some thoughts on lubed fiber wads in shot shells.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Lucky RK;  I have a 14gauge wadcutter that I bought from a gunmaker & dealer in old cartridge stuff here in BC. It cost about an half hour of shop time, but seems very easy to make if you have access to a lathe. I need one in 12 ga. (and some other diameters) as my Dixie punch has been dropped & chipped twice too often.

It is very similar to yours, with some differences, making it simpler to make at home;
1.  the 1/2 inch shank is drilled @ 1/4 inch to allow punching out wads from the top after removing it from the drillpress.
2.  the inside of the punch is wad diameter for about 1/4 inch and is then relieved for the rest of the depth.  It is deep enough to run several wads before punching them out.
3. It was made of tool steel but not hardened.  Unless you are in mass production hardening is not necessary, and sharpening is not often needed.

[Lucky R. K.]

And, speaking of punches, those punches you made look great! Way better than anything else I've seen. I especially like the plunger idea. Have you considered making any to sell? I'd certainly buy a few!

Thanks for the kind words Cookie.  To answer your question, I had not thought about making the punches to sell but I could probably make one for you.  Let me know what you would want and we can talk about it.

The weather is about to get good for shooting so that will cut down my shop time.  I just got an order for some of the de-priming tools I make and that is going to take shop time also.  I really like to do the shop work in the Winter when you can't do anything else but when it gets warm you should be out shooting.

Lucky 

[Lucky R. K.]

Lucky RK;  I have a 14gauge wadcutter that I bought from a gunmaker & dealer in old cartridge stuff here in BC. It cost about an half hour of shop time, but seems very easy to make if you have access to a lathe. I need one in 12 ga. (and some other diameters) as my Dixie punch has been dropped & chipped twice too often.

It is very similar to yours, with some differences, making it simpler to make at home;
1.  the 1/2 inch shank is drilled @ 1/4 inch to allow punching out wads from the top after removing it from the drillpress.
2.  the inside of the punch is wad diameter for about 1/4 inch and is then relieved for the rest of the depth.  It is deep enough to run several wads before punching them out.
3. It was made of tool steel but not hardened.  Unless you are in mass production hardening is not necessary, and sharpening is not often needed.

Sounds like except for the plundger on mine the cutters are very similar.

Lucky 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Instead of punching out cushion wads, I'm thinking about moulding them out of paper using a cut-off hull as a mould.

I tried  6" X 6" newsprint but it came out pretty hard, but 1/2" thick.  I am now trying a 6" X 11" piece of paper towel.  It ends up the same thickness, but is still compressible. If I lube them, it will be a quick dip in one of the BP lube recipes.

Any thoughts?