I'm looking for an outlet for dacron fiber filler and so far all I've come up with is fiber filler for pillows which is polyester. Which, by the way, melts and leaves a mess in the barrel. Possibly could cause an increase in pressure? I wouldn't have a clue on the latter but want to be extremely careful of any filler. I've gleaned out of the book, "Shooting the British Double Rifle", by Graeme Wright that just a pinch should do for each case-.5 to 1.0 grains. I know about Puf-Lon and the shotgun buffers that do a nice job on steel shot might do the job but so far have decided on the dacron filler. Any leads appreciated. Good shooting! Mike

The NRA publication "Handloading" has an article by Bill Davis that says not to use Dacron as a filler. If Davis says not to use it don't use it.

I use Kapox. One old life jacket or boat cushion will last for a long time.

I would imagine the pillow stuffing I got a wally world is poly, it was all I could find and best I can tell it hasnt stuck yet. It's worked for me so far. I would like to find something thats easier to work with.

you would think I could find a old life jacket on the texas coast, I might ought to look in my boat.

For my 45-70 loads, I have been using toilet paper. Works great.

Just this weekend, another member at the club suggested to me to use cotton. I will give that a try as well.

Danny Boy

FWIW:

"Spring,

Without gettin too far off in the weeds about the chemistry, here is the short course in Dacron. Dacron is the registered trade name for a long chain polymer invented by Dupont in the forties. It is made from ethylene glycol. A few years ago Dupont Textiles and Interiors changed its name to Invista. All dacron is made by them in two mills in Kingston, NC and Yadkinville, NC. The price has jumped over 20% in the last two years (rhymes with OPEC).

Some fabric stores are now selling generic polyester batting that is not Dacron. Here is a source for genuine Dacron in rolls: http://www.foamorder.com/products.cgi?cart=c5W0z1n612769166n5B6a8W&item=accessories

They sell the genuine stuff for $3.85 per yard. I am going to sharpen (chamfer) the mouth of an old 470 NE case and also a 50 BMG case and tap their bases to attach a stud to chuck up in a cordless drill. Then I can cut cylindrical pieces of the dacron to pack down into a case over the powder. If you cut out a window in the side of your converted case "cookie cutter" you can pluck out dacron plugs easily.

The shorter answer is don't use anything unless it has the Dacron trademark.

If you can find a fabric store that has loose Dacron by the bag just pluck, weigh and stuff as Ray has described.

JCN

When you get a feel for what real Dacron looks and feels like you can train your shorthair pup to rip your daughter/grandaughter's stuffed teddy bear apart if you run short the night before leaving to hunt/practice. My shorthairs readily learned this skill."

FWIW, I've used the pillow fill in low pressure loads in only two rounds, 11.15x60R (.43) Mauser and the 45-70. It has worked well for me in both rounds and I have never noticed any melting of the fiber. In fact, I was quite surprised at the way it blows out almost intact. Different rounds/loading may very well yield different results.



JCN, thanks for the link to the Dacron, I wanted to use it, but I couldn't find it in any of the fabric/crafts stores up here.

Invista is the name that Koch industries stuck on the assets they bought from Dupont. I know little about dacron other that it is considered a polyester fiber, no doubt high stregth, but it all starts out about the same (more than likly same feedstock). My guess when you pull the trigger and it burns its about the same as most poly fiber (cheap pillow stuffing), but I may be wrong.

I have used cotton balls in my 416 Rigby when shooting reduced 350g cast bullet loads. Even when loading these bullets to higher velocities, the cotton worked well.

When I shot it, the cotton didn't burn, it simply disintegrated into tiny tiny fibers. After firing a round, you can see a bazillion tiny white fibers settling in the breeze. One guy at the range thought I was shooting some sort of smokeless / black powder combination.

I used cotton since I had read an article stating that polyester melts and forms a liquid, which then can cause a pressure ring to form in the chamber, thus ruining the chamber completely.

I don't know about the burning characteristics of Dacron, so I couldn't tell you if it is safe or not. Clearly, cotton won't melt and cotton balls are dang cheap. I pulled them in half and also experiemented using them whole. A full cotton ball was a bit much, even in the giant Rigby cases, given the powder charge I was using.

I am real curious to see about the burning characteristics of Dacron and how it compares to polyester.

RobertD

Robert,



I also thought about cotton, but havent used it. I can't see how anything could form a ring in the chamber, if it does go liquid it should blow down the barrel, its going to cool off and I can't imagine it sticking with any strengh. I don't think its that big a deal, never know.



I would think cotton, paper, etc. I would think that boars hair like used in upper end chair stuffing would be about as good as you could get and it sure wouldn't have any ill effects.



I have some friends at Dupont, we supply most of the control systems for Dupont, I also have contact with Invista but doubt they would have time to dig up proporties of burn rates etc. But I may make a call or two if I get time.

.. Check out using "cream of wheat" as filler .. works great .. have used it in 45-70 years ago.. Mark