Punch for making felt grease cookies of uniform size from felt

I bought a 10mm (.40) punch from eBay for a few bucks. I can chuck it in the drill press and really crank out the wads for my Uberti 1861 Navy.

Hollow punches are available but these are easier
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/174/1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ox-Yoke-Or...03:m:mE80pUq-70bxHowe4WCa7XQ&var=592120246668

I do a similar operation using a piece of flared 45ACP brass. Flare to diameter, sharpen with a inside deburr tool, and punch away.

Low speed production, but the tooling is free.

I have punches for 36 and 45 calibers from Track of the Wolf. They are more expensive than some but have made thousands of felt wads and are still cut cleanly. I use a homemade wooden mallet as a hammer. Less than five minutes provides a couple hundred wads ready for the lube.

Jeff

The cadillac of wad punches---from Buffalo arms. Available in several sizes. I have one each of .38, .40, .45, and .50 punches. These works off your reloading press. I can punch out over 1000 perfect wads from felt, cardboard, LDPE plastic, leather, or gasket material in about a half hour.
https://www.buffaloarms.com/45-caliber-rifle-press-mounted-wad-punch-45pmwp

orpington said:

Running something off of my drill press will work. Not sure why I didn't think of that. I had something with two handles that you compress, like a hand held hole puncher, in mind.

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Before I bought an actual hollow punch, I used a home-made punch made from a .40 cartridge case with a sharpened mouth. Easy-peasy.

I’m using.45 colt cases and instead of felt, I have co-opted @TheOutlawKid method of using wax and oil based lube on paper towels. Easy and effective.

woodnbow said:

I’m using.45 colt cases and instead of felt, I have co-opted @TheOutlawKid method of using wax and oil based lube on paper towels. Easy and effective.

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I tried the "lube cookie" approach and gave up after a couple of tries. My first batch was too hard and my second batch was too messy, at least for the weather conditions when I tried them (it can go from well below zero in the winter to low nineties in the summer here in northern NY). I didn't use a layer of paper towel, though... I should have tried that. I'm guessing it helps with the durability and handling issues with the lube cookies, too. To me, the lubed felt wads just seem easier to store, transport and use.

Curator said:

The cadillac of wad punches---from Buffalo arms. Available in several sizes. I have one each of .38, .40, .45, and .50 punches. These works off your reloading press. I can punch out over 1000 perfect wads from felt, cardboard, LDPE plastic, leather, or gasket material in about a half hour.
https://www.buffaloarms.com/45-caliber-rifle-press-mounted-wad-punch-45pmwp

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Wow! I have never seen those and am grateful for your post. How does it work, exactly? Does it punch through multiple layers at once? I would love to be able to ditch my hand punch and hammer for making lubricated felt wads...

.38 Special said:

Wow! I have never seen those and am grateful for your post. How does it work, exactly? Does it punch through multiple layers at once? I would love to be able to ditch my hand punch and hammer for making lubricated felt wads...

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The die screws onto your loading press. You can use multiple layers if they are thin enough to fit in the feed-slot. I find that 1/4" felt just barely fits in the feed slot but can get four or more cereal box sheets in it as well as about the same number of plastic coffee can lids (LDPE) Yes, it is not "cheap" but fine tools never are. The amount of time it saves plus the quality of the wads it cuts is more than worth it. I did the hand punch and hammer routine for many years until I found out about these. Cut 10 times the number of wads in the same time and not be tired afterwards!

Seems like nobody makes punches for 54 cal. Unfortunate.

brewer12345 said:

Seems like nobody makes punches for 54 cal. Unfortunate.

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A 9/16" gasket hole punch will get you pretty close.

Harbor Freight has a hole punch set that will work for most wad sizes. Nine peace chrome plated set from 3/3, and 52 to 1/2 in. I use these for .36 .44 - .45 and .50. Very good for paper or felt and inexpensive.

There was a fellow from Ohio on another forum who made punches for patches and wads. I don't know if he still does it but he made several for me. Mine work fine.

If you wish to contact him, PM me and I'll give you his address.

buflow said:

Harbor Freight has a hole punch set that will work for most wad sizes. Nine peace chrome plated set from 3/3, and 52 to 1/2 in. I use these for .36 .44 - .45 and .50. Very good for paper or felt and inexpensive.

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My set from Harbor Freight has a 1/4 shank. Chucked into a drill press or hand drill and cut away.

I made a hole punch from scrap.

Mr.damoc that is one fine tool. Very creative. I bet one could use it with far more precision if they "aimed" and hit the tool with a hammer...like you would a regular punch. I buy my punches from amazon...they come in alot of different sizes...but i use the 3/8ths for my .36 navies. And its pretty durable and fast. I can cut hundreds in a matter of minutes and it cuts cardboard easy. I cut through cereal box and cork with very square edges.

I also have a harbor frieght punch set that i use to cut my paper towel lube disks/wads. I also have made custom punches using the same set for .44 cal, all i did was open up the punch that was a bit to small for the .44, i used the cone shaped stone on a dremel kit to open up the punch evenly...worked pretty dang good. But i didnt use the dremel...i placed the punch in a drill press and lowered it onto the cone stone while it was in a vise under it. I was aiming for precision.

It works pretty well with a hammer as well i used the same punch with a hammer to punch out some heavy leather as well.