Lubing felt wads

[vica]

I used an old felt hat to make wads for use in a ROA. I'm thinking of lubing them. Has anyone done this? What is the best lube? What is the best way of doing it? Ive punched them out already .Hoping to end up with something like wonderwads but on the cheap. Every penny saved over here is a bonus, the way costs are going up.
Thanks for any help.

[Taylor]

bore butter,but can you get it there?another option might be crisco or the equivalent

[DIRT Farmer]

I use 50/50 crisco and bees wax for hunting loads. For target where they are used with higher volume shooting, stright cooking oil. The barrels will stay shootable all day.

[WildShot]

For shotgun and rifle wads that I punch from felt, I use a 1:5 Ballistol to water mix and soak the wads overnight. I then lay them out on a screen to dry. I have not done this with revolver wads but only because I haven’t needed the wads.

[357maximum]

I use alot of 1/8 High density felt wads from Durofelt and I simply punch them out with a chicong gasket punch. I do not do the BP revolver thing but in my rifles at full steam the harder the wad the better they shoot. In my full effort loads I use straight beeswax or straight deer tallow or a mix of the two on the wads and the wads come out like little yellow hockey pucks, but they work real well. I think the harder lubed and punched a bit oversized wads act like a gascheck of sorts. I have played with paraffin/tallow and parraffin/beeswax/tallow and got a real hard wad that works really well but they are a bit of a challenge to start as I make all my wads 1 diameter size larger than normal. I use 9/16 in the .50 cal as an example....not sure how this would transfer to the revolver but it did transfer over into my 32 and .50 underhammer pistols with astounding success.

When I pick the wads up off the range they always look like pryoff beer bottle caps and the cup is towards the powder and I think that is why I gain so much consistency with them and the reason why I call them felt gaschecks. I feel the felt performs the same functions our little copper disks do in our smokeless guns.

[405]

Can't disagree with anything so far.

May depend on type of shooting- either for the range or for hunting. Also, temperature may dictate type of lube for sitting on top of powder for a day or so.

For range/target shooting I put a drop or two of Ballistol/water mix directly on the felt wad during loading. For hunting where the charge may sit for a day, I use something like bore butter or mixture of beeswax/vegetable oil (crisco).

Can't put my finger on it but I seem to get better blackpowder ML accuracy when using a felt wad under both the flat based conical and the patched roundball.

[Hellgate]

I make my own felt lube wads by punching them out on a drill press at low speed over a block of wood. I use the 7/16 for the 44 cal wads and the 3/8" for the 36 cal wads. You can use any lube you want for the revolver wads as long as it isn't dripping wet. I've used straight deer tallow (gets a little stale after a year), beeswax & olive oil @ a 50/50 mix or 1:3 BW/OO for a softer mix. They all work. I just wouldn't leave the gun loaded for a long time as the lube could leach into the powder. I buy the automotive felt from a felt manufacturer. I like the firmer F-1 wool felt but softer types like F-5 can work. You can get it in various thicknesses but 1/8" works the best but I've use 3/16" as well.

[Nobade]

Check out these guys : http://www.durofelt.com/ They have 1/8" hard felt sheets specifically mentioned for shooters, as well as just about any other felt you could want.

[Captain*Kirk]

I would try melting Crisco on the stove and soaking the wads in the Crisco, removing them and letting them cool. Crisco is dirt cheap and has already proven itself as a reliable chamber seal/lube for BP pistols. Between Crisco and bulk felt, you can't go wrong, or any cheaper!

[vica]

Great info,thanks. My only problem is finding the English equivalents of your American goods. ie Crisco, Ballistol etc. But as usual on this forum someone has the answers to all my questions,for which I am very grateful,