Wads for black powder 45 Colt cartridges?

[joec]

Just wondering what most use if they want to use a wad in a 45 colt cartridge to lighten the load? I also am wondering about the thickness one prefers in these materials also. Thanks for any information on this.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I used Ox-Bow Wonder Wads to reduce loads.  In a 45 Colt, it will take up the space of 4 to 5 grains.  They also add a little lube to the round.

[joec]

I used Ox-Bow Wonder Wads to reduce loads.  In a 45 Colt, it will take up the space of 4 to 5 grains.  They also add a little lube to the round.

Thanks I was just looking at them at Buffalo Arms as well as wads for some 12 ga Magtech brass shells I want to load.

[Peddler Parsons]

I use water board cut 3/8" thick then pressed over a loaded case then add bullet an set

[Pappy Myles]

Thought I'd mention this
In my 45 colt pistols (Ruger OMV's) when I shoot black, I use star line's 45 scolfield brass, 200 grain DD ROA bullet with SPL and a a walters wad .060.   I think its about 24 to 26 grains of 2F with a winchester WLP primer.  No filler required.  Keeps my pistol and rifle loads seperate and easily identifiable

[cpt dan blodgett]

There are many ways to skin the cat.  Made my own wonderwads from felt I got of the internet.  You get about 50 per linear inch.  Use my own beeswax mutton tallow lube.  Think the felt was $ 15 for 36 inches will make 1800 wads.  Use my 7/16 punch out of a $10 Harbor Freight Punch set.  An old plastic cutting board She Who Must Be Obeyed will not let back into her house provides a great work surface.

CPT Baylor has a write up using caulking strips for reduced charges.

[Cookie]

There are many ways to skin the cat.  Made my own wonderwads from felt I got of the internet.  You get about 50 per linear inch.  Use my own beeswax mutton tallow lube.  Think the felt was $ 15 for 36 inches will make 1800 wads.  Use my 7/16 punch out of a $10 Harbor Freight Punch set.  An old plastic cutting board She Who Must Be Obeyed will not let back into her house provides a great work surface.

I do pretty much the same. It's more work then buying Wonder Wads, but costs a tiny fraction to do it yourself.

Go here http://durofelt.com/image_26.html for felt sheets.

I order the HARD off-white felt in 54 x 24 sheets. I use 1/4" for 45-70, 1/8" for 45 Colt, and 1/16" for C45S cases.
A $30 sheet will yield over 6,000! .45cal wads or over 10,000! .38cal wads.

However,, I bought a drill press mounted punch from Buffalo Arms - http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=160594&CAT=4113  Much easier to deal with than a hammered punch, IMO.

Just mount a piece of hardwood under the punch and have at it. Once the felt is punched, soak them in the melted lube of your choice. They'll soak in just about an equal volume of lube as whatever size they are, so "enough lube" is NOT an issue. Pull them out with a slotted spoon and let them dry on a paper towel. (Save the paper towel, it's a great firestarter.)

The felt wads are so effective, that even though I only shoot BP, and I don't ever lube my bullets. 

But, after shooting, the barrel is always the cleanest part of my guns. (The felt + lube cleans the barrel, just as if you ran a patch down it, with each shot.)

[rbertalotto]

I use "Cowboy 45 Special" brass with no wad and a Big Lube bullet. No leading, near no fouling and excellent accuracy!

[Grapeshot]

Back in the day when Frankfurt Arsenal was loading the .45 Colt Government rounds for the US Army, they did not like the recoil of the original 40 grain charge, so they cut it back to 30 grains and installed a .25 inch cork wad between the bullet and the powder.

I've duplicated it in the past to see what difference it made and the recoil wasike that of the Schofield round, so that is what I use now.

[Fairshake]

The fastest and easiest way to reduce 45 Colt (NOT LONG COLT) is to use as has been posted by Grapeshot, the 45 Schofield round.
When I first started in SASS I was shooting the 45  as I already had a Colt revolver in that caliber and it was the cheapest way to go.
I shoot nothing but 100% BP with the cases full to the top and did shoot some 45 Schofield rounds to see the difference. It was a big reduction in recoil and that is what I went to for my revolvers.
I tried as an experiment the addition of the styrofoam backing rod to see if that would work. It may work for Capt Baylor and his use of subs instead of the real BP but when I loaded some and put them on my shelf for a month, things were bad when I broke them open. I'm not a chemist so I can't say what happened but the real Goex 2F that I had used had disolved the backing rod to a very small flat piece. This left a big empty void in the case and told me to not try shooting any of those loads. Just my results.
The 45 Schofield round is perfect for taming the 45 Colt SAA if that is your goal.
I now use the 44WCF with 34 grains of KIK 2F for my SASS matches. WARTHOG ALL THE WAY!
I'm not crowded at the firing line for some reason. I've even had the RO step away.

[wildman1]

Circle Fly makes some great wads fer shotgun OR rifle/revolver. For 45 Colt (LONG COLT) ya can get their .455 fiber wad 1/2" thick and cut to whatever thickness ya want. Costs about a penny per wad. WM

[joec]

Circle Fly makes some great wads fer shotgun OR rifle/revolver. For 45 Colt (LONG COLT) ya can get their .455 fiber wad 1/2" thick and cut to whatever thickness ya want. Costs about a penny per wad. WM

I've got the wads covered guys. I'm going to give some Vegetable fiber wads a shot from Buffalo Arms.

[cpt dan blodgett]

The idea of the cork filler is somewhat interesting.  It has been a very long time since I was cutting gaskets out of cork for 235 and 283 chevy's, is cork gasket material still available at auto parts stores or do we need to look at arts and crafts stores for sheet cork?

Even if 1/4" were hard to find, 2x 1/8" would do

[rickk]

dunno nothin about cork.

I use home made ones punched out of felt from Durofelt like the others mentioned.

Felt soaks up a ton a lube instantly.

[cpt dan blodgett]

I still have plenty of felt.  My only interest in cork is to repro orig loads

[Grapeshot]

I still have plenty of felt.  My only interest in cork is to repro orig loads

I got my cork wads from Circle Fly. 

[maldito gringo]

Do you need anything under the lubed wad to prevent the lube from migrating into the powder? I've heard of using a bit of wax paper, necessary or no?

[Pettifogger]

If you are loading a lot of ammo wads take to long.  I use a dual powder measure set-up and dump grits or some other filler automatically.

[joec]

If you are loading a lot of ammo wads take to long.  I use a dual powder measure set-up and dump grits or some other filler automatically.

Actually Pettifogger I don't do a lot at one time and with mostly a Lee Classic Turret using Lee Pro Disk system for smokeless. I use the Lee Powder measure scope to load black powder. I did try a few rounds with the wads but kind of went back to the no wad method of letting the bullet compress. Really didn't find any advantage to it in a 45 Colt round with a 250 gr bullet. For my wife who I had in mind using the wads I went smokeless using trailboss behind a 200 gr bullet due to her age and very bad wrist on her shooting hand.

[litl rooster]

I use mo powder