grease wads

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  • Last Post 20 January 2022
lotech posted this 17 January 2022

I bought a Cabine Tree grease wad extruder years ago. Heavy, well-built, and will probably last several lifetimes, especially if one gets the amount of use mine has seen. I used extruded wads made from LBT Soft lube and had some limited success with heavy plainbase bullets in .357 Magnum. Accuracy was noticeably improved, but making and fitting the wads was more trouble than I cared to deal with. 

I tried wads in one or two straight wall rifle cartridges with no accuracy improvements noted. Again, all my work was very limited at the time so I don't feel qualified to make a general judgement on the usefulness of extruded wads without extensive work. Anyone here use extruded wads? I asked this question some years ago on another website and most who responded preferred to talk about fillers, probably because that's what they were familiar with. 

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OU812 posted this 18 January 2022

I dabbled in soft wads to help keep powder fowling soft...it works for that purpose, but too much lube caused accuracy problems. I would melt the soft lbt lube then pour it over wax paper to cool in thin flat sheets. I would next cut out and seal case mouth using case mouth. Then seat bullet. Barrel would be wet after firing several rounds (too wet, too much lube). All my testing was with smokeless bottle neck cases and cast bullets.

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Ross Smith posted this 18 January 2022

I prefer lubed felt wads from oxyoke.

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OU812 posted this 18 January 2022

I never did enough experimenting to see if it actually helps accuracy. It definitely softened powder fouling using Win 748 powder. I may try thinner grease cookie with quicker Tite Group powder.

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gnoahhh posted this 18 January 2022

I have some sheets of dental wax coming. I'll report back how they work.

I use wads solely to seal the case mouths of .32-40's when I'm breech seating with a couple heavy barrel High Walls (one of which is a Pope). My SOP is to use a 1/8" industrial felt wad, and sometimes pasteboard wads punched out of new beer coasters (used beer coasters kind of make the range smell like a brewery which bodes no good for shooters concentration).

I've been threatening to try greasing a few of the felt wads to see how they work. I grease my hunting patches for roundball ML'ers with bear grease. Do y'all think that stuff would be viable for a greased felt wad experiment with the .32-40's?

Note: I realize that grease/greased wads shine when employed with black powder. I shoot only smokeless, but hey, why not try it. Worst case I'll have to do some extra range time. Oh darn.

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lotech posted this 18 January 2022

Thank you all for the responses. I haven't shot black powder for many years and my only use for grease wads will probably be with smokeless loads in rifle cartridges like the.32-40, .38-55, and .405 Winchester and maybe .357 &.44 Magnum in handguns, though I haven't loaded any magnum handgun cartridges in several years. This isn't a pressing matter but I still enjoy experimenting. 

It's apparent grease wads are used by very few these days and I guess that should tell me something. 

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Squid Boy posted this 20 January 2022

I made a lube ribbon extruder out of some PVC pipe fittings and threaded rod. I can adjust the thickness by changing the slot in the end cap. I get my best accuracy in my 50-90 using a 1/8 inch thick cookie between two .060" hard cards. Here is a picture. Thanks, Squid Boy

Lube Ribbon Extruder

"Squid Pro Quo"

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