Wadding

<h2 id="shotguns">Shotguns</h2>

<p>In <a href="/facts/Shotgun_shells/YABrvUeX">shotgun shells</a>, the wadding is actually a semi-flexible cup-shaped <a href="/facts/Sabot_(firearms)/RC4sYMTf">sabot</a> designed to hold numerous much smaller-diameter sub-projectiles (i.e. <a href="/facts/Shot_(pellet)/DR9Gf5qm">shots</a>), and is launched out together as one payload-carrying projectile. This minimizes chaotic collisions of the shots with the bore wall and with each other, allowing the <a href="/facts/Internal_ballistics/zynpU5yg">internal ballistics</a> to be more consistent.  After leaving the <a href="/facts/Muzzle_(firearms)/bPyBmQek">muzzle</a>, the wadding loosens and opens up in flight, allowing the much <a href="/facts/Density/92p6hh9I">denser</a> shots to be <a href="/facts/Inertia/bzK9uzI2">inertially</a> released and scattered. The same function is served when shooting <a href="/facts/Shotgun_slug/eqPf0L1j">slugs</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="model-rockets">Model rockets</h2>
<p>Wadding is used in <a href="/facts/Model_rocket/v9TmSyAy">model rockets</a> to protect the <a href="/facts/Parachute/598qrAdg">parachute</a> when it ejects. Without the recovery wadding, the parachute would melt because the ejection is by a small <a href="/facts/Solid-propellant_rocket/RpgdYKIU">solid-fuel engine</a>, which gets so hot that it melts the glue almost immediately.
</p>
<h2 id="effects">Effects</h2>
<p>Burning wadding may have ignited the fire that led to the explosion that destroyed the <a href="/facts/French_ship_Orient_(1791)/4GrFaJ0f"><i>Orient</i></a> at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_the_Nile/57eHE5V8">Battle of the Nile</a> (<i>q.v.</i>). The father of <a href="/facts/Robert_Morris_(financier)/zJx9X3oE">Robert Morris</a>, "Financier of the American Revolution," died as the result of being wounded by flying wadding from a ship's gun that was fired in his honor.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Glossary of Firearms Terms". Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://homestudy.ihea.com/glossary_fa.htm#w" target="_blank">http://homestudy.ihea.com/glossary_fa.htm#w</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Rappleye, Charles (2010). Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4165-7091-2. <a href="/wiki/Charles_Rappleye" target="_blank">/wiki/Charles_Rappleye</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Wadding open-in-new

Wadding