Wad Cutting to roundball equator Pros and cons

[49FMarlin]

Looking for opinions of cutting my Windjammer wads to the equator of my .690 roundball
pros and cons

[725]

Never know until you try. I use 20 ga. cork under mine.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

John, you have got 5 separate post on the same .690 RB, why flood the posts when they all belong together in one post.

Regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[longbow]

While it seems a popular method of dealing with oversize RB's/thick petals, it hasn't worked well for me. Mind you, I didn't play very much.

You may have to try a little long to a little short to compare accuracy. The goal is to keep the RB centered so if you cut too low then the ball can move around. If cut too high the ends of the petals may be pinched or pushed back.

Also, don't forget that the ball will "settle" or set back at ignition and any wads under will compress some.

Ajay has listed some BPI brush wads that apparently work well and there are (or were) donut wads available that should keep any diameter ball centered... or you can make your own donut wads. You probably want to use what you have so cutting petals is your solution there. I think cutting so that the tips of the petals push on the ball when put in the bore is about right. The ball will set back some making the fit tighter. cut petals plus a donut wad would be even better.

As 725 said... you won't know until you try.

Longbow

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Longbow, If enough shooters will demand then we could ask some manufacturer to make a punch for Donut wad one for each 12 and 20 ga, perhaps even 16 ga would be nice ! !
Regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[49FMarlin]

Ive asked separate questions to get separate awnsers, on different parts of the .690
ive read all i can find here including alot of what you have written,
Im sorry if ive done my questions the wrong way,
as the windjammer fits through my cimerron 12Ga SXS with no problem ive yet to find any of your listed wad in your vid to work in my
ithica 37, although if i do cut the wad at the equator it does go through,
,
BUT
ive done blown a 20Ga.SXS barrel up and just missed taking my scalp off as a chunk of barrel flew by my noggin,and imbedded into my house, from my own stupidity,
that sxs is now a 20 inch, and the cut barrel with the blown-peeled back tube is resting on my loading bench as a reminder
I lived and learned,
so
I ask alot of stupid questions, so I might load correctly,and safely and not blow another shotgun up or me,
cutting a wad to the equator is something new to me, so im wanting to learn the good,bad,and ugly before i load and fire a round that might or not maim me

sorry if im asking in the wrong way,
the question was about cutting wads down, and yes for the .690, but mainly the wads and effects of the cutting down and good or bad and dangers of doing it if any

cheers
john

[megasupermagnum]

All of us have had problems getting a perfect bullet to wad to barrel fit. Sometimes even a perfect fit fails miserably. If you cut the wads such that they no longer overlap the ball's equator, you will destroy any chance of accuracy. Many of us have found that a .690" ball is too tight of a fit in many shotguns with any wad.

[longbow]

As mentioned, some people seem to have success when cutting wad petals to the ball's equator but I am not one. So far I have been a complete failure at getting 0.690" RB's to shoot accurately. I have tried:

- cutting petals
- naked on hard card wads
- in shotcups
- paper patched

I have not tried cloth patching which I have read can work or donut wads which I am sure will work reasonably well.

My solution was to use 0.735" RB's naked on a hard card wad column or RB's that fit (more or less) into shotcups. Both solutions worked well enough I didn't pursue the 0.690" RB's. I found that they were too big for almost all wads I could get my hands on at the time except for one or maybe two brands. When loaded into tight fitting wads accuracy was poor and recovered wads had sheared petals. No surprise!

However, even when I tried them in wads that did fit I got sheared petals and poor accuracy. Possibly the wad material was a bit soft?

BPI has load listings for 0.690" RB's in wads so I have to think some wads will work. Also 725 who responded above has a load using a 0.702" RB in shotcup and it works well in rifled gun. IIRC he uses soft lead for the RB's which may make the difference. That has to be one tight fit!

Nothing wrong with trying cutting your wad petals down. I'd go to just where the wad petals are squeezing the RB in the bore so a hair below the equator. I'd also recommend using a nitro card wad or two in the bottom of the shotcup and adding a small scoop of COW under the ball to help keep it centered and to help support the petals and base of the shotcup.

Another suggestion one of the posters here came up with is to use gas seals off range pick up shotcups inverted under the RB. Some gas seals apparently are deep enough and concave so the 0.690" RB sits nicely in them. Of course you then have to cut the petals completely off your wads.

Also having blown up a shotgun and luckily escaping serious injury I also like to be careful and ask questions when I am not sure about something! You are not alone!

Longbow