Video - Making and shooting home made C&B revolver wads

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

In this video I'll show cap and ball shooters how to save a lot of money by making their own lubricated felt cap & ball revolver wads. The video shows how I make my black powder lube, and how I make lubed cap and ball revolver wads. Then we'll load an Uberti 1860 Army revolver using our homemade wads and do some shooting

[hellgate]

I do it a little differently:
I mix 50/50 beeswax and lard (1 lb bricks at the grocery store) or deer tallow. I punch out the wads first by chucking the hole punch in my drill press over a block of wood. THEN I pour the wads into the melted lube to soak it up and lay them out onto aluminum foil to cool. I used to cut them from lubed felt over a block with the hammer but it was messier, slower, and noisier. One drawback on using a drill press is the rotation of the cutter tends to fling the wads out when they emerge from the top of channel. Also you need to smooth out the channel with a Dremel or the wads will hang up inside. You made it look very doable with the least amount of equipment. I do my wad making when the wife is out of the kitchen.

[Lefty Dude]

I make my wads from old wool felt hats I buy a Garage Sale's. I usually pay only $1.00 or so for them. I use bore butter for lube. A table spoon per 100 wads in a plastic dish in the Micro-wave does the trick. I store them in a small plastic container that KFC,(the fried chicken store) uses for the side dishes. They store well and have a reuseable seal top.

BTW; nice Video, Mike.

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Hellfire and Lefty,

Any way that works is the right way in my book. Thanks for sharing your techniques.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Call me lazy, but..........


http://www.sageoutfitters.com/catalog/item/7209324/7463762.htm

[fourfingersofdeath]

Good video Mike. Boy! You are cruising for a bruising, using the wife's microwave. I'd be buying a cheapy and putting it in the loading area. I know you have a Larry Potter loading area under the stairs, better than messing up the one in the kitchen.

There was a lot of liquid in the tray, do you do several sheets at once?

I saw your 303 Sporter video as well, very enjoyable, I never liked the short magazines and felt that the trigger guard needed round ing off. Great minds think alike!
Thanks, Mick.

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

I usually only do one sheet of felt at a time. I just add the left over lube ito the big plastic tub I store my B-P lube in. I use the same lube for patched round ball flintlocks and for lubing black powder cartridge bullets, so I go through a fair amount of it. I have around six pounds of lube in the tub right now.

[Cliff Fendley]

Thanks for the video. Very informative.

[rickk]

You can also punch the wads out first, stick them with a toothpick to pick them up, dip them one at a time into the melted lube, and then drop them on waxed paper to cool. There is less waste that way. Your way is probably a bit faster, mine saves a little bit of money.

Mike, I buy Tallow from the same place as you. A 50# box is the cheapest way to buy it... flat rate shipping. Damn, I have a lot of it left...lol

BTW Mike, I have to ask... are you married or single?

The reason I ask is that I am married, and I only melted sheep's tallow in the house once... and only once... if you know what I mean.

For doing wads now I melt some in a small pan in the outdoor BBQ grill. I also make some 2:2:1 classic lube into stick form for my Star sizer now and then, melting it down in a 5 gallon pot on a turkey frier. PVC tubing makes for  great mold to fit the star. The sticks pop right out as soon as they are cool. I pour it with a bottom pour lead ladle.

Winter time is the best... the windows are closed, and it cools quickly.

Rick

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Rick,

I was married but for the last 10 years I have been happily living in sin with Mary Pat. She is the easiest person to live with in the world. She doesn't even mind the smell of Balistol - which is an almost daily aroma in our house...LOL

[Cookie]

I punch out the wads first by chucking the hole punch in my drill press over a block of wood. THEN I pour the wads into the melted lube to soak it up and lay them out onto aluminum foil to cool. I used to cut them from lubed felt over a block with the hammer but it was messier, slower, and noisier.

+1  never was able to get a clean but with hammered punches. So, I cut my wads with a drill press punch, throw the whole batch in melted lube and fish them out with a wire strainer. I let them dry on paper tools to soak up the extra lube, and that way they're not too greasy when handling them. (Plus the waxy paper towels make GREAT fire starters.)

PS - Great video as always Mike. Keep 'em coming!  

[Long Knife Rich]

 Interesting video Mike. I've never mixed up my own lube before, but I might just give it a try. Is it ok to use mutton tallow instead of the lamb tallow?

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

I don't see why you couldn't get good results from mutton tallow. I've never used it, but I have used beef tallow, which worked fine.

[litl rooster]

there is not much fat on a Spring lambs, it's most likely from older sheep(mutton)