C&B. Why are wads even necessary?

I shoot N-SSA competition which requires over-ball lube, so I don't bother with wads.

I got a bunch of lubed wads for free once, and decided to try them over the powder and under the ball. I tried to stack about 5 of them together to replace the cream of wheat filler I normally use to force the ball to seat at the chamber mouth.


When the ball was pressed into place, the lube from the patches made the bullet squirt back out of the chamber.

Additionally, compressing all those wads squeezed the lube out of them and ruined the powder, causing hang fires.

If I tried wads again I'd probably use a fiber gasket over the powder to protect the powder from the lube in the wad, but I don't think I'll bother with the wad again.

Steve
 
If you get unlubed wads or make your own you can soak them in olive oil and let them dry. They won't feel oily to the touch and won't contaminate powder.
 
I just lubed some cardboard wads with olive oil and I'm letting them dry now, anyone else use cardboard for wads? I'm going to get some wool felt soon anyway
 
A matter of personal preference

That makes for a pretty air-tight seal, so what is the added advantage of using a lubed wad?
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Not air-tight but you are correct to define it as a seal. All Seals have a leak-rate unlike a Gasket that is not suppose to leak. Adding a lubricated wad, reduces the leak-rate on it's seal. Crisco also adds to the sealing but is messy. I do use lubed wads and so far, have had no problems. ..... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
I just lubed some cardboard wads with olive oil and I'm letting them dry now, anyone else use cardboard for wads? I'm going to get some wool felt soon anyway
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Not too sure how that's going to work but let us know.

That makes for a pretty air-tight seal, so what is the added advantage of using a lubed wad?
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Depends on the cylinder. I have one that cuts a good ring but will still chain all six if no wads or lube is used.
 
Shooting conicals in mine, I either load 24 grs of black, grease on top, and the ball, or paper catridge loaded with 23 grains, which I figure has the same punch. For round ball I use a 31 grain charge, then some grease, and a .457 ball. Both loads are more accurate then I am at 27 yards when shooting with one hand, and I'm pretty happy with the conicals. Maybe not championship stuff, but minute of coke can for sure with a good shooter.
 
Well, I don't really get to complicated with my Remmy's. I use 30 grains of FFFg a homemade lubed hard felt wad (lubed with 1:8 beezwax and mutton tallow), then the .454 home cast soft lead ball. I load 3 cylinders (18 shots, NOT 15) off the gun. Before the first cylinder is installed I wipe the base pin with the same lube. After I fire all three cylinders, I load them all up again, wipe off the base pin with a rag, put some more lube on the pin and keep blasting. this method works for me. And the pistols run fine, and are more than accurate enough to kill all kinds of stuff. :D Now that is target shooting. For my Remington NMA 5.5" that I keep loaded in the bedside pistol box. It gets a 30 grain charge, dry over powder card and the ball. Then #10 Remington caps, with cap collars. I have went a few months letting it sit like that and went out back to fire it dry and it fired just fine with that stiff 30 grain recoil I LIKE! :D

Edit: I forgot to mention, with either method I've never had a chain fire, knock on wood.
 
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I need to borrow or buy a chronograph one of these days to be able to actually compare the loads by more then just 'feel'.
 
The old timers used a swinging gong with a pointer and dial to measure differences in their loads.
Published load data is quite accurate as long as all the details are the same as the test equipment.
The same bullet, barrel length, and such.
I reloaded for decades without one as many others have.
They didn't exist for us recreational shooters.
It was only after going to matches with required power factors that using a chrono became important enough for regular use.
Check out the methods for measuring velocity that were commonly used before personal chronos became available some time.
Very interesting.
 
Wads really aren't necessary if the gun is of good quality and in good condition and your loading procedures are correct.

But they are a good added safeguard just in case.
Plus being prelubed they may help a bit with fouling.
 
I borrowed this quote from Swathdiver in a different thread.
[
QUOTE]Have you ever recovered a fired wad at the range? I have on numerous occasions while testing our sixguns, both lubricated and dry. And you know what? Not one of them has ever caught fire or even showed signs of being burned[
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/QUOTE]
wads are easy to recover on snow covered ground!
I have experimented with different wad materials and found that using synthetic felt does not leave burnt plastic in the barrel. I do like that stiff "felt" stuff from the craft stores because it is easy to dip in hot lube and drain off excess.
 
When you push the .454 ball into the cylinder that little lead ring shaves off.

That makes for a pretty air-tight seal, so what is the added advantage of using a lubed wad?
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Howdy

The fallacy in your logic is that occasionally you may get a ball that is less than perfect. It may be out of round, it may have a scar or dent in it. In this case, you may not get a complete ring of lead shaved off, and you may have a void between the ball and the chamber wall that leaves a perfect path for an errant spark to find the powder charge under a ball.

I started shooting Cap & Ball in 1968. In those days there were no commercial felt wads available for C&B. The conventional logic back then was to goop a layer of Crisco over the balls, as both lubricant and a 'spark arrestor' in case of a faulty ball. The layer of Crisco was really not very efficient. The heat of a chamber firing caused the Crisco in the next chamber to melt, and a thin layer of melted Crisco is a really poor spark arrestor. That is always what I considered the cause when I had a chain fire. Poor seal.

When I discovered prelubed felt wads sometime in the 1980s I thought they were a gift from the gods. No more fooling with melted Crisco. I seated the wad on top of the powder and seated the ball on top of that. I have not had a chain fire since.

Even with a perfect shaved ring, the seal you create when seating the ball is very narrow, only about 1/32" long. A felt wad, on the other hand, is a good spark arrestor under the ball, about 1/8" thick. I have much more faith in that thick spark arrestor than I do in a thin scraped off section of lead.

As far as lube, I have found that the wads tend to scrape out most of the fouling left behind by the last ball, so fouling never gets to a point that it deteriorates accuracy.
 
We're about the same age then. I shot my first brass framed .44 Cal 1851 Navy in 1967. When we ran out of balls, we wadded up tinfoil.
 
Hawg, I started in 1969 too, remember well the Crisco dripping down my hands and wrists as I fired. What a mess! In my experiments, I have found that a wad keeps the bore cleaner while shooting and I can get off more shots before my groups begin to open up than without wads.
 
I started about he same time (the 60s), have always had bp guns but there was a while I didn't shoot much. It was good to get back to it more often. think I should shoot tomorrow.
 
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