Fiber wads for fowlers

[Maurice]

Preparing to work up a load for my recently completed .62 cal fowler. 42” Rice barrel, very thin barrel walls, not choked. Starting with 80 grains of 2F and 1&1/8 oz. # 6 shot. Plan to use an over powder card, fiber wad and overshot card. Plan to shoot at some paper turkeys initially to see the pattern.

Unsure about the fiber wad –lube it or leave dry. Not use it at all? How does it affect the pattern?

Knowing that the question is best answered by experimenting any comments about your experiences are appreciated

[smokinbuck]

The little smoothbore shooting I have done with my 12 bore has been 75grs FFG under a card wad and 1 1/8 ounce of #7 shot with a card wad. No fiber was. I shoot trap with this and the fiber was almost always blows my pattern.

[Daryl]

In chokeless smoothbores, I've used two thin cards between powder and shot and one thin card over the shot. This worked well in an original 11 bore english gun on trap with 1 1/4 oz shot and 82gr. 2f.

[Pukka Bundook]

Try  60 grains & 1 to 1 1/4 oz shot.
Voice in the wilderness, but more patterns are blown through too much powder.

[Mike Brooks]

If you're going to shoot skeet or trap, you're going to need lube. That's what I have always used the fiber wad for. White crisco works as well as yellow bore butter. If a whole wad blows my pattern, I'll try half a wad. If that still blows, I go to blanket weight felt lubed with just about anything, felt has never failed me. So, lube carrier and anti-shot deformation substance, otherwise known as a cushion.
 I know you guys will disregard this, so carry on.

[Daryl]

It's all good advice as this is all about finding out what the gun will shoot well with, Mike. All suggestions serve to show what is available.
I "got" the suggestion of the thin overshot wads to be used between powder and shot right here on this forum. I tried this back around
2010 or maybe 2012 & it worked for me. That shooting was with an original H. Whall 11 bore percussion gun & I won that trap shoot, with it
and that load, breaking 10 out of 10 birds with it.

[Brokennock]

Preparing to work up a load for my recently completed .62 cal fowler. 42” Rice barrel, very thin barrel walls, not choked. Starting with 80 grains of 2F and 1&1/8 oz. # 6 shot. Plan to use an over powder card, fiber wad and overshot card. Plan to shoot at some paper turkeys initially to see the pattern.

Unsure about the fiber wad –lube it or leave dry. Not use it at all? How does it affect the pattern?

Knowing that the question is best answered by experimenting any comments about your experiences are appreciated

If you're putting it in top of the shot column: powder, nitro card or stack of thin cards, shot, thin card, then fiber wad...... Lube It, and lube it heavily. Assuming you are speaking of one of those so called "cushion wads."
If not, leave it out.
Powder, thin card or cards, lubed felt wad/s or a ball of lubed tow, shot, thin card works. One person I know who does a massive amount of smoothbore shot shooting only uses thin cards, usually several between powder and shot, and just puts a blob of lube directly in the bore between a couple of them in the stack.

[Nessmuck]

Skychief load

[Austin]

I second skychief!

[Daryl]

Just experiment. The gun will tell you what it likes.

[bpd303]

I'll third the Skychief load, I think it's listed somewhere here. My other load is what is called a square load. Equal amounts by volume of powder and shot, lubed felt over powder wad and thin over shot card. Both work equally well in both of my old 13 ga fowler and Belgium proofed 13 ga fowler. The 16 ga double barrel flintlock shotgun made by J.T. Phillips with Cochren locks really likes them too.

Randy aka bpd303