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Mike- try www.trackofthewolf.com That is where I buy my wads. Antoher is www.buffaloarms.com That is where I buy my 16 bore brass cases.

Kaimiloa - I agree with about everything you've said, - except about wads pushing through the shot - What I meant or tried to say, was that the thin "B" wad on top of the shot column won't push back into the shot cloud at the muzzle to spread it. They are light, accellerate due to the muzzle blast and spin off to the side of the shot cloud. WW Greener's photo's show that with a cylinder bore, the muzzle blast that sends the "B" wad sailing ahead, also pushes heavy base wads into the shot and spreads them - causing donuts. The lighter the base wads, perhaps the better shooting? We've had good luck with the lightweight donacona wads that track sells. If lubed, they are heavy and a choke or other 'help' is needed to retard them back from the shot.

We've worked a bit with several cylinder bores and adjusting the powder/shot charges, has resulted in nice round patterns. It is not always the light charges that work - some of the reduced powder charges were worse than the heavy loads. Moderate "square" loads seemed best in 20 bore through 10 bore. if you want and have a strong enough gun, you can do as some, and send horrendous clouds of shot out the muzzle in an attempt to fill in shot clouds - hard on you and the gun.

I am a regular at americanlongrifles.com & some of the guys there have a LOT more experience with smoothbores than I have. Some of them obtain excellent patterns using very light over powder wadding as the wadding's weight causes it to slow or lag behind the shot at the muzzle (as happens with chokes) - or perhaps it merely lacks the weight to open up the shot cloud. Some of these 'light' waddings, are merely 3 or 4 "B" wads for over powder wads, as well as one "B" over the shot.

Some of the guys roughen the muzzle and this itself will retard wads in cylinders which in turn, tightens patterns. The roughened muzzle holds the wads back momentarily, which allows the shot cloud to escape ahead of the wads at the muzzle. The 'roughed bore section' is cleaned automatically each time you load from the muzzle so no fouling builds in the roughened area - as will happen with a ctg. gun that is not loaded from the muzzle, of course. Roughing can be done with a 'tap' of the correct size, cutting perhaps .010" deep - about 1/2" length of roughing is all that's needed. A small tool, like a bore brush wioth a handle screwed on, could be used to quickly clean the muzzle's rough section every few shots to keep it clean and operating. in ctg. guns. The 'getting filled with 'dirt'' was Greener's 'problem' with roughened cylinders, if I remember correctly from his 9th edition of THE GUN - etc.

Of course, for shooting single balls, the roughened muzzle section isn't needed, but will not 'hurt' - probably.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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