As we maybe aware, i like bullet casting and swaging. Lately i have revisited swaging a .358 bullet with a GC base. The guy i bought my swage gear from has a theory that a grease card wad will work aswell as a crimped on GC. He has experimented by wad punching backs of notepads lubed between .020" and .040" dip lubed in a mixture of yellow beeswax and shellite. The wad must be factored as bullet weight, and is only good for straight wall cases.
I like the sound of it, worth a try maybe.
He cuts them at bullet diameter or a fraction larger, and simply pushes them in ontop of the powder charge, then seats bullet ontop.
Uncertainties…
How can one be sure it rides the bore 90 degrees to the bore?
How can one be sure it rides the bore hard against the bullet base?
Im going to try it at some point…stay tuned!
Okay, if you put a lubed wad behind a bullet it will stick to the bullet base and fall off sometime after it exits the barrel or maybe not. Anyway it will add a possible variable and be detrimental to accuracy. Lube wads and cookies are used in BPCR but there is usually another dry wad or two added behind the bullet to prevent them sticking to the bullet…
I’ve never heard of anyone using shellite in a lube mix, ever. The main job of lube in black-powder shooting is to soften the fouling. Petro-chemicals are avoided as they are usually hydrophobic and cause the fouling to harden. Traditional lubes allow for the fouling to remain soft between shots or to be softened by moisture, either blow-tube or damp patch.
About your alignment concerns: ( Applies to black-powder )
When loading the case, any wad/wads used should always be pushed down to contact the powder column and the bullet must be seated to touch the top most wad with no air gap. Never compress the column with the bullet, always use a die to compress the wad/s down on the powder then seat the bullet in contact with the top of the wad.
As for being as good as a gas-check, the job of the wad behind the bullet is to protect the base of the cast bullet and prevent gas-cutting. The use of gas-checks in black-powder competition is prohibited so can’t give you any feedback there. But, I do use them in my lever-guns with smokeless loads. Do I think a wad would work as well, yeah,nah!
.32-20, yes, I have 1/2 a dozen '92’s that get regular use. .25-20, no, it’s on the list but getting a decent one for a reasonable price is a bit difficult…32’s are a great little round, I don’t hunt with them but my brother in law used to quite successfully. From rabbits through to pigs.
I run a 120gr flat base cast bullet with 4 grains of either Trailboss or Unique or rocking-horse shit.
