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Thread: Kapok Filler

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Kapok Filler

    Is anyone still using Kapok? Particularly in bottleneck cases?

    All you ever hear about in manuals etc. is Dacron, but personally I've never been keen on the idea of sending burning plastic up the barrel.

    An old guy at my club (who did some very high level competitive shooting in his day) swears by Kapok as a filler.

    I bought a bag off but haven't tried it yet. I wanted to get a few opinions seeing as the internet doesn't bring up a great deal on it.

    Cheers
    Greg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
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    Northampton
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    Filler

    Tried it with various bottleneck cases...no discernible difference. However, using a 45 Colt case with a reduced load, the mv was regularised over a dozen rounds. The 45 Colt was a blackpowder pistol round taking ? 40gns of black powder and loading it with 8gns of Unique, does leave a lot of space. Only need a small piece of dacron filler, pushed down with a pencil to keep the powder in the same place. No noticeable flame etc from a 30" barrel!

    amc577

  3. #3
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    Plastic is a bad idea. It becomes very strong in high strain rate compression. Such as when it gets blasted into the back of a lead bullet that hasn't moved yet. The back of the lead bullet expands under the compression, into the throat of the chamber.

  4. #4
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    Jun 2005
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    i use kapok in the martini henry cases....you can of course use 100% cotton wool

  5. #5
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    I use it in reduced loads for my 223 and also for my 7.62x54R,
    No problems with it at all.
    only ball ache is getting it into the bottle neck cases ..

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by loiner1965 View Post
    i use kapok in the martini henry cases....you can of course use 100% cotton wool
    i use around 3 gns in the martini henry case and when fired it looks like a duck as flown into the bullet with all the debris floating about lol

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by loiner1965 View Post
    i use around 3 gns in the martini henry case and when fired it looks like a duck as flown into the bullet with all the debris floating about lol
    It doesn’t get burned up then? I guess 3gr of that stuff is a lot though!

    Cheers
    Greg

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Stoke
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    I used to use polenta flour in .577 Snider.

    I helped blow out the fouling too.

    Mind you, the main reason for using it was no-one in the family would eat the stuff...
    ...history... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. (Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)

  9. #9
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    Jun 2005
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    leeds, west yorkshire
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    If I use magtech cases then I need 3 gns as they are a big case
    Kapok is 100 % natural so it burns well or gets blown out
    No residue at all
    I know a few shooters who don’t use a filler in bp as long as it’s below 15 % airspace

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Manchester
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    A lad at the range used to put his charge into the Martini Henry case and the top it up with cus-cus. It seemed to work ok.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Rossendale, Lancashire
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    Thanks for the replies guys.

    It sounds like a few of you are using it for BP cartridges though? I'm looking at using it with 5744 nitro powder. Any issues using it on top of nitro in a bottleneck case?

    Cheers
    Greg

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Reading
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    2,167
    I have never used any filler with 5744.
    Have used 5744 in several lead bullet loads over the years.

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