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Eley Pneumatic


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The pneumatic wad was made of waxed card rolled and cut into a short tube of the appropriate dimensions to fit the bore. This short tube was then crimped at each end giving a wad the same length as a conventional felt one.

 

The theory behind it was that the air inside the above described wad would provide a sort of pneumatic cushion, one which would compress quite rapidly under the force of the expanding powder gasses and compressing shot, but would, albeit slightly, reduce the felt recoil by virtue of the air expelled from the collapsing wad.

 

I`ve loaded some of these myself as I have a bag full of them. It`s difficult to tell from empirical testing as to whether they give any actual benefits. One of the reasons that they might have long since been discontinued is that they were quite fiddly to mass produce and therefore relatively expensive.

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Note: A thick card was placed inside the sub-calibre* tube before it received the crimp closures. The 12 gauge 'wad' was purple and the 16 gauge was a neutral or straw colour. They appeared when felt was needed for other munitions and before the Eley 'Kleena' vegetable-fibre wad. The shells in the pic are probably from the 1930s/1940s in my opinion, because they have the copper 1B Percussion Cap. Spent wads from these shells were common around the fields where I lived in the early 1950s and even these wads would be from old stock. They took on a carbon-black concertina shape after firing! I have a bagful too. I'll post a pic if not beaten to it!

 

Refers to i/diameter, of course.

Edited by Floating Chamber
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