homemade wads?

[Desertbuck]

What readily available cheap materials make good wads for BP shotgun loads?

[DHurtig]

I bought a brass 12 gauge shell and sharpened the rim. I used it to cut wads out of cork gasket material.

[Reg]

Have made various wads in the past. For the over powder wads, you have to look around a bit but sometimes you can find heavy ( .100-.125 ) cardboard used for shipping appliances. Just wack them out with a regular wad cutter.
For cushion wads I made up cutters that look like regular wad cutters but have a 1/2" stem that will fit in a drill press and one side just slightly beyond half way is milled away. With the drill press running at a very low speed, I cut wads from 1/2" celotex ( some lumber yards still carry it.) then using a couple of coffee cans for kind of a double boiler, I quickly soak the wads in melted parrifine wax then dip them out and lay on old scraps of plywood till fully cool. The wax must be about as hot as it can get in the double boiler and only leave the wads in for a quick moment. You only want a very light film, no buildup.

[hubel458]

I priced felt packs to try to cut up for couple hundred wads, cost

50% more than a bag of 250 wads from BPI.. GOT a roll here of

cork gasket, figured out how many wads it would make, cheaper

to get them already made, and ready made they are thicker..Ed.

[CANUCK]

3-ring binder covers make good card wads.
Ditto for paint by number boards that the kids never seem to finish.:-)

[flashhole]

Nothing to add, just want to follow the thread.

[Desertbuck]

I priced felt packs to try to cut up for couple hundred wads, cost

50% more than a bag of 250 wads from BPI.. GOT a roll here of

cork gasket, figured out how many wads it would make, cheaper

to get them already made, and ready made they are thicker..Ed.

Problem is I cannot find any fiber felt wads in any of the reloading stores in my area. And when I ask for them thay usually look at me sideways.
I can't begin to tell you what kind of reaction I get from them when I tell them I'm loading black powder shells! Lol is it really that odd to load shotgun shells with black powder or any cartridge that was originally a black powder round to begin with?

Thanks for the ideas guys some of those materials you have mentioned never would have crossed my mind.

[hubel458]

I don't get seals, fiber wads, felt wads, wadcups, or cards locally either,
but from BPI. They ship fast.Ed

[johnny_xring]

DB,

Check out Circle Fly Wads, LLC (circlefly.com). They have a lot of stuff for BP loaders. BPI folks are my source for nitro cards. There is something to be said for being self sufficient or I guess we wouldn't be reloading.

JX

[jsizemore]

wine corks
felt of varying thicknesses from the fabric store
black board sheathing (celotex) or the untreated kind used for soundproofing
cardboard from cereal boxes

Most of this stuff I've scavenged for free.

I really like picking up wads for the gas seals.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I just finished cutting a couple hundred wads for my Ten Bore Paradox Double Rifle. I ended up checking a couple custom upholstery shops. One uses Jute, a sort of organic fiber padding for car seats.
It's a sort of brownish fiber. Guy charged me $23 for two square yards. I figure that's about 2500 wads. The rifle used a card over powder wad, one dry jute, and two soaked in bear grease under a 1.6oz round ball and 160gr of 2f or 140gr of 777. 1548fps. About 20fps more for the Hodgdon, and the cases come out clean.

IIRC, Carr & McMaster, or McMaster & Carr have all sorts of wool felt.

Rich

[Green Lizzard]

i cut wads from the white
foam food containers