Wads?

[Gunlaker]

I recently hurt my neck and shoulder so have been playing with the .38's. I should be able to get back to the .45-70 this week.

I played a bit with no wads using breech seated PP bullets in my .38-50. They shot reasonably well, but not nearly as well as when I use an LDPE wad seated with the bullet. Those shot extremely well. Both of .38's highwalls seem to like that trick.

I also finished reading Perry's book. Early on he does say that "no wads whatever should be used" in a breech loader, but on page 74 he says "The term no wads (page 18) has reference to lubricated wads, or anything like them that serve as an elastic cushion to deaden the initial blow necessary to properly upset the bullet". He also says that thin card board or writing paper wads are virtually equivalent to no wad.

I've tried a single 0.030" veg king wad in this rifle before, but they didn't quite do as well as a LDPE wad. However I only tried once so it's not like it was a statistically rigorous test. It's worth trying again. Tonight I'll finish loading some cartridges that'll only differ by wad types. I do have a new Cornell wad punch that I want to try. Dan T. suggested it to me, it's for cutting LDPE wads that are sized a bit smaller, to better fit in a tight chamber.

I'll also soon have a bit more distance to shoot as I've got a membership at a 300 yard range rather than just 200m where I shoot most often now. It's not a lot further, but every bit counts ;-)

Chris.