Natural Fiber felt for BP wads

[TCLouis]

I decided to make some wads for the conicals the the other day and all went well as long as I punched them out.
When I decided to try cutting them out using the punch in a drill press the friction melted the felt.

I never thought about that. Sure as heck the label says polyester felt. I am assuming a melted plastic gooey mess in the barrel with that felt material, lube or not

Other that old hats (too valuable to cut up) is there a good source of real natural fiber felt?

[curator]

TCLouis,

Do a search on this site for "Durofelt"--Not sure about actual spelling but they have hard wool felt in various forms. They will deal with small orders.

[stubshaft]

I just received some "hard 1/8" felt" from Duro felt to make wads for my .58's. Initially the cost may seem a little steep, but, it includes the shipping.

[johnson1942]

60 thousands thick veg fiber or poly wads are the best. however i use 120 thousands thick cork rubber mix material to make my pistol wads. the cork rubber mix material i get in sheets from a good auto store as it is a gasket material. i think felt is fair but not like the above material.

[country gent]

Check the fabric stores and craft stores they may have wool felt by the yard

[bedbugbilly]

I make my wads out of leather. I do leatherwork so have scraps - approx 1/8" thick works well. I use a .375 (3/8") punch to punch them out. I then melt some BP lube in a tupperware bowl in the microwave - toss them in and let them soak in the hot liquid lube - take them out and pat the dry between layers of paper towel. They swell slightly with the lube since they are a "natural" material. Then put 'em in an Altoid tin or empty musket cap tin to carry. Been using them for years now in my .36 Navies. The same can be done for .44 with the right sized punch. If you can't find leather scraps, you can order a piece from Tandy leather or even find some old leather work boots, etc. and cut them up.

A lot of folks order from Duro Felt. Might be a little pricey but just remember that you can get a lot of wads out of a piece. Call me "frugal" or call me "cheap" . . . but I refuse to purchase something that I can easily make and once I tried a batch of the lube soaked leather wads I punch out, I'll never go back to a felt wad for the C & B revolver.

[54bore]

I just made up a BUNCH of Vegetable fibre Wads .60 Thou for my .45 and .50 Cal Rifles, these Cornell press mounted wad punches make this EASY and FAST!

192876 192877 192878

[dondiego]

Where can you find the press mounted punches?

[54bore]

Where can you find the press mounted punches?

I got mine from Buffalo Arms, they are kinda spendy but WELL worth it if you shoot alot, buying Oxyoke wool felt wads was getting spendy at the amount i shoot. These press mounted punches are very high quality, very much worth the purchase to me

[Idz]

For my 44 cal BP pistols I made my own press mounted punch and use the 1/8" Durofelt from www.durofelt.com. I lube the wads with a bit of the Gatofeo BP lube

[TCLouis]

Once again as one might come to expect with this site . . .

Ask and get answers.

THANX to one and all!

Everything I have found in the stores so far is polyester felt.

[johnson1942]

ive got 3 of the press mounted wad punch setups and plan to get a 4/th for my 44/40. once you have them, it is a life time of easy wad making. for my cowboy revolvers lately ive been useing 120 thousands thick cork rubber mixed in a sheet from the auto parts store. they come perfect out of my cutter and really seal the bore and stand up to the pressure of ignition.