Filler

[Octaron1]

I have been using smokeless in my 50-70 and using Dacron for a filler.
Question is will Cream of Wheat also work well or better ?
I know some use it in BP as a filler.

Thanks Ron

[runfiverun]

cream of wheat will work until it sucks up some moisture and becomes a solid brick.
poly buffer may be a better option.

[waco]

Plus, a small bag of Dacron from the fabric store is likely to last you a lifetime.

[Larry Gibson]

I have extensively tested both the Dacron filler ant the COW filler in the 45-70. The Dacron filler proved superior all around including accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[Toymaker]

I got a bag of bio-degradable packing peanuts. Give them a little roll to fit the case and cut off the ends as needed. There's a bit of a "snow flake" effect and it has improved accuracy with some loads in my 45-70. Got the idea from a friend who was using it in a 45-90 and a 50-70. Unlike Dacron filler it decomposes.

[Kraschenbirn]

Plus, a small bag of Dacron from the fabric store is likely to last you a lifetime.

Hmmmm...kinda depends upon how much you shoot. I used COW in BP loads for quite a few years but switched to Dacron not long after joining this forum in 2006. Since that time, I've gone through two full bags of quilt batting and made significant inroads on a third but, then, I usually manage to shoot around 5K rounds of CF rifle a year...almost all cast. However much you need, though, the stuff is relatively inexpensive and can often be picked up for next to nothing at garage sales and flea markets.

Bill

[Tatume]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?109280-The-proper-use-of-fillers

[zuke]

I picked up a couple old fashioned life jacket's in a dumpster. I now have several lifetime's worth of Kapoc

[JimP.]

i use puff-lon, for me it works the best....JimP.

[tomme boy]

Larry is the filler man. Now what about using the shotgun buffer that Precision Reloading sells? Or what about micro balloons. I use that for filler in epoxy.

[Buck Neck It]

Micro balloons! You must not be a cheap skate!

[tomme boy]

I mix it 50/50 with wood flour. It's advantage is also it's disadvantage.

[Kansas Ed]

I've experimented with toilet paper, corn meal, Card wad, and COW fillers through the years. Only in straight wall, or nearly straight wall cases though. The comment that COW will absorb moisture is a true statement. And it will become a hard plug as described. I haven't seen this as dangerous to date in a straight walled case, but wouldn't advise it's use in a bottlenecked case. I just don't like it though. I did some extensive load testing with and without different fillers in the 40-72 cartridge, and contrary to popular predictions, did not see any increases in velocity with the use of any of the fillers tested. I did see a marked improvement in the accuracy of a given load though when using fillers.

The one advantage I saw with COW or Cornmeal over the softer filler was that it tended to protect the bullet base better on plain based boolits. It almost acted as a gas check. I have slated some testing with the same cartridge and Dacron, but haven't had a chance to go down that road yet.

Ed

[longbow]

Oddly I keep reading about COW and/or other cereal fillers absorbing moisture and becoming a solid block but I have not experienced that.

Since I use COW regularly in my .303's I decided to see if that is true since I have found no problems to date. So a couple of years ago I loaded up some rounds as usual then took 5 out and put them in an open Zip-Loc bag outside under a tree. They stayed there for 10 months from fall through winter and into summer exposed to whatever weather we got though protected from direct rainfall.

Our weather ranges from about 35 degrees C (95F) in summer to -15 degrees C (5F) in winter in an average year. We get cool dry early fall, wet cold late fall, normally at least 1' of snow on the back lawn and often 2' to 3', wet cool springs. So, these cartridges got the worst of what weather and humidity nature serves us.

After the 10 months (I was going to wait a year but our summers are hot and dry) I pulled a couple of boolits from both the rounds that spent the winter outside and some that were in the basement to check on that COW.

Yes, it was packed pretty tight but not solid in either set of rounds and I could not tell the difference between those from outside and those stored normally. The COW broke up fairly easily in both cases and when taken to the range and shot there was no noticeable difference in performance or accuracy.

Yes, just one test and only a few rounds so not totally conclusive but it is good enough for me.

I have to think that a lubed boolit in a cartridge with some neck tension is a pretty good seal. Regardless I did not see any swollen COW, solid cakes or any other problems and they shot just fine.

Would a plastic buffer work as well or better? Probably. Does COW cake up and cause problems? Not in my experience.

I agree with Kansas Ed on COW and cornmeal protecting the boolit base and helping seal with the nod going to COW. I shoot mostly PB boolits at moderate velocity in my .303's with COW and they shoot well enough and produce similar accuracy to GC rounds loaded to similar velocity without filler.

Not going to claim COW is the best thing since sliced bread or that it gives me benchrest accuracy from my milsurps, just that it works for me and solved some leading and accuracy problems without using gas checks.

I would certainly think twice about using a granular filler in an overbore cartridge like 7mm Mag., .264 Win or maybe even .243... any cartridge with large body, small neck and steep shoulder angle. However, in a cartridge like .303 with relatively small low angle shoulder I have no concerns.

As a note, Surplusrifles.com had an article on using shotgun buffer under cast boolits in .308 and how it helped ~ "Cast Bullets How Filler Improves the Breed". We also have en extensive thread on this site re 6.5x55 with shotgun buffer filler which is good reading.

Also, all loads I shoot have been worked up with filler included. I certainly won't argue that granular filler increases pressure, it most certainly does. However, as long as that pressure is within normal operating limits, who cares? Just don't go tossing filler into an already established high pressure load... that could result in an unpleasant experience. No different than overcharging.

Oh, and another benefit of using a filler like COW or shotgun buffer ~ cartridges are always loaded to 100% loading density and cannot be double charged, at least ending with COW part way up the neck.

I have been told that Dacron will also protect the base of the boolit much like COW does. One day I will get around to testing that. I will also be interested in the results Kansas Ed gets when he tests it too so please post results Ed.

FWIW
Longbow