I'm thinking Craig cut the petals off the wad for a better visual of how the fiber wad and NC sit in it.

So I took this recipe out to my press. The Gualandi wads are that short and I didn’t remember that the shot cup was short. I didn’t have a 39A bushing but I have a #40 which drops 25g Clays. Still much less than the 30g I was dropping. I didn’t have any 10g fiber wads or NC. I used 12g instead and everything loaded very nicely.

Barrel leading?
 

Craig,
So after you mentioned Barrel leading, I was cleaning guns used at Hausmans and I noticed this in my 8 gauge barrels which I don’t recall seeing before. And yes, I was using Gualandi wads in some of my loads.
The marks/streaks start just forward of the chamber and go maybe 12” +/-, is this lead build up, this area of my barrels does have some pitting.

In a semi related nature , I’ve made a point of getting something around all my buck/slug/ball loads in the 8 and 10 gauges to try and cut down on lead smudges . And I use several things . Masking tape for the punkin balls , mylar for buckshot and the slugs .

Stan yes that looks just like the leading I experienced. I loaded up 25 of my last recipe and I will report on leading. I shot 5 rounds a week ago and the leading seemed much improved from earlier attempts.