doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reloading with fiber wads

Just a smidgin off your inquiry, < a quarter bubble?

Loading fiber wads, i.e., the old Ljutic 'monowads'or others, in plastic cases normally "stretches" the case mouth, making them essentially a one time reloading proposition .. at least that has been my routine experience. I have not ever detected any increased leading from waxed vs non-waxed wads, but that is my experience only. I do not see any downside to using them, case life aside. Some good patterns can be attained within skeet range, it gets regular 'iffy' quick beyond that, again just my experience. I think it was Fransis Sell that claimed tight patterns w/card or fiber wads at long ranges. I never could.

I recall when Francis Sell was a rather prolific writer & great proponent of the 3" 20ga. As I recall for those "Tight Pattern" loads he always perforated the cushion wad & sandwiched it between card wads. He then turned one of the old Alcan Co "PGS" plastic cup wads upside down atop the column too for a short shot cup. He was also quite big on using "White Flour" as a buffering agent which Don Zutz would show a few years later was very risky in plastic hulls. As I was not engaging in long range pass shooting at the time I simply never bothered to go to all that work. I grew up on Card & Filler & the biggest change I noted for my shooting with plastic was the easier loading, not having to fool with all those components.

Given the popularity of sub gauge inserts there is a lot of leeway with plastic wad expantion.

The old reloading manuals of the 1960's always stress proper shell lengh for the chamber, now we shoot 2 3/4" shell out of 3 1/2" chamber without a second thought. Chromed barrels shed lead with a simple cleaning brush.

Nitro card and cushion wads is works fine in my BP loads but it is the pattern board that tells the tale.