piston wadded cartridges

[jwpzx9r]

What are the obvious differences between  a normal skirt wad cartridge and a piston waded cartridge with respect to patterning? I tried a few of the Joker piston wadded cartridges yesterday for UT and thought they were quite good if a bit thumpy. The price is good though and I think I might try them for trap shooting although I think the are more often used for sporting... is it just yet another instance of if you are on the target you will break it ?

 

[Salopian]

Could someone please explain the performance differences between piston wad cartridges and fibre wadded cartridges please?

 

[Jonny English]

I shot 200 hull pro pistons 4 week's ago to get rid of them, still cleaning my barrels now. Horrid things to clean up after, dreadful plastic and lead fouling like I've never seen before. Break clays very well at a lot further out than the box suggest.

 

[jwpzx9r]

Right so they shoot well enough but you have to tend to the gun a bit more. I might just try a slab and see how it pans out... I only normally clean my guns barrels about once every couple of months with my Clever cartridges... but they are about 60€ a thousand more than the Joker pistons is it worth the elbow grease? To be fair though it is really about performance for me if I give them a try if my scores don't drop then I may well be using them for a while.

 

[Jonny English]

Right so they shoot well enough but you have to tend to the gun a bit more. I might just try a slab and see how it pans out... I only normally clean my guns barrels about once every couple of months with my Clever cartridges... but they are about 60€ a thousand more than the Joker pistons is it worth the elbow grease? To be fair though it is really about performance for me if I give them a try if my scores don't drop then I may well be using them for a while.

They crunch clays really well out to 50 yards no problem at all, pattern very nicely and a good spread. Hull say up to 25 yards but I shot sporting with them out to 50 yards and they were fine. Just the plastic and lead fouling wasn't worth the hassle for me personally, can't hurt to give them a go and see what you think.

 

[Iggy]

I’ve been shooting Cheddite Smart Strike which I believe are piston wad or something like that. 

Can’t honestly say I’ve noticed much of a difference in my scores to be honest, as for my barrels I clean my gun after each use anyway and I never have any issues with these or fibres in terms of them coming up clean.  

I suspect my eyesight may be connected to both....

 

[schmokinn]

Shoot loads of f3 pistons and bior which have no cup at all...clean as a whistle and if they were chrome lined they would rarely be cleaned.

 

[Geordieboy]

I know an England Verteran who routinely wins shoots and his class with a fixed 3/4 Full Mk38 trap.  At sporting he uses probably 70% - 80% of his cartridges as Hull Pro Pistons.  they work a treat in that gun.  It gives him a slightly more open pattern for stuff out to 35yds.

 

[Westward]

Could someone please explain the performance differences between piston wad cartridges and fibre wadded cartridges please?

I too would be interested to know. Someone who's opinion opinion I regard very highly, having pattern tested Pro Ones, said they're pretty pointless and you might as well use cheap fibre wad shells if you want a little more pattern spread.

 

[FreeShot]

If we are referring to piston that is used in Hull (Pro piston), Cheddite (Free Shots), Fiocchi (F3 Bior):

...piston wad sports a "skirt" (under) and a "cup" (over).

- Skirt should seal the gasses in backbored barrels better than fibre

- Cup holds some shot that should serve as a wedge that should spread shot more than fibre wad...in theory 

Then there is piston wad that is found in Fiocchi (F3 Piston), and Clever (T4 Pro sporting) and is called by Gualandi a "Skeet piston wad" :

- Skirt is quite shorter than on previous one - tho should still seal gasses better than fibre wad...

- Cup is longer than on previous one - still shorter than in trap shells - should fit between regular and bior/short piston/fibre wad - Clever goes even further stating that this wad gives best results between 30 and 45 meters...in theory

While I may be buying the sealing part the rest is debatable - but sells rather well I believe - all fun and games.

Iggy - Cheddite smart strike has Aquila (regular) wad that is used in their Sporting, Universal trap, 3 mach (regular) cartridges:

 

[Salopian]

Freeshot ,

 Thank you for the information.

I'll save some money and stick to cheap fibres , thank you .

Unless of course the plaswads come down in price and are cheaper than fibres ?

How about a high volume selling cartridge branded 'CheapSkate'

 

[Geordieboy]

Freeshot ,

 Thank you for the information.

I'll save some money and stick to cheap fibres , thank you .

Unless of course the plaswads come down in price and are cheaper than fibres ?

How about a high volume selling cartridge branded 'CheapSkate'

I thought all plastics were cheaper than fibers?

 

[Salopian]

Yes , possibly , but not with the 'nevermiss' plastic wad'.

 

[Wonko the Sane]

I reloaded prolly hundreds of thousands of cart over the near 30 years I did that.  I used every factory wad and every magic wad that came on the market.  the difference in performance from where I stood was undetectable.  In the last few years I came to appreciate that price was the real deciding factor in selecting a wad.  

And if wad configuration REALLY was a measurable factor how is it possible that a manufacturer would want to issue a product that was demonstrably inferior to competitors in the market place?

The only component that I recall seeing having any measurable effect was the hardness factor of shot - as in better patterns with harder shot.  And even then the hardness was a tester derived methodology as the touted hardness by the manufacturer was often suspect.

JMO of course but I sure wish I had found one that was really magic