing the bore. It can’t hurt to put a 5/8” día felt wad underneath it I guess, but in this particular instance I don’t think it’s as necessary. I’ve been shooting it without a wad, but will try it with one and see if it helps accuracy.

You can try it. I’m sure it won’t hurt. I have tried it in the past with some of my cup base conicals. Didn’t seem to help or hinder for me.

 

[smokepolehall]

I see this Topic has popped up & i want to know if anyone has used the Duro-felt wads thicker than 1/8" If you did was there a positive to it ? Evidently using a larger dia. gives much better seal than just a bore size. Next time i go to Lebanon i will get set of punches from Harbour Freight. Order the Duro-Felt right from the Company ?

 

[Svashtar]

I see this Topic has popped up & i want to know if anyone has used the Duro-felt wads thicker than 1/8" If you did was there a positive to it ? Evidently using a larger dia. gives much better seal than just a bore size. Next time i go to Lebanon i will get set of punches from Harbour Freight. Order the Duro-Felt right from the Company ?

I did order direct from Duro-Felt over the phone, and they were super helpful. I also ordered a set of punches on Amazon with good ratings for $20 shipped that included 9/16, 5/8, and 3/4”, as my HF set ended at 1/2”. I checked the HF website and called the store, and they said that right now they only had the 9 piece set topping out at 1/2”, although in the past I guess they’ve had larger sizes. I wanted to follow the advice here and go oversize to ensure a good seal.

I asked the Duro-Felt lady if anyone ever ordered the 1/4” thick material, and she said sometimes people did, especially those looking to cut their own shotgun wads (I assume to go under a shot column or ball to raise it up, or go on top of the shot for spacing for a roll crimp) but that most BP shooters ordered the 1/8” as an over powder wad. Unlike shotshell loading I don’t see spacing as an issue, so just ordered the largest sheet of 1/8” material. I think it will do the job of sealing powder under the bullet just fine, it will be easier to punch out, easier to rub in some lube I made if needed, will conform to the rifling / powder more easily than 1/4” material, and of course it costs less.

I’ll have to do the cost calculation, but may be buying some 1/4” thick stuff from them later, as now that I’ve been referred to Duro-Felt by you guys, I may be able to cut my own 1/4” wads to go inside shot cups or elsewhere in shotshells for less than the premade ones I’ve been buying from Ballistic Products.

 

[Rob Lynch]

I see this Topic has popped up & i want to know if anyone has used the Duro-felt wads thicker than 1/8" If you did was there a positive to it ? Evidently using a larger dia. gives much better seal than just a bore size. Next time i go to Lebanon i will get set of punches from Harbour Freight. Order the Duro-Felt right from the Company ?

Not with duro-felt but I actually did this weekend before last using VFG .400 thick wads for .44/.45. The results were actually very interesting. All
Powder charges were the same at 63 grains of 2f Swiss. The bullet was the same for each test all within .2 grains of one another. Brooks New Postel 530 grains. The only difference was the wads I used. Let me find the pic and I will post it.

 

[eekjellander]

I see this Topic has popped up & i want to know if anyone has used the Duro-felt wads thicker than 1/8" If you did was there a positive to it ? Evidently using a larger dia. gives much better seal than just a bore size. Next time i go to Lebanon i will get set of punches from Harbour Freight. Order the Duro-Felt right from the Company ?

Dura felt wads work @ 1/8 inch me and everyone I shoot with uses 1/8 , thicker does not help (over size does ). Protect base /eliminate gas cutting and absolutely not thicker , another case of more does not improve the function . Poly wads /cards are different used with cartridge guns/Ed

 

[smokepolehall]

For wads soft/Medium /Hard ? How big of sheets does it come in ? I will cutting for .40/.45/.50 & .54

 

[eekjellander]

For wads soft/Medium /Hard ? How big of sheets does it come in ? I will cutting for .40/.45/.50 & .54

*I'm sure 1 of the photos I posted on this shows exactly , never mind here it is again and now lunch break is over (back to work Ed)

 

[edmehlig]

Ed that looks like a lot of hard work!

 

[Rob Lynch]

Here is how it went, middle group is with an oversized 1/8 wad which is my standard go to. Middle group is also 4 shots. Then for the sake of trying something just to see I went to the .400 wads and shot 2 groups of 3 lowering them down each group. I got 2 hits close together then a flyer and it did it both times.

 

[eekjellander]

Ed that looks like a lot of hard work!

What I do in retirement ,was a lot faster when I did it for money , I owned the company /Ed