Pre-lubed felt wads

[Todd Birch]

I just discovered that the 1/2" 24 ga pre-lubed felt wads I purchased for my .577 Snider are a perfect chamber fit in my .50 Shiloh Military percussion rifle and carbine.

Trouble is, when inserted behind a bullet, there isn't much powder room.
With just a bullet, they hold 60 grs max and I've learned that paper cartridges with 55 grs lose less powder with the shearing action. In fact, none at all, if I compress it a little with a wooden rod.

This is far from a punishing load recoil wise, but if I wanted a real light 'plinker' loader, this might be the way to go. With a full wad, I think I'd get 30-35 grs powder space. If I cut it in half, perhaps another 10 grs.

I got a feeling these wads might be beneficial in reducing bore fouling.

[Todd Birch]

John

The Brits tested the Westley Richards "Monkey Tail" carbine that utilized cartridges incorporating a wad:

"The escape of gas was checked by a wad incorporated in the base of the paper cartridge. The explosion of the charge momentarily expanded the wad to seal any imperfections of the seating of the plunger in the mouth of the chamber.
The next cartridge then pushed forward the wad from the previous round and it served as a most effective means of lubricating the bore."

I have a couple of pictures of it in a reference book and it has the wad attached to the base of the cartridge. The wad is slightly larger than the cartridge. I presume there is a hole in it to allow the flash of the primer to ignite the powder.

How it didn't leave the bore, I can't imagine since it was shoved ahead with the insertion of the next round.

If nothing else, I will experiment with using the wads in my Enfield muzzleloaders.

[Todd Birch]

John Boy

Nice target! But, we were talking percussion rounds here.

There isn't a lot that applies to both paper percussion cartridges and brass BPCs. For example, the compression factor goes right out the window the moment you shear off the base of a paper cartridge and the loose powder falls into the breech cavity of a Sharps.

I have often compressed the paper round with a short starter after insertion in the chamber, mainly to prevent a shearing action. Compression wise, the closest I've come to achieving that with a percussion cartridge is to roll a .54 calibre 60 gr. Pyrodex bullet with a .512 sized/lubed bullet.

This makes up an historic cartridge as such 'compressed' charge rounds were used in the Civil War. They even had rounds made up with three grades of powder with progressive burning rates.
They must have been a major pain to mass produce and were not widely used as a result.

I've toyed with the idea of making up a wooden compression tool (no sparks) to compress powder pellets but let fear and common sense intervene.
The old rounds were done using a mixture of "collodion" and a mixture of alcohol and shellac (or some other volatile liquid) to moisten the powder and make it adhere. How they dried it afterwards ..... ???

[snapcap14]

Todd shorten your cart. so you do not shear the back off and lose powder.
some of the originals were done that way.

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap14

I do that by reducing the charge to 55 grs - problem solved.

I may just make one of my '63s my main hunting rifle this year. I've yet to take game of any kind with one.

Speaking of game, at 7:30 this morning I look across the lake we live on and there is Momma mootz with her last year's calf, her previous calf and a bull with about a 36" rack looking back at me. They love the marsh grass along the shore.
The bull is the closest and he's about 200 yards away ..... and me with no mootz draw - AAAARGh!!! But, I did get a doe draw for the month of November and I'm also entitled to take a buck.

My wife just hauled me away from the 'puter to tell me that the cow and calf are back for an evening meal. They're our 'resident' mootz and wintered on our property, often bedding down 50 yds from where I'm sitting right now.

[snapcap14]

SWEET. all I saw this weekend where 2 does and their fawns.