I never thought that "stacked" wad columns would come back into fashion. They have though, especially for "green", black powder, and specific high performance loads.
There are very high quality wads to meet these needs, now, too. Circle Fly and Ballistic Products, for example, offer some very interesting products, many of which have not been available for many years.
IMO, however, there are still some "holes" in the "stacked" wad selection that some enterprising entrepreneur might consider filling. E.g.:
1. "Cupped" paper overpowder wads that would be similar to those that were used in the old paper "Super-X" loads. These wads promise obturation advantages in "overbored" barrels and/or barrels that have long forcing cones.
2. "Air cushion" filler wads that would be similar to those that Burrard described. These wads had a cupped hollow base that acted as an "air pocket" that served to reduce shot deformation in the lower portions of shot charges. Ballistic Products offers a felt "donut" version of this wad that offers considerable promise but it is very likely that this wad will work well only with plastic OP wads. For loads with cardboard OP wads hollow-based filler wads seem to offer the most promise.
3. Cardboard or paper "shot concentrator" shot cups. While many of the old-time "shot concentrators" were more ingenious than they were effective (or safe) at least a few were very similar to modern-day plastic shotcups. It seems to me that it might be a good idea to offer such shotcups that would be made of either heavy paper or light cardboard.
Last edited by Dingelfutz; 11/13/08 11:08 AM.
