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Post by hawkeyes on Oct 15, 2021 11:05:19 GMT -7
I myself thoroughly enjoy shooting a tow wad and ball. Honestly never fiddle with cards, wads and the like. Good ole fashion tow usually. I agree, simple tow wadding is fun to shoot, accurate and relaxing. I was surprised to find, though, that punched wads were used very early. An exchange in The Art of Shooting Flying by Thomas Page, 1767: "FRIENDLY And what sort of wadding do you best approve of? I have heard some say that tow is best, others, cards stamped to fit the size of the bore. AIMWELL Tow, I think, is uncertain. If cards be used, the end of your rammer must be almost as broad as your barrel will admit of, to go down free, and quite flat at the end, to prevent the card from turning; and must be push'd down gradually, to give time for the air to pass, otherwise it will be troublesome. This is therefore not the quickest way." I don't know if they used anything equivalent to our cushion wads, but they did use hard ones with some weight, as evidenced by this early report: The Pennsylvania Gazette July 18, 1734 From Shrewsbury we hear, That on the 5th inst. being training day at that place, One of the Soldiers having his Musket loaded with a hard Wadd on the Charge, in attempting to fire between the Legs of one Samuel Davenport his Fellow Soldier, about Twenty-five years of Age, the Wadd struck his Ankle Bone with such Force, that it was shatter'd, and broke quite off; and a Day or two after, the poor Man's Leg was cut off, and it was greatly fear'd he would lose his Life thereby. Spence I'm surprised by this as well! Very interesting information, thank you for sharing this.
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Post by hawkeyes on Oct 15, 2021 11:06:30 GMT -7
As requested Nock, break this process down for us... I'm intrigued.
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Post by brokennock on Oct 15, 2021 13:31:53 GMT -7
Thank you.
Mostly those pics show me that my gas seal must be pretty good even without the paper. I'm pretty sure that those wads of ripe fiber that look untouched, color wise, are from in front of the ball. With all the shooting I've done this week I've only been able to find one of the darker "toasted" looking wads, I assume this was over powder/under the ball.
Hawkeyes, I will send you another pic or two to go with the others I sent you if the rope and process break down. Have you post them, then I'll go over my process. I'm quite sure this is less labor intensive with actual tow, but, I use what I have.
Unfortunately that load that grouped so well Wednesday didn't group as well out of a fresh clean barrel today.
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Post by hawkeyes on Oct 16, 2021 5:18:26 GMT -7
Actual tow is becoming expensive and harder to find like everything else in these crazy times... This is something that could be very beneficial if the process could be sped up in a manner to extract a larger volume of usable fiber. Personally I use tow on a frequent basis for cleaning and wadding and I'm running low. I have large amounts of non treated rope used for hawk perches, also hemp which I plan to process down into hemp tow. The chemically applied stuff is a no go for bird feet. I plan on trying a few batches using a few methods I've thought up. Indeed I'll report back in with some findings.
With supplies being scarce the exact nature of "making do" or "expression of creativity" is one area I find that made the old fellas so versatile and reliable. When faced with a problem, let's invest in a solution to the problem utilizing what we have available. Good content Nock, well done IMO.
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Post by brokennock on Oct 16, 2021 5:50:22 GMT -7
The pics I sent you of breaking down the rope were of a new piece of rope. I usually tie some sections outside to branch in the fall and leave then all winter. Gives a chance for the chemicals to wash out and the rope to relax. I doubt the chemicals matter much when using the tow-like fibers for wadding, but if used for a bird's nest for fire starring they need to be gone.
I might try breaking down a bunch of rope into fibers and trying to lay it out like a mat. Then apply some melted lube. When the lube hardens it should keep the material compressed making it easier to store. As has been noted, the sisal fibers are much stiffer than real flax tow. Then just pull some off as needed, wad it up into a,,,, wad, and use.
Doing it the way I do now simply helps insure each wad has roughly the same amount of material.
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Post by spence on Oct 16, 2021 7:53:16 GMT -7
hawkeyes said: "Actual tow is becoming expensive and harder to find like everything else in these crazy times."
I had that same problem 10 years ago and began using cedar bark as wadding. I've been very successful with it, have taken all the game I hunt. It does very well as wadding for both ball and shot, but is too tender to use for cleaning.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Oct 16, 2021 8:34:39 GMT -7
Our red cedars are becoming more and more scarce. I am reluctant to strip bark from living ones if I don't absolutely have to. And as they get more scarce it seems increasingly rare I see one other than in someone's yard. However, I did gather a bunch of that fibrous peeling bark from some big old grape vines the other day. I use it for fire starting and might try it with some shot loads for squirrel hunting.
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Post by spence on Oct 16, 2021 10:29:23 GMT -7
What I collect from the cedars is already dead, just the outer layers of the bark which naturally sheds. It works very well as wadding, even without my barrier. For ball: For shot, turkey load, 25 yards: Spence
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Post by hawkeyes on Oct 16, 2021 15:23:50 GMT -7
Cedar bark is a wonderful option! Never gave it any thought for shoving it down the pipe. Plenty to go around here and easy to harvest. Walk on by and grab the outer layers! Judging by those images... I'm impressed of it's quality as a wad.
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