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Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 208

This should probably fall under the "absolutely useless and ridiculous waste of time" forum, but there isn't one so I thought I'd post it here.

The other day, after shooting skeet, I picked up five spent Downrange wads. This evening I loaded them on top of 16.6g of Int'l Clays, under 7/8 oz. of 8's, in a Winchester SuperX hull. Interestingly, the wads made a distinct "pop" as they were seated in the hull.

A mediocre skeet shot at best, I usually hit about four out of every five targets, or maybe a little better. I will shoot the shells with the recycled wads from my most difficult stations and post the results here.

I did this in response to a query from my wife, a devoted "reduce, re-use, recycle" proponent, as to what happens to all of the plastic wads left lying around after we run through skeet. It made me wonder if maybe wads can be recycled. The impediments to doing so are obvious and many but, where there's a will, there's a way. 8mmFan

Hello 8mmFan,

While I was stationed Turkey, we regularly recycled our wads. They work just fine.

Caution, do not use brittle ones, the ones having been out in the sun for a few or more days.

I look forward to your report
Mike

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 425 Location: Maine

They're certainly easy to spot on the ground.

Joined: 09 Jul 2009 Posts: 510 Location: Central CT

You guys have too much time on your hands!! Laughing

Back when I started shooting Trap for the first 5 years or so I shot exclusivly picked up wads , I would take a target box and go sit down in the middle of the wads after a State Shoot and pick only good ones of usually AA's and some Federal wads , take them home and place them in an onion sack and throw em in the washing machine they came out very clean , dirt free and soft .

I used those for many years afterwards and still have some stored for a later date .

Pick up the ones with the base wad intact and reuse them they shoot better the second time around .

Things are getting so expensive that we have to cut corners every where we can , so we can shoot more often .

I have picked up a bunch of the wads that I have shot when hunting but at the velocity that I push em they are a bit used up already , I have probally 500-600 in a box .

Regards Charles

Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 168

I'm still fairly new to reloading, but it seems that using a recycled wad would be a little too "squeekey" even for me. Now I know how everyone likes to save when possible but even shooting factories isn't that expensive(if you can stand the kick of those little black remash*ts). Let us know how they work anyways.

Joined: 09 Jul 2009 Posts: 510 Location: Central CT

Don't give them any more stupid ideas, our government has proved to have enough of their own.

What Charles said X 2 . If you find them and they're sound , use them . Been done for ages to some extent . The ageing part is important though - I've got some old factory unfireds that are going south and most will just go POOF in the barrel when fired .

Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 208

Just when you think you have a fairly original thought....along comes a bunch of guys who've already "been there, done that, and get the T-shirt!" Ha ha. Thanks for the input, guys. I will let you know how they do.

I especially like Charles' idea of picking up the good ones (as someone posted, the DR's really do stand out), putting them in an onion sack, and washing them in the washer. It's really not that much work to pick them up, and after several trips to the range you'd probably have a bunch depending on how many rounds you shoot. 8mmFan

Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 208

Hello guys. I went to the range today and, as several of you had said they would, the recycled wads worked just fine. I actually hit five for five from my toughest skeet stations (maybe I was concentrating a little harder). Not only did I break the target with every recycled wad, there was absolutely no noticeable difference in the performance between the recycled wad and the new wads.

Super cool. I wish it was easier to find and pick up the recycled wads. 8mmFan

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

The best thing about picking up wads is there is no one else doing it--unlike the scavengers circling the trash barrels Twisted Evil

DAMN the secret is out now Evil or Very Mad