Thread: DIY Fibre wads?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

water plus pinex = messy and blown up pulpy fluff....
tile cutters ,diamond tipped on trademe for very little coin....saw them today,looking for something else.

yeah, i was wondering how that would work.
Thought it might be worth a shot, probably weetbix like you say though.

Just buy a wad punch off ebay

I use the grey felt in this link
Ex Auckland

Industrial Felt Supplies & Manufactures | Auckland, New Zealand

Originally Posted by akaroa1

I use the grey felt in this link
Ex Auckland

Industrial Felt Supplies & Manufactures | Auckland, New Zealand

The A and B grade is the same density just prettier

For punches just buy good individual ones from and engineering supplier

Don't waste your time on cheap sets and crap imports

The engineering suppliers will have good cast English ones

Damned right about the cheap punches, grabbed a set from the tool shed and they were rusty out of the box and blunt as anything, they’ll be going back when next I go into town,
Looks like felt will be the best option for now atleast I’ll be able to cut it with some hollow punches,
how is it priced? By the square meter?

Originally Posted by NAKED_GOOSE

Damned right about the cheap punches, grabbed a set from the tool shed and they were rusty out of the box and blunt as anything, they’ll be going back when next I go into town,
Looks like felt will be the best option for now atleast I’ll be able to cut it with some hollow punches,
how is it priced? By the square meter?

From memory roll width was 900mm and minimum cut length was 500mm

A good size chunk that will make many hundred wads.

I use the 9.5mm grey for all my felt wad needs
With a good punch, decent wood block and a big soft face hammer you are made

Micky Duck: I'm interested in fibre wads because plastic wads get stuck in the base of slugs, causing inaccuracy. The wad needs to be something that will support the base of the slug symmetrically and drop off immediately after the slug leaves the barrel.

try filling base of slug with rtv/hot glue its one of the "improvements" mentioned quite a lot over on castboolits some of the results being achieved are outstanding for a smoothbore

Hi When reloading solids for the 410 have you thought about just using one big lead ball of the right dia
have shot these via a choke and they still do well .. not as good as a rifled bore though ... might have to go down that Wabbit hole one day ...
cheers to all

Originally Posted by AR7

Hi When reloading solids for the 410 have you thought about just using one big lead ball of the right dia
have shot these via a choke and they still do well .. not as good as a rifled bore though ... might have to go down that Wabbit hole one day ...
cheers to all

the 00 buckshot works well...and 3-5 in payload.... a single pellet cranking along could be interesting...Ive heard of folks using a .357 pistol projectile too...... the options are endless,good accurate results,not so much.

Priced out some felt, the 9.5mm I priced was 11 cents per wad, the 12.7mm was 15 cents per wad, the ballistic products wads look to be around 5 cents per wad, using 6mm cork works out to 3 cents per wad when stacking two together so think I will investigate getting myself some cork and using a hole punch.

Just a quick drain-dump of what I think I know:
Old wool felt jackets and hats can be found at op-shops and normally come 1/8" - 3/8" think And a good coat will last quite a while!
My lube is a mixture of beeswax, parrafin and lamb or beef tallow, melted in a tray, dip your wads, squeeze excess and lay them out on baking paper to dry, keep them in a ziploc bag in a cool dry place.
Wad punches of any specific size are easily made on a lathe out of any hardened bolt or axle shaft.
Wad diameter will depend on your HULLS. From memory the magtechs require an 10gauge card wads and 11gauge cushion wads.
Fibre wads tend to work better in older guns with short forcing cones ahead the chambers The new long cones are more suited to plastic wads.

Did you find lubed wads pattern better?
I was contemplating using a lube cookie to add to the stack height rather than lubing the wads themselves, I suppose its more down to each gun,
I don't have a lathe, atleast not yet lol
magtech does indeed require 11 gauge wads and 10 gauge overshots, but I cant seem to find magtech brass in 12 gauge anywhere at the moment so will be using AA and cheddite hulls, which for what its worth will also require 2 separate sizes of wads, the AA's should be .710" but the cheddites look like they'll be .750" or so.

Im using a magura SxS, not really sure on age so will just experiment a bit, although I do have grandad old shotgun from sometime around 1890-1905 if im remembering the proof marks correctly, although the bores are a bit shot, the solution will be another lathe job though.

@Oldbloke, how would you compare cardboard boxes to fibre or cork any noticeable difference?

If you have longer forcing cones you may pattern better/ prevent blow by by increasing wad diameter used

Any old leather will work too. I have just used cardboard boxes.