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Now I needed some overshot cards for some light loads I was making for some yard pests and didn’t need a full load. No one had them local and wasn’t paying 10 bucks for shipping. Grabbed a few things I had in the shop and made my own punch for cards, now I have an endless supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYBkRYFrI8
I punch the center out of the plastic caps that come on top of the drinking water bottles. Gp
Now there's a good idea! I use a 3/4" gasket punch for full bore and made a punch for 16 ga. wads (0.672" wad size) for use under balls and slugs in shotcups. The only plastic I had was a kids snow slider and while tough it is pretty thin. Bottle caps are thicker and stiffer. Hadn't thought of that.
But yes, a little innovation and a bit of work and there's lots you can make yourself.
I like to see these ideas posted. A guy can always learn something new or even just to see what someone else is doing can cause that light to turn on!
Longbow
I had got years ago the Snap on gasket punch set and all the cutters that is there I use for all my shotgun over powder and shot cards for 10,12,20,410 and also for for use in shotshells for 44mags and 357/38spl and 327/32 H&R mag. ,I use cracker box cardboard for it all. For Shotshells I use 2 cards over the powder and one over the shot.
You might also consider the poly-waxed cardboard from milk or juice cartons for your wads. We used those as over powder wads for rifle cases used for breech seated rounds in Schuetzen.
For my 20 gauge, I was fortunate enough to pick up a NOS Ideal 20 gauge wad punch somebody won in a junk box in an auction and let me have cheap. I'm hoping to also use it for wads for my 64 cal smoothbore Maynard.
Froggie
Been punching over shot cards since I bought my first muzzleloading shotgun back in the late 70's. They also work in 2 1/2" shotshells. Plastic hulls cut back if you have a roll crimper and in brass hulls under waterglass. Back then, not knowing Alcan was still selling wads and cards, that was the only way we had to shoot the old guns.
You can also use paraffin and melt it and put your cardboard in it and wax it that way and then just cut you cards or do it after you have cut your cards and save the wax use. My dad taught me that when he was teaching me taxidermy and use wax cardboard for when you mount fish to hold the fins open and to dry out. You pin them on to the wax cardboard. It is the old way of taxidermy he taught me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Frog
Punched more than a few gaskets. The hot tip is to use the end of a 2x4 or 4x4 as your backup. The punch penetrates the end grain of the wood cleanly whereas cross grain just tries to push it out of the way.
You get cleaner cuts punching into end grain.
Just a thought for you Wad Makers.
Randy
Hi Randy! Trust a machinist to know that little trick! One of my long-time mentors had a thin slab of machinable nylon he used under his punch... that worked great too. He even had a caliber specific punch set up on a small arbor press so he could punch out the thousands of 32 cal rifle wads we used for Schuetzen. That setup had a tube on top so the wads fed into a small bottle,allowing you to watch how many were accumulating. We punched cork auto gasket material as well as the waxed cardboard wads (from OJ cartons.) He made me punch down just enough to get a clean cut but not tear up his nylon pad. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan
Back to the end grain of wood, I rescued a big cherry log cut to long fireplace length... it sits next to the bench and does duty as a “soft anvil” and when I need to punch like Randy mentions. Amazing how often it becomes useful! ;)
Froggie
My favorite is white plastic milk jug. And I have a chunk of 4x4 which I stand on end for punching. Weatherproof, stiff enough to hold a load in place, seals well enough to keep buffer in place and no leaking.
Cut the jug apart with scissors on the corners and work the flats. You can get a lot of cards from a single gallon jug.
Go to a craft store and buy a circular punch made for card stock. Some are as low as $3-4. They probably aren't good for years of production runs, but are probably good for at least a few hundred. I use cereal boxes or cardboard of that weight for over powder cards in my muzzle loaders. Your dimensions aren't as critical. I haven't found one exactly 0.5" at a decent price so I still use my sharpened pipe to punch out cards.
https://images2.imgbox.com/ab/34/BOgCC4Gz_o.jpg
You can get two different sizes of wads, from a piece of pipe. You sharpen the inside for one size, sharpen the outside for another size.
Purely by accident I discovered what for me is the best backing for punching wads. We built our deck from Timber-Tek, (I think that's the right name). Consequently we had left over ends and butts just as if it was built of wood. I couldn't find my piece of industrial belting I had used for years and got to examining a piece of the deck material. Seemed little hard to me but figured I didn't have anything to lose so I "gave it a whack" with my punch and a florist box. Doggone stuff works great and didn't dull the punch at all, which I thought it would do. Been using it ever since and have yet to sharpen a punch. What we used has one side in wood grain and the back side is smooth.
Great idea, explained well. Thank you.