Packing handloads with cream of wheat?

[Cheeseybacon]

I forget where I first saw it, but not too long ago I heard about someone mixing cream of wheat in with their powder to completely fill up the cartridge. I think they were doing loads for Cowboy action shooting, whatever that is.

Why would someone do this? Is there a reason for using cream of wheat as a filler? Less recoil? Whats the deal?

[Agent Ronin]

Originally Posted by Cheeseybacon

I forget where I first saw it, but not too long ago I heard about someone mixing cream of wheat in with their powder to completely fill up the cartridge. I think they were doing loads for Cowboy action shooting, whatever that is.

Why would someone do this? Is there a reason for using cream of wheat as a filler? Less recoil? Whats the deal?

Cowboy shooters use blackpowder which can be unstable if it rolls around too much in the cartridge. So by using cream of wheat they can make it a compressed charge without blowing themselves up. (I hear that the compressed charge makes the blackpowder work better)

[Joe Smith]

Does it work with CoCo wheat?

[T Durdin]

I heard it was to make a visible puff of smoke as a cartridge is fired, as modern powder {smokeless powder} doesn't give the same effect.

Just what I heard, I'm not in to cowboy shootin'

[bubba23]

Originally Posted by Joe Smith

Does it work with CoCo wheat?

I think so!

Our little town couldn't afford firework on the 4th, so we just made some reloads using Fruit Loops. That worked out real good.

[nijwnfi]

Cap and Ball Percussion pistol shooters often use fillers too. I never tried it, but have heard of it being done in competition if the shooter uses lighter powder load.

[jsb889]

Sounds like a good idea. Doesn't smokeless powder get a little extra potent if its handled too much too? I read about people tumbling live rounds for a few hours (I forget why) and caused problems when fired because the powder supposedly ground itself up.

[XD45]

i use pillow stuffing or tear up some cotton balls when reloading for my 45-70

[Pukindog]

I do alot of black powder shooting at several clubs. No one I know combines BP with anything. Only a fool would try some stupid trick like that. BP loads have to be compressed. We use over the powder wads and compression dies to set each powder charge. Just filling the case is not enough. The charge has to be compressed down. If there have air in the case major problems come up real fast.
Cream of Wheat is used to fill a case when fire-forming a wildcat.
Hard to believe what some people will try.
Jeff

[Agent Ronin]

Originally Posted by jsb889

Sounds like a good idea. Doesn't smokeless powder get a little extra potent if its handled too much too? I read about people tumbling live rounds for a few hours (I forget why) and caused problems when fired because the powder supposedly ground itself up.

Smokeless powder is ususally coated with a retardant to control its burn rates. Its shape also dictates how fast it burns as well. Tumbling alters this and makes things go kaboom!