Wads, cards, and lubes ( mercy, help old man out)

[canyon-ghost]

I am just getting into cap and ball shooting. Don't have any experience except with smokeless. Where do all the custom made felt wads come from? I understand using a punch but, where does a guy come up with felt? Do you need extra thick felt? What is involved in making lube or is it easier to purchase? Same questions for card wads. I find that I don't know much yet. Can you educate me?

Ron

[Nobade]

You want this:
http://durofelt.com/image_84.html

Looks like they are having a closeout on it so I'd get some pretty quick.

Folks use lots of different lube recipes, probably the easiest is beeswax/tallow. Or in our modern world, beeswax/Crisco with maybe a little olive oil added. Melt the lube, let the wads swim in it for a bit, and squeeze them out well. You don't want an excess of lube on them or they contaminate the powder.

Hope that gets you started.

[canyon-ghost]

Thank you, sir!

[stubshaft]

Buy some felt from Durofelt 1/8" is perfect. For lube you can make your own using 50% Beeswax and add in Crisco or Olive oil, heat on low to mix. Depending on where you live you may adjust the formula by adding more beeswax for a stiffer lube or less for a stickier lube. I generally prefer to use "Old Trappers MCM Lube" from these guys http://northeasttradeco.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_23&products_id=53&osCsid=wqctvpacof. A lot of the NSSA skirmishers use it and it works GREAT when I shoot minies. It gives me the best accuracy and easiest clean-up when shooting my C&B revolvers.

I usually line a cookie sheet with foil, lay the felt in the pan, heat up the lube until it is liquid and pour it on the felt sheet (you can punch out discs of felt beforehand and drop them in the melted lube, but that makes a mess). I put the whole shebang in the oven at about 300 deg. and let it sit for about 10 minutes. This allows the lube to fully penetrate the felt, then using an old credit card or spatula I try to squeegie the melted lube into the felt making sure there are no dry spots. Pull it out of the oven and let it harden overnight making sure to save any excess lube and punch them out in the morning.

[canyon-ghost]

Thank you, sir! Information greatly appreciated.

[BLAHUT]

I USE CORK 1/8" OR 1/4" FROM AUTOMOTIVE PARTS STORE WADS MILK CARTON BUY PUNCH AT BLACK POWDER GUN SUPPLY OR HARBORFREIGHT DEPENDING ON SIZE LUB I USE BEES WAX ( TOLET BOLE WAX RING ) PARIFIN ( CANDLE WAX ) BARRING GREASE NOT WATERPUMP GREASE. I USE A PLASTIC CUT WAD FROM COFFIE CAN COVER, PAPER OVER POWDER, PLASTIC WAD, CORK WAD> I LUBE MY BULLETS NOT THE WADS.
POWDER I USE BLACKHORN209 42grs. I SHOOT A 45/70 WITH 500 gr BULLET FOR LONG RANGE PURE LEAD AT 1200fps OR A TAD LESS VERY ACCURATE 8/10 X RING AT 1000yds IF I DO MY PART..

[Mr Peabody]

Hobby Lobby sells a good felt. I like lambs tallow and olive oil

[canyon-ghost]

Lots of good info. Thank you sir.

[dave951]

Since you're getting into cap and ball and asking about wads, I take it you're going to be shooting handguns. Handguns use a #10 percussion cap and yes, they are different from #11s. The dreaded "chain fire" is not from a lack of lube on the front of the cylinder, but from a poorly fitting cap. Watch a slow motion of a cap n ball revolver firing and the amount of fire swirling around is an eye opener.

Loading- you want the ball to be in the cylinder just far enough for it to turn regardless of the powder charge. Put the powder charge in, add filler like Cream of Wheat to make up the difference, seat the ball on the filler. Many times you will not need wads, but some revolvers get best accuracy with them.

[toot]

I have used the leather from a worn out no longer used leather belt. any one else done that? just courious?

[Good Cheer]

And pressed paper egg cartons can work well also depending upon your load, your piece.

[canyon-ghost]

And pressed paper egg cartons can work well also depending upon your load, your piece.

Thank you, that's worth knowing!
Ron

[freakonaleash]

I don't use any of that stuff. I dump in the powder and load a ball on top of it followed by a smear of crisco or wonderlube. You can shoot all day with that combo, never seizes up.

[Hellgate]

Go to Track of the Wolf and buy a bag or two of their 1/2" thick .450 (for 44s) or .375-.380 (for 36s) fiber filler wads. They're 500 per bag. Melt beeswax and an equal part either lard or olive oil. Pour the wads into the blended BW/lard or BE/OO and let the wads soak it up. Keep adding wads til are all evenly saturated but not swimming in it. I do theis over a low heat on the kitchen stove when the wife is out of the house. Cool on aluminum foil and later split the wads into two or 3 thinner wads. Now you have a 1000-1500 wads for about 1/3 what you would pay for wonder Wads.

[charlie b]

For my rifle I use the veggie card and lubed felt wads from Buffalo Arms Co. Cheap, no mess. I bought a bag of each 4 years ago and still only half gone.

I never used wads in my revolver. No lube either. Powder, ball, prime, shoot. Rem style pistol. After three reloads a bit of oil to the cylinder pin and keep going.

[canyon-ghost]

Thank you gentlemen for your help. I have orders in with Durofelt, Track of the Wolf, and Midway. Now, if I can just find #10 caps, I'll have it well on its way to shooting. I appreciate all the input and info, you've been absolutely gracious!
Ron

[Hellgate]

You will want REMINGTON #10 caps. RWS and CCI #10s are way too small. The CCI #11 and RWS 1075 come close to the Rem #10 and may fit. Of my 16 revolvers ALL will take Rem #10s. About 1/3 will accept RWS #1075 and another 1/3 will accept the CCI #11s but need substantial pushing with a seating stick (short 1/4 to 3/8" dowel).

[Nobade]

Go to Track of the Wolf and buy a bag or two of their 1/2" thick .450 (for 44s) or .375-.380 (for 36s) fiber filler wads. They're 500 per bag. Melt beeswax and an equal part either lard or olive oil. Pour the wads into the blended BW/lard or BE/OO and let the wads soak it up. Keep adding wads til are all evenly saturated but not swimming in it. I do theis over a low heat on the kitchen stove when the wife is out of the house. Cool on aluminum foil and later split the wads into two or 3 thinner wads. Now you have a 1000-1500 wads for about 1/3 what you would pay for wonder Wads.

Seems like a 1/2 inch wad in a revolver would lead to a very light powder charge. Is that the point or do you cut them up? Oh, never mind - I just re-read what you said. Guess I need more coffee or something.

[BLAHUT]

Cap and ball pistol, don't over think it>> powder, card wad, bullet, lub, primer, shoot>>
the gun will tell you what it likes for accuracy??
Just time and fun ??? A new learning experience

[Jackrabbit1957]

I have heard of but haven't tried this, take a paper towel and lay it in a foil lined cookie sheet, pour heated beeswax and tallow mixture over it just enough to cover the paper towel. Let it set up then punch out the wads. They are thin but supposedly work well. Another thing is the pistol itself, is it an open top Colt or Remington? I ask on account of the out of the box issues that are common to the Colts, especially the Uberti ones. These have a problem with the cylinder pin not bedding in the barrel lug properly. This leads to accuracy problems and the gun will eventually suffer some damage. This is particularly true of the big horse pistols such as the Dragoon series and the Walker. If you want more information you can PM me.

[canyon-ghost]

It came in, Midway sent it quick enough. It's an 1851 Colt made by Pietta, color case hardened steel frame. I like the looks of it. Degreased and cleaned it up, lots of black machine shop residue in the bore. No problem. The oil wasn't too hard to get rid of , either. Still waiting on other supplies to get here. Can't wait to get my hands on caps for this. The action isn't bad at all, as smooth as my Rugers! I think I'll enjoy this.

Again, thank you everyone for your help and advice!
Ron

[Jackrabbit1957]

Here's some thing to check, remove the wedge, separate the barrel and frame, see it wedge has free play in both slots, should be around an eighth of an inch in both.

[warren5421]

If you want an easy start use OxYok wads https://rmcoxyoke.com/product/ox-yoke-originals-wonder-wads-pretreated/

https://www.buffaloarms.com/reloading-supplies-accessories/wads.html

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/category/category_id/333/name/Patches%2C+Wads%2C+Lubes+%26+Speed+Loaders?view_al l

[LabGuy]

I know it doesn’t answer your question, but I charge with black powder, top off with enough Cream of Wheat so that the ball seats, the use a 50/50 bees wax/lard as lube over the ball.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

If you really want to learn how to load a cap and ball revolver watch this.
https://youtu.be/5vLzSw3XXi0

Felt wads are useless.

You need hard vegetable cards. Check Track of The Wolf, Dixi Gunworks or many other sites.

Repeatable compression is key. Watch these guys shoot. Look at their groups. These guys build the best mot accurate C&B revolvers you can buy.