cooked COW

[44 Dave]

Does any one reduce their bp cartridge loads with Cream O Wheat?
I some times SASS shoot Frontier Cartridge, and last Fall I had no noticeable problem. Yesterday 90 degrees with guns getting uncomfortably hot to handle. When I went to pre-clean before putting it in a case, my '73 with the 23" barrel the last 6" were fouled with cooked crap.
The pistols like the grits and are cleaner.
May have to load separate rifle rounds
These are .44 WCF cartridges, that don't lend them selves to using a solid wad filler.

[HiBC]

I don't shoot SASS anymore.I tried it for awhile..I'm not loading BP cartridge right now. When I did,it was rifle.
I/we never used any grits,corn meal ,COW,etc for filler.
We did experiment with grease cookies,etc.
I've read about all of Paul Matthews,Venturino,used to subscribe to BPCR NEWS. I've read Ned Roberts on loading black powder cartridges. While folksdid use wads and grease cookies for various reasons,to protect the bullet or lube the bore,they were not filler. The "filler"was BP.

I guess the point for SASS is gaming with weenie loads.

Here is my concern about using COW. The traditional use is case fireforming.
I used it to blow 30-40 Krag out to straight wall basic brass for 40-60 Maynard,40-70 Sharps,40-50 Sharps,etc. And that's how I made 35 Whelen from 30-06.
I'm very familiar with using COW for case forming.

There is something about theway it packs and "flows" as a semi-solid plug that A) Creates pressure behind it sufficient to form brass and B)Actually helps to mechanically form the brass as sort of an expander.

I've used it with great success for this purpose.

An important fact to consider,WE NEVER<EVER USED A BULLET>

The COW was sufficient resistance to create pressure by itself with Bullseye smokeless.

I do not know where the idea of using COW for filler with a bullet on top of it came from,but,IMO,it is ill advised.

I'm not involved with SASS anymore,but there was a "Spirit of the Game" code.

My suggestion to SASS,in the "Spirit of the game", abandon this experimentation with fillers for safety sake.
The traditional filler was BP. There were no weenie low recoil gaming loads.

This stuff is a lot like the use of steroids in sports. "Yeah,well,you have to,to be competitive"

[Model12Win]

I don't think them boys at Gettysburg and Richmond were using cream of wheat in their guns.

I don't use it in mine neither.

[Hellgate]

Dave,
I suspect you are running out of lube in that long barrel. Hot, dry air makes it worse. Moist air would likely keep the fouling a little softer and it'd be shot out the barrel. What bullet are you using? I'd suggest you take a look a Dick Dastardly's "Big Lube" 6 cavity bullet molds. His Mav Dutchman 200gr mold and maybe the 44 Truncated cone mold might work too. They have extra carrying capacity for lube just so you can avoid fouling those long barrels. If you are already using one of DD's molds then maybe the COW is leaching away some of the oils out of your lube causing the buildup. I used to do a wet "pull through" between stages but got tired of getting black crap on my shirt sleeve. That was when I was using a BP lube on a standard bullet over FF Goex. I'd get the last 4" of my barrel fouled out in a couple of stages.

I am cringing while saying this but you could also go to a BP sub like Black MZ or 2F 777.

[maillemaker]

I use filler in black powder cap and ball revolvers, in order to allow the bullet to seat near the cylinder face.

Since a cartridge mechanically puts the bullet at the case mouth, I don't see what the need for filler would be.

Does it help with accuracy?

Are you not supposed to shoot non-full cases of black powder in BP cartridge guns?

Steve

[Hellgate]

According to most "experts" you should not have an air space between the base of the bullet and the powder when loading BP cartridges so if someone wants to shoot 30 grs instead of 40 grs in a cartridge they will use a filler like corn meal, COW, or a wad to occupy the dreaded space. Some people ignore the warning and get away with it but I don't believe you will find a prominent writer or powder manufacturer advocate leaving a space in the cartridge using BP or the subs.