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Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Illinois

I've been testing with the new Cheddite wads that Grafs is selling, and they are coming apart. I loaded some light 7/8 oz. loads in a 2 1/2" cheddite hull with HS6 powder at about 1100 fps, which should be a low pressure load.

Out of about 20 rounds fired I found two hulls with the bottom section of the wad still in the hull. I also picked up one wad off of the ground that had the bottom section missing, and another with a hole punched through the over powder section of the wad.

The failures were with the 1 1/8 oz. wad. I haven't noticed any seperations yet with the 1 oz. wad. I fired about 10 of each.

Does anybody have any ideas on what could be going on to cause such a failure?

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Were the wads brittle when they were loaded Question

Guest

H1tdk that is most odd. What powder charge of HS-6 did you use?

Can you see what will happen using 16 grains of Unique with the 7/8th ounce load. This powder charge gives me great performance with both Black Remingtons and R16 wads and Cheddite hull with Gualandi wads.

H1tdk00
I hope you try the 2 unique loads that Twice Barrel has mentioned. I use both these loads and think highly of them. Looks like the cheddite hulls are off my Xmas list of wants. All I could suggest is to closely examine that bag of wads for some type of damage that could of occured during manufacture

How do you explain the bottom section of the wad to remain in the hull after the shell has been fired that would mean the entire shot column would also be in the hull ????? and is this a Cheddit wad or a Gualandi ??? didnt know Graff sold a Cheddit Plastic wad ??? could you shed some more light on the subject ??? Some parts of the puzzle are missing .

Regards Charles

Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Illinois

I was using 21.5 grains of HS 6. It should be a very low pressure load based on similar load of 25 grains of HS 6 with a Gualandi wad and 1 oz. of shot at under 9000 psi.

I don't have any Unique powder, but I will try and get some next time I'm at Grafs.

Charles, this is the new Cheddite wad that Grafs is selling, not the Gualandi wads. Only the bottom section of the wad is still in the hull. The shot cup and all the shot exit the barrel, and actually have fairly consistent chronograph readings. The wad is seperating into 2 pieces. And it was only the 1 1/8 oz. wad that was seperating. None of the 1 oz. wads seperated. I did find a spent 1 oz. wad that had a hole in the over powder section of the wad, but the whole wad was intact.

On a positive note, the wads really give nice patterns. Noticeably tighter than the Gualandi wads.

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

I'm with Charles on this one. I don't see how any portion of the wad could still be in the hull after firing. Unless maybe you forgot to put powder in the hull, and the shot just rolled out the end of the gun barrel. Wink

Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Illinois

Dave, I actually chronographed one of the loads that did this. It chronographed right at 1100 fps, I picked the hull up and the over powder section of the wad was still in the hull. There was a large hole blown in the middle of it, so I'm sure the pressure just blew through the bottom section of the wad and pushed the shot cup section with the shot out the barrel.

I know it might be hard to believe, but that is exactly what happend.

I called and talked to Mike Graf, and he said to send the wads back with some samples of the seperated wads.

Member Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 138 Location: Parma, OH

OK, that was the key piece of info. The seal of the bottom portion of the wad got stuck, not the entire bottom of the wad.

Mike Doerner

AhHa!

Brian

tdk,
Ya got ta be careful in your explanations on this board. You may be communicating with a bunch of engineers. Wink

Then again even they will come around in time.
Best,
Ron

Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 81 Location: Illinois

Sorry for the poor description guys.

Slidehammer, thanks for the tip. I'll definately stop using the HS6. I have some PB, I will give that a try and see what happens.

Are you using the 1 oz. or the 1 1/8 oz. wad?

h1tdk00,

I got some of both of the Cheddite wads to try... (1oz, 1 1/8oz)

However I am only loading 7/8oz at about 1150fps in Federal hulls. I cut wads from styrofoam meat trays to put into shotcup first before shot drop to adjust crimp space.

Loads seem fine, but as I said I haven't tried but 25 of each so far as I just got the wads.

Slidehammer

Hang in there Slidehammer , your going to get your 3/4-7/8 OZ wads . I am working real hard on this and soon they will be here.

Regards Charles