Liner inside the hull

[HWooldridge]

For those of you who are loading fiber wads instead of conventional split-petal plastic, do you put any type of liner inside the hull to separate the shot from the barrel interior?

I have a supply of 16 lb patching paper for my 45-70 and was thinking that a strip cut to slide inside the shell might be a good solution to buying more expensive Mylar or Teflon sheets. Paper is also easy to lube if that step made it work better.

I shoot an old 12 ga Husqvarna double with "bare" buckshot loads; it patterns well but I see some lead streaking in the barrels afterwards and am attempting to develop a homegrown way to reduce or prevent the leading. I'm assuming the shot charge will bite into the paper and carry it down the bore ahead of the wad.

TIA, HW

[GhostHawk]

A lot of people use a rectangle of Mylar rolled into a tube, inserted into the hull then expanded. Adds very little weight but good protection to your barrel.

Mylar is everywhere now days. Save your chip bags, wash them out and dry them. I save even little bags and candy bar wrappers for fly tying.

[Harter66]

Pre cut per 1000 mylar is available from Balisitic products .

Bug with paper I think will be point load rather than full surface bearing like patched bullets .

I don't know how the wrap will fair with the chamber to forcing cone step . If the gun is chambered for brass or plastic and your using paper cases no problem. If you're using brass cases in one cut for paper it's just going wad the paper/mylar up on the step . (As a worst case it might be as little as 50% depending on wear and fouling .)

Long , long ago at the dawn of nylon sheets, think the plastic backer in bacon packages , my dad shot a bunch of that for wraps in stacked wad loads in M12 Winchesters .

Shoot cases as close to true chamber length as you can get them with a chamber step into the forcing cone smaller than case thickness and it should work ok .

[HWooldridge]

Ballistic Products lists Mylar @ $6.99 per 100 count - that's more expensive than I want to pay if an equivalent can be had for less money.

The forcing cones in my shotguns are all pretty long and gentle, and I load paper and plastic hulls (no brass) with both star and roll crimps.

I have plenty of paper so I'm going to give it a shot (pun intended). Can't see that it will cause any harm so it will be an interesting experiment.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I'm a bit lost and mystified here. Isn't that why plastic wads with shot cups were invented? And if you have to go really retro, then consider black powder shotguns where the powder is dumped down the bore followed by a measure of shot and sometimes a thin wad to hold it in. Before shot cups all barrels had streaks, and a little cleaning solved the problem. Other than the streaking, lead shot won't hurt the bore, and if you're using steel shot I wouldn't bet on Mylar protecting sufficiently to avoid damage. I'd go with the shot cup wads.

DG

[HWooldridge]

I'm a bit lost and mystified here. Isn't that why plastic wads with shot cups were invented? And if you have to go really retro, then consider black powder shotguns where the powder is dumped down the bore followed by a measure of shot and sometimes a thin wad to hold it in. Before shot cups all barrels had streaks, and a little cleaning solved the problem. Other than the streaking, lead shot won't hurt the bore, and if you're using steel shot I wouldn't bet on Mylar protecting sufficiently to avoid damage. I'd go with the shot cup wads.

DG

Thin wraps allow a bit more shot inside the hull - plastic wads hold fixed amounts. I'm building custom buckshot loads so that was the purpose of the original question.

The barrel leading does come off easily but the pellet(s) that left the streak is compromised. The final patterns may not be worth any extra effort - but I won't know until I try it. I don't shoot steel or anything other than lead shot.

In reality, this is just fiddling with minutiae - perfectly acceptable rounds can be built with modern components.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

O.K.--thanks, I'm up to speed now.

DG

[ulav8r]

If the paper winds up wanting to stay in the bore you might try making it long enough to fold over in front of the shot and gluing the fold over. I would only try that if your trials without the foldover does not work.

[crackers]

I cast and powder coat .311 balls to load 2x2 in a 20ga with clipped petal wads. One oily patch and it’s done. I do cry, now and then, over the few hulls I lose to smearing/tearing by the uncushioned balls on their way out.

[2152hq]

The old Winchester Mark5 shotshell from the 60's were loaded with a wrap of mylar or other plastic around the shot colume.
An early version of a plastic wad colume as it had a separate cupped plastic over powder wad as well.

That simple shot wrapper worked well in keeping the bore from leading.
I still remember shooting those and often the wrapper would flutter slowly back to earth in a paddle wheel motion.
Gum Wrappers the shooters often called them.

The factory loaded wrap was fairly stiff but thin matr'l.
Inside the hull it was formed/pushed out to the inner wall of the hull by the shot charge and crimp of the shell.
It held it's protective tube shape as it went down the bore, pushed forward by the over powder wad beneath it.
Once exiting the muzzle, the flex of the mat'l helped release itself from the shot colume.
The wrap was then back to a near flat piece in the air. That is when they did their tumbling act back to the ground.

[Squid Boy]

Years ago I was experimenting with black powder shot shells and wanted a container that would protect the shot without using any plastic. What I used were dime wrappers. They are the perfect size and pretty strong paper and already round. plus my bank will give them to me. I folded one end shut over a dowel and glued it with white glue. I dumped in the weight of shot I wanted to use and marked the height, then cut to length. Last, I cut slits in the sides to help open them up. Adjusting the number and depth of the slits changed how they patterned. They really improved a cylinder bored gun. Here is a picture of one:305576
For 12 gauge the dime wraps are perfect. Thanks, Squid Boy

[HWooldridge]

Thank you - these types of ideas are what I'm after. The stiff plastic wrap and the dime wrappers are both great solutions - and cheap is good...

[beemer]

The old Winchester Mark5 shotshell from the 60's were loaded with a wrap of mylar or other plastic around the shot colume.
An early version of a plastic wad colume as it had a separate cupped plastic over powder wad as well.

That simple shot wrapper worked well in keeping the bore from leading.
I still remember shooting those and often the wrapper would flutter slowly back to earth in a paddle wheel motion.
Gum Wrappers the shooters often called them.

The factory loaded wrap was fairly stiff but thin matr'l.
Inside the hull it was formed/pushed out to the inner wall of the hull by the shot charge and crimp of the shell.
It held it's protective tube shape as it went down the bore, pushed forward by the over powder wad beneath it.
Once exiting the muzzle, the flex of the mat'l helped release itself from the shot colume.
The wrap was then back to a near flat piece in the air. That is when they did their tumbling act back to the ground.

That is what I remember, Winchester had a wrap and Remington had came out with the Power Piston. I had a Springfield 20 ga. pump that had a very tight choke. The Winchester shot very tight even patterns but the Remington was scattered and uneven.

Thinking about it now I believe the Remington loads might have responded differently with suitable choke. If I find some similar material I might try it myself.