Plastic Wads in 12 Gauge ML

[Rich/WIS]

Recently acquired a nice 12 bore caplock from a member here and was wondering about using plastic wadss. Have a pile of wads from when I reloaded for skeet shooting. Has anyone done this. Any experience or advice would be appreciated. Bore is full 12 gauge and is cylinder bore.

[Adam Helmer]

Rich,

I have a single barrel 12 gauge that fits on my T/C Renegade .54 caplock. I have been using 12 gauge plastic wads for years with great results. Sam Fadala in his muzzleloader book recommends plastic wads. I use 75 grains of 2F Goex or 75 grains of RS Pyro and an ounce of shot in my 12 gauge. For a top wad, I use a felt was about 1/4 inch thick.

I hope this helps.

Adam

[Rich/WIS]

Forgot I had a copy of his book so read the shotgun chapter again. Only issue is not sure if I should load the the plastic wad directly over the powder or an overpowder wad and then the plastic wad.

[Adam Helmer]

Rich,

I understand. Why not try BOTH options? I would go for whatever works for you. I do not use an over powder wad below the plastic wad.

I hope this helps.

Adam

[Golfswithwolves]

Mr. Rich/WIS- Some people have reported plastic fouling when shooting these wads, and say that an overpowder wad helps with this. But the plastic fouling is apparently not too hard to scrub out anyway. I suggest reading the work of Mr. V. Starr on loading and shooting muzzleloader shotguns, which you can find on this site. I myself load successfully using his methods.

[arcticap]

Most plastic wads are a smaller diameter than the bore in order to fit past a tight choke.
But some fit snug enough to load the shot into them while friction fit at the muzzle.

I've used highly compressed balls of newspaper as over the powder wadding, others use doubled over squares of heavier brown grocery bag paper.
If you have some kind of over-powder wads, I would use them to help seal the powder and contain any shot that spills out of or drops around the plastic wad inside the bore.
especially since I load extra shot.
I haven't noticed any melted plastic using Pyrodex along with wadding.

[toot]

wouldn't you have to use a wad of some kind over the shot cup to keep the shot from rolling / falling out the end of the barrel?? when used in a conventional modern shot gun the roll crimp or the 6 or 8 point star crimp holds the shot in the hull until firing.

[megasupermagnum]

wouldn't you have to use a wad of some kind over the shot cup to keep the shot from rolling / falling out the end of the barrel?? when used in a conventional modern shot gun the roll crimp or the 6 or 8 point star crimp holds the shot in the hull until firing.

Sure, but that's muzzleloader 101. Wadding, shot, then overshot. Plastic wads work just fine with blackpowder within reason. I wouldn't go out to shoot a few rounds of trap with them for the simple reason they don't carry lube (which is more about the powder fouling). For a dozen shots, plastic fouling is zero concern, and I've never seen plastic stuck in a bore after normal cleaning.

[northmn]

I used steel wads and tried steel shot in a muzzle loader with no problem. Different kind of plastic than most wads. Really don't know why one would need to use them. I was shooting a match and did not replenish my wads enough and ended up breaking clays using napkins from the concession stand. Many used to like old wasps nests for wadding. I guess some guys set a stubble field on fire while sharp tail hunting using non lubed wads. BP shotguns are lower pressure an tend to pattern well. VM Starr's method works well because in a shotgun with no choke the bottom wads can ram into the shot on exit and cause dough nut holes. He use minimal over powder was.

DEP

[waksupi]

Read the sticky on the Muzzleloading Shotgun,by V.M. Starr if you want the best and most economical way.