Overpowder cards.

[alsask]

 I found that 5/8" chrome moly tube can easily be made into a punch for cutting overpowder cards.  I ground a bevel on a piece of 5/8"  .035 wall tube and it cuts nice cards that end up .550 dia.  A good fit for .54 cal.  I am trying 1/16" gasket material so far and it makes a very stiff OP card.  I scrounged my tube at the local airport.  I havn't tried shooting with them yet though,  when I try out some 430 grain Hornady Plains bullets is when I plan to use them.

Total cost for punch $0.

[NAULTRICK1]

  Ya didn't take it off of a plane on the tarmac did'ya? 4140 or 4130 is hard stuff should last a while, and ya gotta admit the price is right.

[alsask]

No it was just a short lenght of scrap I had laying around.  It's 4130 chrome moly.  I was thinking of heating it cherry red and oil quenching it to harden it but it is still sharp after cutting a bunch of cards.  What I would like to find is a cheap source of heavy felt to make OP wads from.

[NAULTRICK1]

  How  'bout old felt liners from pipeliners boots, or Roughneck's boots, shouldn't have ta harden chro-moly it's already heat-treated. 

[alsask]

I was going to try felt insoles but all the ones I have run across so far have been a wool polyester blend.  I was told to avoid anything with synthetics as it will leave a residue in the bore due to melting from the heat of the powder.

[roundball]

Google "Durofelt"...they have the real McCoy...

[alsask]

Thanks round ball

[FrankG]

The wax coated paper milk cartons make good wads too as do cereal boxes .

[alsask]

The wax coated paper milk cartons make good wads too as do cereal boxes .

Excellant idea!  I think I will try the cereal boxes.  This is a great site.  People seem more into doing things "on the cheap" rather than spending a lot of money on commercial products that probably are no better than what a person can do on his own.  Mind you.... some of the rifles pictured are priceless!

[Red Badger]

The wax coated paper milk cartons make good wads too as do cereal boxes .

Excellant idea!  I think I will try the cereal boxes.  This is a great site.  People seem more into doing things "on the cheap" rather than spending a lot of money on commercial products that probably are no better than what a person can do on his own.  Mind you.... some of the rifles pictured are priceless!

I personally like to think that we are not CHEAP, but are extremely environmentally and ecumenically astute.  We like to recycle, reuse, rebuild, reinvent, modify, and occasionally create items which are used in our passion for Black Powder....

[Hanshi]

I punch out wads from cereal boxes and strips of 1/8" & 1/4" felt from Durofelt.  I use these in my rifles and my smoothy.  Yeah, it's cheap but it works great.  I'm a dedicated proponent of OP wads in both.

[FrankG]

Know another feller that punches wads outa leather scraps too ! Got an old pair of boots you were gonna throw out ? Punch some wads out of them first !

[DandJofAZ]

Tried some of these wads..never thought of leather wadding....will try it next...Just happen to have scraps left from last pair of boots I cut up....
Doug

[Ranger]

"Ecumenically astute" I dare ya to use that in a sentence at the range! ROFLMAO!

[Red Badger]

"Ecumenically astute" I dare ya to use that in a sentence at the range! ROFLMAO!

kind of hard to use it in any sentence...  good thing I had my thesaurus available when I was posting that!