grease wads

[lotech]

I bought a Cabine Tree grease wad extruder at least twelve to fifteen years ago for reasons that escape me now. It's seen minimal use but I intend to keep it and possibly experiment with it. Does anyone use grease wads these days with cast bullets?

I tried commercial grease wads a long time ago and, quite surprisingly as I recall, did see an accuracy improvement and a reduction in leading with plainbase bullets in .357 Magnum. I've learned a bit about leading prevention since then without the use of grease wads.

[DonMountain]

I recall reading about 50 or 60 years ago in Philip Sharpe's book, "Complete Guide To Handloading" that grease wads were popular in Schuetzen rifle match shooting with black powder in the 32-40's and similar calibers. So, you might read his book for recommendations popular in the early 1900's for reloading match rifles with lead projectiles.

[bedbugbilly]

Some folks use them in BP cartridges because you have to use a good BP lube to keep the BP fouling woft - but then a BP cartridge requires a compressed load. I would think a grease wad used in a smokeless cartridge would be a PIA - most have a lot of air space for the wad to fall down into the powder, etc. and if the grease gets warm, it's going to soak up the powder charge. Just my thoughts and maybe I'm missing something?

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes but I tumble lube my boolits in alox/paste wax and they work just fine and never had a leading problem in all the pistol cartridges I load nor lower velocity CF rifle cartridges. Most boolits have grease grooves intended for softer lube (or hard lube) that provide more than adequate lube for the lead boolit. Putting a grease cake in a smokeless cartridge just doesn't make any sense to me - a BP cartridge it does depending on the cartridge.

And since you are referring to "extruded" - I'm assuming that you are referring to a "grease cake' rather than a "greased wad" such as a lubed felt wad, etc.? I may be misunderstanding what you r referring to?

[lotech]

bedbug- You're probably right in a technical sense; however, I think it was advertised as a grease wad extruder. When I tried it years ago, I used LBT lube for extrusion. An adjustment on the tool allows for easy adjustment of the thickness of the "wad" or "cake".

[Thumbcocker]

Use them under round balls in cap and ball revolvers. Much more effective than putting grease on top of the ball.

[lotech]

I recall reading about 50 or 60 years ago in Philip Sharpe's book, "Complete Guide To Handloading" that grease wads were popular in Schuetzen rifle match shooting with black powder in the 32-40's and similar calibers. So, you might read his book for recommendations popular in the early 1900's for reloading match rifles with lead projectiles.

Don- I've had that book for many years but don't know whether I've ever read the section you're referring to.

In more recent times, Ken Waters mentioned somewhere in an article that grease wads or cookies were fairly popular in the '50s (maybe earlier). I believe Waters spoke of using them in a .220 Swift or something similar with full power jacketed bullet loads. Apparently they were like molycoating in that shooters finally decided the wads served less than a useful purpose.

[Wayne Smith]

The only current use I know of is with BP cartridge and boolits that have inadequate lube capacity.