Hi guys,been surfing the internet and have come across bio wads been used in steel shot,Just wondering if anyone has used them?Have heard of fibre wads used in upland game shells,
Yep been using the Eley bio wad ....no difference in performance (kills good) but wad is made from organic polymer and dissolves in water (no micro plastics)....I will be using it for all hunting over water next season
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noelfj
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I have a hollow punch, just the right size, it has a spring wad pushout fitting inside, and I used it in the years 1955 to 1960, Then later used commercial wads. The wad material was Pinex a sort of interior wall panel used for buildings. The idea was to use a bench drill set on slow speed and just drive the hole punch through the Pinex, the wad being pushed out of the punch by the spring. I did hundreds of them over the years, (at work during lunch time)
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mallardbuster
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Just to let the younger generation know, 'Biowads' is just the new name given to the wads used by shotgunners (like noelfj) for over 200 years, until plastics came along
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bufferzone
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Just to let the younger generation know, 'Biowads' is just the new name given to the wads used by shotgunners (like noelfj) for over 200 years, until plastics came along
Haha..... Except for the formaldehyde in the pinex.
Its just what we are all facing right now. I experience it as a farmer. Technology takes you down a path that has many advantages efficiency wise. We tend to grab those without realising there may well be consequences in the future- or we have no option as the decision is out of our hands due to companies using a manufacturing process or product that is cost efficient.
40-50 odd years ago the govt was incentivising us to clear fell native forest and run more stock. Wow thats bitten us in the arse. Ask a duck shooter in the 80s what his biggest ammo concern is, and it was probably that he wasn't allowed more than 2 shots. This kind of thing wasn't on the radar.
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XRhunter
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Yep, and another fun fact for the younger generation is that right up into the 1970's and the early 80's the entire shotgun round was "biodegradable", not just the wad. No plastic used then, just waxed paper. Not flash if it got wet, but was truly biodegradable. Cardboard wads, brass was actually brass coated steel (like today but stronger).
And dont get me wrong, Im all for these improvements and will use the new wads in their loads if I can, so this is not an example as an excuse. More reflection that im tired of the hypocrisy in society....
So- I wonder when all those in the wider community who worry constantly about others environmental harm, will stop throwing away their old cell phones....
Im waiting for some bright spart to work out how to and the start making sheets of say 1.2x2.4 somewhere about 15mm thick out of melted down silage wrap etc........perfect building material,wont rot,is waterproof....would have some insulation.....like the plastic posts but for building....and while Im on it...why are the plastic posts so expensive and not more broadly available?????? its not like there is a shortage of crappy plastic to melt down. as to wads...steel means whatever you use has to be good...very good....
tell you what WOULD reduce amount of shot shells left in wilds....someone to bring in large quantities of heavi shot and the components to reload it at a price to compete with premium loads..... being able to use a #7 pellet with its resulting dense pattern EFFECTIVELY in sub guages as well as the .12ga just has to induce folks to reload....so if each case got used say 3 times and even 25% of folks did it.....its a reduction of measurable proportions.
This is from V.M.Starr the American shotgunner - posted it because it has a bit about wads. Don't know when he was born, nor when he died, but he was active shooting and writing through the 1940/50's.
The late V.M.Starr stated he saw no use for cushion wads. He cut his own wads from 3/32" poster board and simply loaded two over the powder and one over the shot. Shooting on an almost daily basis, he considered the muzzle loading shotgun to be superior to cartridge shooting guns whether they were black powder or modern nitro shooters - his favourite being the 10 bore. He jug choked all his guns to deliver tight patterns for wildfowl out to ranges that left other shooters open mouthed with astonishment - 90 meters.
And this is how he did it ..... "After loading powder, reach in your pocket and take two cardboard wads and push them down on the powder, then hit them, just one good hard rap with the ramrod to be sure they are seated firmly. Now, grab that shot flask and dump in a charge of shot, then pucker up and spit down that barrel before you put in the final wad. The spit will soften up the fouling from the previous charge and the wad will act like a squeegee and clean the barrel each time you load and you can shoot all day without fouling troubles as long as you can draw spit."
Starr talks himself up a bit, but the man could also deliver - so he's worth listening to re-wads ......... maybe.
Edit - with the old paper (cardboard) shells I could load them with BP quite a few times before they fell apart. Can't do that with plastic shells - they burn up after one or two loads.
you can get away with all sorts with lead......with most of the alternatives you have to be spot on,the wad is criticle.why so many barrels got scoured during the early steel shot days...modern wads are hard and thick,you can still do longer range loads by altering how you slit the wad...but 90 yards the shot be out of puff....Ive killed rabbits at that range with lead #3s
Cheers mate - did play with steel shot for a brief period, but it rubbed through the walls of the plastic shot holders in my M/L shottie ........... stopped playing