Wasp nest material?

[Mr. 16 gauge]

There is a very good (or at least I think it's good) article in this months Fur-Fish-Game magazine on traditional muzzleloading.
In it, the author talks about using the material from paper wasps as a 'gas seal'....I read a book on muzzleloading by Sam Fadala, and when he talked about using wasp nests, it was to prevent 'burn through' of the patch.

Has anyone ever used paper wasp patching? If so, what are your experiences?

I have found a wasp nest in the woods while hunting.....I hope it's still there come winter (hopefully some numbnuts wont put a slug through it come deer season )

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

I just read in the Hodgdon's reloading book under Pyrodex about using wasp's nest material to prevent burnout of the patch.

I have not seen a wasp's nest in the woods lately, so I use bore buttons over the powder to protect the patch around the roundball.

Adam

[rattus58]

Wad's are much easier to work with.

[roundball]

Originally posted by Mr. 16 gauge

Has anyone ever used paper wasp patching? If so, what are your experiences?

At a recent family reunion out of state, a relative who also shoots traditional had 6-7 hornest nests and gave me three of them to bring back and experiment with.

Took a section of one to the range and used it...the stuff is flimsy and packs / compresses a lot, so I'd stuff 2-3 pinches into the muzzle until I figured I had about 2" in there then seated it down firmly on the powder...compressed down to a wad about a 1/2" judging from my witness marks.

And it works as advertised...provides a good seal, didn't change the POI from that of using an Oxyoke wonderwad at least to the 50 yards I tested it...and true to its reputation it didn't burn...didn't even char...found the "wad"/patch combos on the ground just like normal.

Another gent had told me that hornests nest material, in spite of how delicate and paper thin they seemed, were actually made of mud and subsequently were abrasive...haven't had time to research that further but it nagged at me so I only shot a dozen shots using it.

I plan to shoot a deer this fall using hornets nest material as an overpowder wad just to know I did it then I'll be done with it.

[bulletpusher]

My question is what do you do with the wasps? Its been said that the nest is made from mud and abrasive, if you leave the wasps in the nest when using do their bodys help to lube the bore from the abrasion.

Just joking.

Every wasp nest that I've seen in the last few years has been loaded with wasps. Go figure.

Just had to get the above statements in, I know I couldn't have been the only one to think of it.

Bulletpusher

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Every wasp nest that I've seen in the last few years has been loaded with wasps. Go figure.

Bulletpusher;
I usually end up finding them in the dead of winter, when the wasps are dormant. I take em then.....take the material and leave the wasps outside.

[roundball]

Just an FYI on the composition of wasps nests...I had been told wrong...if you google up wasps nests, it says they are simply made out of the wasp's sliva and reside from chewing plant material