wads for 20 gauge magtech brass shells

[GoodOlBoy]

I have been looking around and everybody seems to be out of one or more of the wads for 20 gauge magtech brass shells for black powder. According to manufacturer suggested wads it should be a circle fly 18 gauge .125" overpower card, with a circle fly 18 gauge .500" fiber cushion wad, and a circle fly 17 gauge .025" overshot card.

No one source (track of the wolf, brownells, midwayusa, buffallo arms) has all three in stock, and many only have one of the three in stock. Since I don't want to pay shipping three times, and I don't want to wait from 90 days to "unknown" to get them in which of these wads can I make at home using substitute material?

I was thinking about perhaps cutout soda boxes for the overshot cards, and maybe cut cardboard for over powder? would this work? Over powder in particular I was wondering about. At least two of the above sources have the fiber cushion wads in stock for next to nothing so buying 1000 of them (a half of a lifetime supply in a single shot squirrel gun I would think) shouldn't be an issue.

Any advice, help, and warnings are appreciated.

thanks

GoodOlBoy

[minmax]

I hope somebody responds. I like to know the answer too. My mentor
used a hollow punch to make wads for 45 Colt loads.

[minmax]

Oh, by the way I was thinking of getting a stainless Stoger double barrel in 20ga and feed it black powder brass shells.

[GoodOlBoy]

I gotta say minmax the brass magtech shells, even though some folks hate 'em, just feel right. and you CAN convert them to 209 primers, but I already have more than enough LPP to last me for years of squirrel hunting so why convert and invest in something I don't have to?

Always liked stoeger side by sides. Never could afford one when I found it, never could find one when I could afford it :p

GoodOlBoy

[minmax]

That is the truth!!! I'm so broke, I can't even pay attention.
Yes and I like the Jim Taylor article you tagged.

[William Yanda]

why not buy direct from Circlefly? I googled that and found their website. There is an order form.
Bill

[GoodOlBoy]

Honestly I didn't know you could order directly from them. Still curious about the cardboard, etc. Anything to save a couple of bucks.

Thanks for that, I didn't know to go to the welcome screen before you get the rest of the menu on their website.

minmax Jim Taylor, and Mike Venturino both have alot of great articles!

GoodOlBoy

[bigbore52]

For a supplier of felt to make my own wads, I use this company to purchase from with their details:

Hardy & Hanson Ltd
Summit Works
Longlands Road
Dewsbury
West Yorkshire
WF13 4AB....
Telephone 01924 462353
Fax 01924 457883

web site: http://www.hardy-hanson.co.uk/felt_strips.htm (not sure if the copy and pasted link will work here but if it doesn't then easy enough to find)

They still make the same traditional felt of that used by the British forces pre WW1 as well as the early shot gun wads in I believe, the same town (possibly the same factory?) that started the trade hundred odd years back.

I found them quite competitive with price and shipping and the quality is superb - they sell different felts by thickness and size so you can order what you want ie density and thickness and then cut your own with the appropriate punch which you can either make or get off fleabay for only a few dollars, my order to Oz takes on average 7 days to arrive, not sure how long for the other side of the planet. :)

As an aside, I order their 1' sq sheets in various densities for those calibers I shoot and depending on the size of wad you are cutting, can get up to 400 wads per sheet. Works out far cheaper for me than purchasing in bulk from various suppliers here but more so, this is the original stuff the cases were often designed with.

Have a look at their site and worth dropping them an email and asking the questions as I did - found them extremely helpful and easy do business with.

Hope that helps..

[Knarley]

I would give Ballistic Products a shot, they ARE shotgun stuff..........Ballisticproducts.com

[GhostHawk]

I'm not working with brass 20 ga, but I am reloading brass .410.

I did buy some nitro cards, plastic shot wads, and some card overshot wads.

Then I got my punch's from Harbor Freight and I have been mostly making my own.
Thus far mostly shooting slugs so I have not played a lot with the shot wads.

What I have been doing is cutting my own card wads from pop cases. Lots of fairly thin, brightly colored cardboard there if you cut down the 4 corners. I've also found some various thickness's of plastic foam trays (take out food, to go boxes,) and meat packaging trays. Steaks come on a much thicker tray, almost 1/4, foam, with a lot of cushion.

The Wax coated 2 quart milk cartons are another good material I think. A couple of those seem to be as stiff as a nitro card.

Last I have some clear plastic fairly rigid plastic that I saved for overshot cards so I could see the shot size.

The .410's are easy IMO, between the hollow punch's and a couple of .44 mag empty brass with sharpened edges.
It is not hard to put the materials together for a box of shells.

But, like anything in shotshell reloading, if you don't follow the recipe, you can not be 100% sure of the results.
So start with safe loads, not max loads of either powder or shot. Try something, see how it works. Then try the next.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Although you don't say so, I think this thread reflects the fact that brass cases have a larger internal diameter, and wads intended for paper or even plastic may not fit well enough to stop the gases getting around them.

A wad punch is probably the right answer. But many of these aren't all that accurately sized, and they are often quite thick behind the cutting edge. Most users are more interested in the size of the hole they leave, and the makers know they will be used on thick, hard leather and even metal. Good felt is expensive, and you can waste quite a lot, cumulatively, by positioning each wad to avoid a V-shaped holes with compressed edges, from those which went before.

I'd be more inclined to make my own, with a thin edge and the hole running all the way up to the top. I'd widen out the hole after the first half-inch or so, so that you can keep hammering away till the punch is full of wads, and then tip them out.

The best card to go behind the wad is the sort that is sold in large sheets for making the surrounding mats for framed pictures. It is white with a coloured face, so that it shows a white bevel when cut with a special cutter. I've framed quite a few large prints, and have a few of the centres I removed. You can roll the edges of the felt wads in melted lube when you use this card, since around the edges is then the only place there is any danger of gas leakage. I positively dislike soaking then entire wad in anything, for it is incompressible, and can increase pressure by added friction on the bore. Cork does just the opposite, by compressing lengthwise without widening to seal the bore.

If you want a wad between felt and shot, thinner and free card should be fine. The overshot wad, however, needs to be of something that will break up, so as not to produce a doughnut pattern, and yet won't let the shot spill out under recoil in a double or tube magazine gun. I've got some thin reconstituted cork sheet intended for bulletin boards, and a bit too thin and brittle for that purpose, which might be fine. I'd seal them in place with wax, and although other heat sources should be safe, I would do it by standing them under a 750 watt infra-red bulb.