Bowman wad guide

[Dogs]

 Hi anyone know of any wad guide which would serve as a replacement for the brass type original , cheers

[deershooter]

Send a message to roughshooter he might be able to help 

[enfieldspares]

I'd like to know too! I have a Redding Model 16 press. My own thoughts are to get some brass strip and make one. make the top bend while the strip is flat then cut the slots to leave the fingers. Then roll it around a former to make the round shape.

[Dogs]

24 minutes ago, deershooter said:

Send a message to roughshooter he might be able to help 

Cheers will do

Will let you know if owt sorts it bud

[enfieldspares]

Thinking outside the box I wonder if in fact a (long brass) brass case head from a 12 bore cartridge or 16 bore cartridge could be filed and cut? The only issue might be finding one that actually is brass and not brass coated steel if that would make a difference to its springiness?

[roughshooter]

I have some new original bowman wad fingers

[Dogs]

1 hour ago, roughshooter said:

I have some new original bowman wad fingers

Hi bud,  if you're willing to let me get one / some from you give me a shout , cheers

2 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Thinking outside the box I wonder if in fact a (long brass) brass case head from a 12 bore cartridge or 16 bore cartridge could be filed and cut? The only issue might be finding one that actually is brass and not brass coated steel if that would make a difference to its springiness?

Not sure how that would work out bud ?   Might have a go and see out of curiosity ??    L

[aberisle]

Go into your kitchen and see if you have a Napolina olive oil bottle, they have plastic fingers inside the lid ( pouring neck) that you  can use as wad fingers, you can probably get it in other bottles but i know they are in the naplolina bottles

[Minky]

 I've got a couple of bowman and I've never thought about the fingers but I wonder if the fingers from a Mec would fit.    I wonder how many calls for reloader parts Bowman get even though they haven't made them for a long time. I know someone who got the last or one of the last 16bore convertion kits. Later I'll have a look at the Bowman and the mec guide fingers.

[enfieldspares]

24 minutes ago, aberisle said:

Go into your kitchen and see if you have a Napolina olive oil bottle, they have plastic fingers inside the lid ( pouring neck) that you  can use as wad fingers, you can probably get it in other bottles but i know they are in the naplolina bottles

My God! You're a bloomin' star! I shall be raiding the olive oil counter. Is there a size marked anywhere 12, 16, 20 on the bottle?

57 minutes ago, Dogs said:

Not sure how that would work out bud ?   Might have a go and see out of curiosity ??    L

This is what the brass ones look like.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-brass-bronze-20-ga-mec-3841694881

For certain you could make one from a brass strip such as printers used to use when handsetting type and I think if you could separate the case from the brass head (by grinding the base of the head off) you then have a cylinder with a small lip that you could then maybe your ring to file the fingers into.

Edited December 23, 2021 by enfieldspares

[roughshooter]

1 hour ago, Dogs said:

Hi bud,  if you're willing to let me get one / some from you give me a shout , cheers

Not sure how that would work out bud ?   Might have a go and see out of curiosity ??    L

Drop me a message with your address and I will post one up to you early next week.  No point trying to post it before Xmas 

Edited December 23, 2021 by roughshooter

[Minky]

Meanwhile....  I went out and got a Bowman Wad guide in its control tube.  I looked at the olive oil bottle.  The bottle only had three large petals and was a lot bigger than the Bowman guide tube so that's a no go.  I compared a 12G MEC finger die and that is a no go also being quite larger.  A 12 bore cartridge base is about the correct diameter but even the high brass type might not be long enough.  The Bowman guide finger bush is 30.5 mm long overall.  If I were to be making one from scratch I would get a piece of 20 thou brass shim, about 32 mm wide and about 62 long from a model shop or engineering supplies ( well enough for several attempts and / or replacement spares).   Mark out the fingers and petals whilst flat.  Cut the petals out and then roll it into the holding control tube and then peen / roll the edge to fit on the holder.  Success would depend on the makers skill levels and certain tools being available.  Or get one from a friendly member.

edit. Our oil bottle is Fillipo Berio.  But I think that all oil bottle lids are sealed with a pull out flap under the sealed screw cap.  So you won't be able to get in there and measure anything.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Minky

[handy4454]

Just a random thought, could you use the individual blades from a set of engineers feeler gauges? They are spring steel rather than brass but are already shaped with a taper and a radius on the end. 

Tricky bit would be to hold three or four blades in a fixed position.         

 

[aberisle]

In the olive oil bottle i have it has 10 plastic fingers and if you remove the top from the bottle ( a bit tricky to do) it fits a 12 bore case nicely.

[dipper]

Quite a lot of wad guides are interchangeable.

[enfieldspares]

4 hours ago, aberisle said:

In the olive oil bottle i have it has 10 plastic fingers and if you remove the top from the bottle ( a bit tricky to do) it fits a 12 bore case nicely.

What brand, Sir, please? As I think Asda maybe won't be happy if I start unscrewing their tops to look!

[aberisle]

Its Napolina olive oil in the 750 ml bottle

[enfieldspares]

6 minutes ago, aberisle said:

Its Napolina olive oil in the 750 ml bottle

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[enfieldspares]

Well Sir....In looking for a suitable tool to use to remove the fingers from a Napolina bottle when I'd been and bought one on 26 December I found some old sewing machine table legs in my tool cupboard. With thin, tapered, round, brass feet caps....looking like these modern ones! So I've freed one of its leg and am playing with it just now. I'll report back in the next few days! 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/270332673/mid-century-brass-caps-for-table-legs-78

[Minky]

When you cut these about and spend a ton of time cutting the fingers out Are they going to be springy.?  Surely it would be simpler and a lot cheaper to get the 20 thou brass shim same as the Bowman ones and cut one out.  You can buy a lot of shim for the price of one foot

[enfieldspares]

Ah but for me I've four that are free as I already have them. So I can cut them while they are still on the legs to give support to them. If you didn't already have them I agree the shim route is much easier and less faff.