Wad’s in it for you?
Besides checking our cartridges are loaded with the correct wad type to comply with the rules of the ground we are shooting on, it’s likely we don’t give much thought to that small item between powder charge and shot load. Prior to the introduction of plastic, all wads made from ‘traditional’ materials such as felt, fibre and cork and these are increasingly required again today, with grounds insisting on their use for environmental reasons. The one-piece plastic cup wad remains the top choice for major competition use but moves against plastics have increased such that, in the UK at least, cartridge sales have swung back in favour of fibre wad cartridges. The same also applies in the game shooting spheres, as farmers and landowners move away from plastic wad litter on their ground.
When plastic wads were first introduced, shooters were regaled with their many advantages; some promotional material made claims for what would now appear to be rather optimistic performance improvements against traditional wads.
Such claims may, in part, explain why some shooters feel disadvantaged when required to use fibre wad cartridges. Need they feel concerned, and,
