Wad Columns

[Bill Murphy]

You use whatever fills the shell. When loading Winchester paper shells with 1 1/8 ounce target loads, we used to use a card wad, either .135 or .200, and a 1/2" felt wad. The Federal paper shell required a couple of 3/8" felt wads as I recall. There was more room in the purple shells. In the Winchester target style paper shells, a thin card wad, probably .135, and a 3/8 felt wad would probably be all you could get in there with 1 1/4 ounces of shot. I doubt that Winchester 1 1/2 ounce short magnum factory loads had much wad at all. Winchester probably abbreviated the base wad in their Super-X cases. We loaded everything in target empties because that was all we had. Austin, why don't you open up a paper Super-X shell and see what's in there?

[Austin W Hogan]

Thanks Bill; I have some 1955 vintage SuperX twenties here but that is all. What I am interested in finding out is if the original Super X that were loaded in Parker's era used a longer over powder wad in an attempt to tighten patterns launched at higher velocities. A wad that was longer than the distance from case mouth to a point where the bore was less than the inside case diameter would prevent powder gas from getting into the shot column.

Best, Austin

[Bill Murphy]

The original Super-X shells were roll crimped and had gobs of room inside assuming the base wad was fairly shallow. Maybe I have one around here somewhere that I can cut open.