Botfly tail wad alternative

[tomme boy]

Going to try something different. Solid pvc tail wad. I turned them to 0.730"" x 0.75" long. Assembled with a #6x3/4" screw. I drilled the screw holes on the lathe to make sure they are centered.

Assembled weight is 570gr +- 2grs.

I am bored and can't get out to shoot. Going to make up. 50 or so for now to see if it works. Watching Bloodtrails and others videos there is always flyers. And when it does the wad looks like it is blown out and cockeyed causing an imbalance.

My next thing is to fill the brushwad with silicone to still have compression but to resist the wad getting blown out and cockeyed.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Me thinks you're onto something here. I never had good results from a smoothbore with anything but solid or at least non-compressible wads. The silicone idea is interesting, and should improve things if it can hold up to the pressure.

[longbow]

I'm with Cap'n Morgan on that. With maybe the exception of the Russian tailwads and the BPI brush wad that BT and others use screwed to the slug I have to think that a compressible tailwad has a heck of a job compressing then re-extending and not being out of shape after it has resisted 10,000 PSI! I find it hard to believe they can return to original straightness within a few thou after that.

A solid wad simply compresses a bit under the pressure then goes back to normal after. I use AQ slugs as an example of that and in my experience they are very accurate.

I am in the process of combining Cap'n Morgan's idea of a ball sabot with BigMrTong's Lee rocket fins for a screw on 3D printed rocket fin for 0.690" round balls. The first rocket fins out of the printer are a bit distorted so not sure if it is the printer or plastic shrinkage. My friend with the 3D printer used PLA. Once we get the distortion sorted out I'll get him to print a dozen or so for testing. Again, this will be a solid tailwad.

If this works I'll post the .stl file and also modify it for flat base slugs like the Botfly so you guys can try it if you want.

Since I am also working on similar designs to tomme boy I will be eagerly awaiting his range report!

Good luck tomme boy!

Longbow

[tomme boy]

I will say, this pvc is not fun to turn. Imagine the hair or string wrapped around the brush in a vacuum cleaner roller brush. If the speed gets too fast it then gets little balls of melted pvc all over the shaft. It was cheap so that was why I went with it. It this works or look like it will then i will get some delrin rods. They turn better from what I have seen.

[longbow]

I've been making forms for the hot melt glue tailwads I use out of 1/2" CPVC couplings. I run into the same issue... one long "chip"! It wraps around everything! I hand feed so stop often so the "chip" doesn't get too long.

I think most plastics are similar to machine.

That's one reason I am casting tailwads out of hot melt glue. Of course you can't make a bore diameter glue tailwad! That would muck up a bore quickly! I mostly use them for wad slugs but if paper patched they work for bore diameter slugs too. Quicker and easier than machining I think. For me and my manual old lathe anyway.

Looking forward to a range report on your Botflies with custom tailwad! I bet they shoot well.

Longbow

[Cap'n Morgan]

You could try a HSS parting tool for turning. Use a *sharp* tool grounded with a distinct "hook" to force the chip to curl, and mount it at a slight angle so that the right edge of the tool is closest to the part. Another trick is to grind a 45 degree corner on the left edge of a parting tool and run it as normal, perpendicular to the part. This will give you a nice, smooth finish - even with a high feed.

[tomme boy]

I drilled out 10 on the base to lighten the wad a little. I went in 0.47" and that dropped off 52grs. I can't remember the size of drill I used.

I will have to use 3" cases or shorten the wads. I loaded a few with 29gr longshot, win209, bp fs12, slug and wad. Roll crimped.

I also loaded 3 Brenneke KO hulls 29gr longshot 2 nitro cards wad and slug roll crimped. And same in win super x hulls. These are both 2.75" hulls.

I did not load any of the hollow base wad and slug combo yet. I want to try these first

[wonderwolf]

If someone was in the market for one of the svarog molds would you suggest going with the 4 petal one over the botfly? I'll be using brush wads from BPI for the wads at least to start with.

[tomme boy]

Check the weights of each and go from there.

[tomme boy]

Got out and shot some of these today. 2 loads did well. Both w e're shot t at 65yds. Just happened to be where I stopped when setting up. Iwanted75 but did not want to have to drive the rods holding the cardoard back into the frozen ground.

Top one was a 3.5" Federal hull cut to 3". 29gr Longshot for both. Second one is a3" Winchester super x Steal hull. Both were roll crimped. The n2 in The first group on the rright hada bad crimp. The hull tore at the original fold crimp.

The federal load was 1361fps avg. The Winchester was 1324fps.

The 2.75 loads were not good at all. They were hard to eject too. I will have touse a shorter wad instead of the solid column they had.

[Cap'n Morgan]

What was the velocity of the 2.75 loads? Reducing overall length with the same amount of powder could explain the hard ejection as pressure is guaranteed to spike.

[tomme boy]

Actually it was 1365fps. They were a weird extremely high brass hull. I think they are Rio hulls. They were a buckshot hull that was roll crimped originally. I found a couple hundred of them at a police range a while back.

[longbow]

Were those shot in rifled gun or smoothbore? If smoothbore that is looking very good for 65 yards?

Is the long hole to the right in the top pic a keyhole or two holes?

Longbow

[tomme boy]

Rifled 870. That is 2 holes. Those were the ones that the hull tore when I was roll crimping them. They both had a piece of plastic sticking up to a point. Boy you could smell the pvc burning when you shoot them. Barrel looks clean. I ran a brush and a mop through the barrel when I ot home and not much of anything came out.

I have that 4 pin roller coming this week. The BP one works but it is a fat square crimp. Will see if the hulls mouth will not get as tore up like is happening with the bp one.

I also. Shot a bunch of loads withe the Lee one oz i made a new base pin for. Wwas a total fail. All the wads were either gettingtorn off petals or the base wad seal was completely destryed. I used windjjammer wads. I had good luck with those in shot loads. The see are over 20 years old. The best loads i had before were witha federal 12s3 wad and 2 20ga cards under the slug. I only have about 100 left of those and the 12s4 wad. I have close to 1000 of the original 12r short wads butthey are really short. I guess a couple gas seals under the wad would work. According to one guy on leons Facebook page thinks a short brush wad only under the botfly slug then roll crimping it down so it has a 3/4" or more crimp is the way to go. He tried passing off a 1/2" 5 shot group at 100yds!!! Heck I will be happy if I can get consistent 3-4" groups.

Anyway, that is the Facebook for you.

[cwlongshot]

Good stuff Tommie!!!

CW

[longbow]

Well, that looks pretty good to me so far!

Good stuff indeed!

Longbow

[tomme boy]

My computer died a few weeks ago. I am using a tablet to post. It likes to change everything I type to something else. That is why the spelling is all messed up.