10 ga. wad alternative
 

As there are NO SP-10 or BP1044 wads on the planet at this time I'm looking for alternatives. One possible route is a gas seal under a 1/4" fiber wad under a cut down BPD-10 pre-slit. The are for non-toxic shots BUT readily available as are several other 10 ga. non-toxic shot cups. Cutting them down is a pain, I'm thinking a sleeve and plug tool to allow one quick slice with a razor knife.
Just got some mylar sleeves in, going to try them in an old school load over nitro card and fiber wad. I didn't like the leading I got w/o a wad or sleeve.

I havnt noticed any leading problems using nitro cards and fiber but I am using coated lead. I have made my own shotcups before but didnt notice any benefit in pattern so stopped using them. You can get a wad trimmer to shorten those steel shot wads, a 10 ga wad should be close in dimensions to a 12 ga hull so a 12ga hull trimmer would probably work. Really all you need for cutting slits is something shaped like a cross or t pattern as the petals should be cut equally apart. Oh yeah I just remembered I seen a guy just chuck a broad head arrow tip into a drill press to cut uniform wad slits.

Many years ago when I started reloading steel shot (suffering sever price shock) none of the wads were split. Only source was a company called Non-toxic Components as I remember. They sold and I had a wad splitter that kinda looked like the 4 blade nut/veg chopper you use in the kitchen. As steel shot prices came down, duck limits came down, and my income went up I stopped reloading steel, got rid of the special stuff and all the steel components. I wish I had that tool back.

This is how I seen a few people doing it.
The cardboard shotcups I made were kind of a pain in the butt to cut though and they were much stiffer than plastic. Ive seen a jig someone made to make their own homemade flight control wads as well that was interesting. Ive shot a few unslit wads before I think as long as you have enough choke they will work and not slug.

I plan on making felt wads soon, I think a 20mm wad punch will work for 10 ga since its almost identical to the size of my fiber wads. Felt shouldnt confetti out the barrel though like fiber and is said to create a better gas seal as well. Figure ill try the high tensile strength felt I think it was 70$ a roll last time I looked which would give roughly 1000 wads give or take.

I have plenty of those unslit 10 ga wads I use a sharp knife to slit mywads....I have shot them unslit but most turn out to be slug loads...most of my loads now are with paper wads punched out of card board boxes...cheap and easy to do...charlie

Hampels Guns is selling SP 10 Remington wads on Gunbroker right now.

Currently at $.20 apiece plus $20 shipping. Pretty spicy!

Milton what is source for your felt and wad punch. I would like to try felt for 8ga. Thanks Craig

Looking at the 10 ga fiber wad diameter at .790 I would think a 20mm wad punch at .787 would work. Now for 8 ga what I have read and learned talking to a few guys who have double 8 bore rifles is that they use a 7/8" punch for their wadding. Although you can get custom diameter wad punches made fairly easily.

I have been looking here at rolls of felt https://thefeltstore.com/products/f-...MaAlx3EALw_wcB

Though I have been wondering what would work better low density or high density felt. Also I have read 1/2" wads have a tendency to not want to break away from the shot column so perhaps using 1/4" wads would give better results only way to know is to test it. I plan to do some more 8 ga testing when the cooler months get here.

I experimented a bit with the BPD10 wads and light loads of lead shot ( I cut them with scissors). My impression was that they raised pressures quite a bit so I moved on to something else. Who makes the plastic 10 ga. over powder gas seal wads?
C.G.B.