Chris,

On the subject of wad, I use a very light weight foam wad that is the length of the air column between the powder and base of the bullet. The "wad" that I use are biodegradable and come out almost like snow.

I use this wad to hold the powder in place.

The full length insures that the was doesn't move independent of the bullet. As the wad base starts moving as the powder burns, the front starts crushing as it pushes the bulet forward. That way, the powder is kept at the priomer and the wad doesn't act as a projectile, damafing the barrel when it hits the base of the bullet.

Daryl had a good comment concerning how the type of rifling impacts what happens to patches. I did shoot patched bullets through one of my Lancasters. What I remember is that the patches I found were highly damaged but not cut in stripes as convention rifling would do.