Wads

[Noz]

I've been trying to find some heavier felt, 1/4", to make pistol wads. I noticed that some of thre wads are "vegetable fiber". What the heck is vegetable fiber?

[Adirondack Jack]

Don't rightly know for sure, but I suspect it is jute or some such.  The wads, used for cushion/fillers are quite fragile and blow apart readily upon firing.  I would thing yer better off buying em the right size than cutting em, though they can be easily split with a fingernail if too thick.

[hellgate]

I believe the vegetable fiber wads from Circle Fly are fairly stiff and don't fly apart. They are used in BP long range accuracy loads to protect the bullet base and since they are not of synthetic origin are permitted under some rules. I am not a Long range BP shooter so I don't know the rules but that is what I recollect. The filler wads are a more loose compressed fiber that does fly apart when fired.
For thicker pistol wads you can still use the filler wads or card wads. If you want felt, order it from an industrial felt supplier. The F-1 or F-5 (SAE) works for me but I use mine in the C&B as a lube wad that I punch out using a drill press and a sharpened hole punch.

[Grapeshot]

One of the NCO's in the shop was throwing away some one-eighth inch thick cork tiles he was trying to make a pin board out of.  I took them home and cut .45 wads out of them to put into my .45 Colt loads using 30 grains of FFg and that wad over them.

They don't seem to hurt any and they protect the bullet bases just fine.  Just like the original arsenal loading.