Good Results with Wax Wads
Himmm....
No one seems to have much good to say about using wax instead of checks. I however did have and continue to have a good experience.
I started shooting wax wads in my Ruger Old Army cap n ball revolver to supposedly keep the fouling soft and prevent gang fire. Much to my surprise the accuracy shooting conical ball increased.
So I tried in my 45-70 and thought it did not help much but did not hurt either although the rifle was easier to clean.
Then I moved up to .458 Winchester Mag to get the longer case and have a bolt action rifle. In load development I tried the wax wads (dental wax sheets, medium) because i was shooting both Paper Patch and cast GC, but un-checked, un-lubed bullets at faster than the 45-70. Faster as in 1800 to 2400FPS loads. The wax did not make much difference UNTIL I started stacking wads. I found that inserting a PE (polyethylene, cut with a punch from a milk jug) wad into the case mouth, THEN a wax wad till it was just below the opening, and then seating the bullet (which pushed the wads down but not TOO far. The wads MUST be touching the bullet or chamber ringing could occur, no air gap between wad and bullet base). Follow the rules for using fillers in load development
Accuracy was acceptable (less than 1 1/2" at 100yds) and cleaning was easy. NO leading with un-checked / un-lubed bullets.
So it works in a straight case but I suspect it would require very precise depth control in bottleneck cases. And since a lot of bullets protrude into the case if it is set for the correct rifling contact it would not work at all there.
"Soft Gas Checks" from CFVentures
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DanM
I used the CFVentures sheets (that looked just like dental wax) in 44mag with the plain base 240TL Lee SWC. Worked well along with normal LLA aplication. This was several years ago. I do remember that it worked well....
The "Soft Gas Checks" sheet-wax is still available. Current price for a 5-lb.+ box of sheets is $50 ---PLUS postage (shipping normally recommended: Priority Mail Flat Rate).
A sample sheet and instructions can be had by sending a dollar to:
CFVentures
509 S Harvey Dr.
Bloomington
Indiana 47403-1715
---Oh yes, the Internet "handle:"
Paladin