Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders 12Ga wads

Hello, I currently am gearing up for turkey season after recently purchasing a CVA Trapper 12ga with internal chokes, and a T/C New Englander 12ga with an internal choke. I bought all of my supplies from ballistic products, and when i went to load my CVA Trapper, the overpowder (nitro) card the is way too big to fit. I have read some people have to take the chokes out, but in all honesty i am not interesting in having to unscrew my choke tube every time i want to fire the ML. I figured well i'll try my T/C, and i have the same problem. So i grab some of the cushion wads and the over shot cards and checked the clearance on those and on both guns same issue. ,I have looked for information from the manufacturer and T/C does not make the wads they recommend for there 12ga anymore. If anyone can point me in the right direction i would appreciate it

Thanks,
ML92

you may just be stuck taking out the tube every time, have heard on some guns theres no way around it.

See if you can get the old fashioned fiber wads. They are going to be a tight fit too but are made to compress when you ram them in. Sorta like loading a paper shotshell from the 50's

You may already known this but Circle Fly still makes a wide assortment of fiber wads.

https://circlefly.com

They also offer several possible solutions to your issue in their muzzleloading shotgun information page.

(If you’ve already seen all this, disregard. 😁)

Postscript. You would laugh if you knew what I use for wadding in my smoothbores.

Woodie, I've read that back in the olden days wasp nest were also used with the patched balls to prevent the patches from being burned. Maybe they would use the patches again if they could find them.

Thanks kay i did read cicle flys information.
So i have successfully fired both guns using the method of turning the nitro card on its side and forcing it in and using the ram to flatten it back out, they also say that 14ga cushion wads would be fine to use in place of a 12ga wad as it is just there for support. The overshot cards is thin enough to bend to work so i have found a solution, next time i'm ordering mini nitro and not maxis. i think the diameter would make a big difference in how easy it is to get down past the choke.

ML 92,

Back in the day when I had several sxs ml shotguns I also used undersize fiber wads. Worked great Instoll pack a few circle fly overshot wads along with my wasp nests. Good luck!

Webster Parish,

Yes I’ve heard same thing of using some nest for overpowder.

Y’all have great day! Webster! Stay dry!

Back when smoothbore muskets were the norm, hunters would just pour some powder down the barrel, top it with a ball of paper, pour some shot in and top it with another wad of paper. The ramrod kept everything tight until they fired it out. I don't see why you couldn't do the same with Sunday's newspaper.

Plastic shotgun wads are sized to fit into a shell, not the bore.
Most 12 ga. shotguns have a bore size of .720.
Wads are made with a cupped base that expands upon firing to seal the bore.
You may be able to use a shotgun wad if you get a cylinder choke tube.
That way, the tube will be the same diameter as the bore and you can force the wad in.

I shoot a Knight TK2000 for spring gobblers and use TPS wads and for overshot I use styrofoam trays like you get meat on from the grocery store. I took a old extra 12 ga turkey choke tube that I had and ground the end of it sharp below the threads to cut my over shot cards out. I have a screw in choke also with in the Knight shotgun and I have no problems at all loading mine and everything stays tight. It might give you an idea to work with using the styrofoam meat trays. I would not hesitate to take a 50 yard shot with my Knight, but kicks like a government mule on crack lol....