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Wadding is a disc of material used in guns to seal gas behind a projectile or to separate powder from shot.[1]

Wadding can be crucial to a gun's efficiency, since any gas that leaks past a projectile as it is being fired is wasted. A harder or more carefully designed item which serves this purpose is often called a sabot. Wadding for muzzleloaders is typically a small piece of cloth, or paper wrapping from the cartridge.

Model rockets[]

Wadding is also used in model rockets to prevent the parachute from melting when it ejects. Without the recovery wadding the parachute would melt because the ejection is by a small solid-fuel engine. It gets so hot it melts hot glue almost immediately.

Trivia[]

  • The father of Robert Morris, "Financier of the American Revolution," died as the result of being wounded by the wadding of a ship's gun that was fired in his honor.

References[]

  1. Glossary of Firearms Terms, Introduction to Hunter Education
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