Using Hornets Nest as Wadding

[Hivernant1962]

Good morning all, I am interested in hearing about your experiences with hornet nesting. I have a bunch and would like to use it for wadding in my trade gun. Ideas like how big, how many leaves between shot and powder, and how much over the shot- that kind of thing. I'm also interested in successful shot loads using nesting. My gun is a .62 Thanks Troy.

[Clowdis]

I remember my grandfather talking about using hornets nest for wadding in a muzzleloading shotgun. But it was a long time ago and I don't remember how much or where. Just remember him talking about using it. My guess is he used it as over powder wadding as well as over shot wadding. You need both and if that's all you got, you use it both places.

[Longknife]

I have never used Hornets Nest but on occasion I have used leaves, green or dry, depending time of year. You will need enough over the powder so that it stays together in the barrel and shreds after leaving the barrel. Usually about a half inch thick when packed tight......Ed

[Mike Brooks]

They sell shot gun wads commercially ...very consistent. So I go with those.

[Mad Monk]

Good morning all, I am interested in hearing about your experiences with hornet nesting. I have a bunch and would like to use it for wadding in my trade gun. Ideas like how big, how many leaves between shot and powder, and how much over the shot- that kind of thing. I'm also interested in successful shot loads using nesting. My gun is a .62 Thanks Troy.

You would have to go back in the old Buckskin Report magazines from the early 1980s for a good description of that.  Sam Fadala and C.P. Wood used it and wrote about it.  At the time there was not much out there in the way of commercial wadding.  Where C. P. Wood lived he was able to collect a lot of wasps nests.  The ones that make a paper nest.  Of course collected once the winter temperatures drop below freezing.  Then there is the fun of breaking the nests up to remove eggs.
The idea was that the material made by the wasps is flame retarded.  When they chew the wood up to make the nest material their saliva acts as a flame retardant.  When shot you don't have to worry about the wadding starting fires in grass or brush.  We were shooting at a Morgan's Rifles shoot one year and drought dry grass was involved in several fires started by smouldering patches or wadding.

[Dan Herda]

I have been using it with good results. I use a two finger pinches worth equal to perhaps a shooter marble size pc. Shot a jake last springuseing it. 70g FF Goex,nesting,same measure of #5 shot and nesting again.20 ga. Fusil by TVM.my hunting partner used a very similar load to take a turkey last Fri. Afternoon,same result. Before using it hunting I tried many loads with nest and modern cards and wads etc. nesting was most reliable and best pattern. i will stick with it. If the is ever error, always have a bit more shot than powder.

[Daryl]

I prefer commercial wads of the correct size, as sold by www.trackofthewolf.com.  Consistency of pattern, for me is very important.  Since I want consistency I can rely upon, I use the correct wads, as did everyone who could get them 'back then'.

[hanshi]

Commercial fiber wads or even felt wads are much easier to use than hornet nest, IMO.  Not that I haven't ever used hornet nest because I have; I still have a fair supply of it, in fact. 

[Stan]

It has been proven to me that hornet nest is superior, in that it doesn't disturb the shot pattern, so I switched.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I'd have to agree with Stan.  Though I have not used wasp nest for wadding in pelters, the theory seems sound to me.  The nesting material is very light, breaks up upon leaving the muzzle and does not punch a hole through the pattern, theoretically.  I suspect that it provides a nice cushion for the shot column too.  I'll give it a try.

[Hungry Horse]

I only wish there were a commercially produced product that worked as well. It almost never blows a pattern, and for unknown reasons, I've never found it smoldering after the shot. That's saying a bunch considering the ambient air temperature where I live, can be well over a hundred, with little humidity.

  Hungry Horse

[Mad Monk]

I only wish there were a commercially produced product that worked as well. It almost never blows a pattern, and for unknown reasons, I've never found it smoldering after the shot. That's saying a bunch considering the ambient air temperature where I live, can be well over a hundred, with little humidity.

  Hungry Horse

When the wasps chew the wood they use to make their paper nests their saliva adds what is basically a flame retarding chemical to the resulting paper.  We mimicked this when we took old newspapers and made flame retarded insulating materials used for building insulation, ceiling tiles, etc.

[Goo]

I only wish there were a commercially produced product that worked as well. It almost never blows a pattern, and for unknown reasons, I've never found it smoldering after the shot. That's saying a bunch considering the ambient air temperature where I live, can be well over a hundred, with little humidity.

  Hungry Horse

When the wasps chew the wood they use to make their paper nests their saliva adds what is basically a flame retarding chemical to the resulting paper.  We mimicked this when we took old newspapers and made flame retarded insulating materials used for building insulation, ceiling tiles, etc.


Maybe one could punch wads out of ceiling tiles ?

[Hungry Horse]

You could punch wads out of ceiling tile, but then they would be the same as wads you can buy anywhere. Part of the reason for using hornets nest material, is that it isn't ground, and pressed, and glued, into a rigid plug, that blows a hole in your pattern.

  Hungry Horse

[Leatherbark]

One could try blow in insulation as wadding.  Isn't it a fire retardant paper?

[Steve-In]

Getting the nest can be a challange. 

[WKevinD]

I collect them in winter (Jan-Feb) when they are dormant. I squash it flat and cut into 1 1/2" squares, put in zip lock bags and bring them inside. If there are critters in the bag when they thaw out I squash them inside the bag.
I use a pinch as over powder and another for overshot. The nesting does not smolder so summer shooting doesn't start grass fires, and a small sack of cut up nesting is easy to carry in a shot pouch.
Kevin

[hanshi]

During hunting season is when I usually come upon them.  Sometimes they have been destroyed by bears but often they are too far up a tree for them to reach.  Never in spring or summer!

[410-er]

Will the Wasp nest found on the underside of barn roofs work?The round flat ones.

[WKevinD]

Don't know, I use the "football" shaped nests, also in the barn rafters.
Kevin

[Dennis Glazener]

Will the Wasp nest found on the underside of barn roofs work?The round flat ones.

Yep, they work fine for me. I think the football shaped ones are hornets nest, never tried any of them.
Dennis

[g2608671@verizon.net]

I used it many years ago but did not notice any changes in accuracy, ease of loading or cleaning.  But I can tell you that when you "harvest" one of these nests it's a good idea to have a trash bag and a can of hornet spray handy.  Put the nest in the bag and spray in a dose of insecticide, close it up and leave it alone for a few days. Also, hornets nest can have a tenancy to retain a spark from the powder charge so it's not a good idea to use it when the woods are dry and there is a lot of fire starting stuff in the woods like dried leaves.  I have never heard of a fire being started that way but it was in the back of my mind every time I hunted with hornets nest over the main charge.

[Hungry Horse]

Out here in the people's republic of California, where a hot look from a beautiful woman can burn down half the state in the hot, dry, summer, the very first thing I check when testing patching, lubes, or wadding, is it ability to hold a spark, and set a fire. I have never had hornets nest, or paper wasp nest hold a spark. I will admit that I have only harvested one traditional hornets nest for this purpose, since they aren't as common here as the wasps that build their little nests in the corner of houses, and barns. I found that wasp nest tends to blow apart into small fragments, and don't have a piece with enough mass to blow your shot pattern.

 Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Out here in the people's republic of California, where a hot look from a beautiful woman can burn down half the state in the hot, dry, summer, the very first thing I check when testing patching, lubes, or wadding, is it ability to hold a spark, and set a fire. I have never had hornets nest, or paper wasp nest hold a spark. I will admit that I have only harvested one traditional hornets nest for this purpose, since they aren't as common here as the wasps that build their little nests in the corner of houses, and barns. I found that wasp nest tends to blow apart into small fragments, and don't have a piece with enough mass to blow your shot pattern.

 Hungry Horse

Blowing apart into tiny pieces is what happened to the paper ctgs. I used in my rifle. NEVER a burning piece of paper. They were TIGHT however, not loosely loaded as with military musket paper ctgs.  I cannot vouch for those.

[hanshi]

It has also been my experience that hornet/wasp nest material turns into sort of a "gray snow" when the gun is fired.  I've even tried to burn it with a match but it wouldn't even smolder unless the match continued to burn.  I also collect wasp nest material and it does seem a bit stiffer than hornet nest.

To find out which type you're trying to collect, smack it with your hand and see what comes out. 

And a big welcome to you, Polekat.