I often wondered if we used less gun powder and put a case filler in case to raise the pressure to the normal specs?

Maybe I’m losing sleep......don’t know but I often wondered?

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Plant garlic in the fall

Well Kind of. Pistol powders are pretty fast so dont require any filler even in massive 45colt cases. Using pistol powders in rifle cases, pretty common to use a filler of kapok to hold the small charge against the primer.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Just use the right powder and work up a good load. No filler needed.

It works for light "Gallery loads" but for hunting loads, you get better accuracy and ES with a case that has at least 70% of its volume filled with powder.

Filler loads work but take a little more time to make and if going on the "Cheap", you might
also look into shooting lead black powder balls in your loads, if they will work.

Have fun.

Using a filler like kapok is an accepted practice particularly when reloading old Express cordite or black powder rounds with modern smokeless powders.

This practice was well described in a series of articles published in the Double Gun Journal some years ago.

The purpose IS NOT to raise pressure in light loads. The purpose is to ensure proper ignition in VERY large cases with the relatively low volume loads of modern smokeless powder needed to produce the performance of the original loads.

I've used the synthetic pillow stuffing for filler when using low grain loads in 454 or other large cases. I'm not sure how much it actually helps, but "they" say it helps.

With blackpowder you can do it if you want a reduced charge with no problems.

With nitro I don't like the ideia. Some folks use Kapok. But I still don't like the ideia.

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Expect the unexpected

I agree with Kurusu, I'm not a fan of the idea of a filler.
With BP, it's OK and is actually needed as the stuff needs to loaded w/o any air space between the base of the bullet and the powder level.

But w/ smokeless, there's just too many variables. Too many different powders for one thing.
They don't all react the same. If they did we wouldn't need any reloading info, labs to test loads, ect. Just a simple chart would do.
But things don't work that way. It takes testing to see results and the results don't always reflect what was expected by looking at past data.

Ringed chambers, bulged bbl's are things I hate to hear about. They do happen. When they do there are those that always have an explanation of why,,the why it shouldn't have happened is you must have done something wrong.
But what?

Some things just work real good till they don't.

Google 'Ringed chamber in 45-70 with filler'

There's lots of sad stories of what happened along with theories of why

Bill, If I read your post right, you are thinking the reduced case capacity from a filler material would require less powder to achieve standard velocity, sort of like seating a bullet deeper in a .40 S&W, and using less powder to off set the reduced case capacity.

It sounds plausible, in theory. But, in practice, case filler like Kapok and cornmeal incinerate or blow out the end of the barrel upon ignition, and do nothing to reduce case capacity in a manor that would allow for higher velocities with reduced powder charges. Some shooters have reported better accuracy / consistency with some reduced powder loads in big cases. I tried it with several rifle load combos back in the day, and noted no real difference in accuracy. As noted above by 2152hq, pressure spikes, and gun damage has been attributed to this practice.

Larry

Many years back,I started using fillers.Long story short,I now use only Dacron(could substitute Kapok,both being of the same family).I hear cream of wheat is also good for the purpose but adds a lot more weight than polyester fiber(aejecta weight,filler and powder weight must be added to projectile weight and jacks up felt recoil).Tissue paper in my experiences doesn't work.
I use filler mostly with powders that are position and/or temperature sensitive.Since I shoot only cast bullets,please take into consideration that my velocities are quite low(from 1100 to 1600fps,I do not hunt exept round paper bullseyes that are way too far and small as I grow older).
For example,when I found that my 2400 load in my 30-30 was starting to group vertically when the temp went down(below freezing point),some gents on Cast Bullet Association pointed me towards using a magnum primer and some filler.Presto!groups were round again.
In another case(my 38-55),I was able to cut my 100 yds groups by 50% just by using Dacron filler.On the other hand,I never use it with easy to ignite powders(Titegroup)that are not position sensitive but do so with some others depending of which is used in which cartridge(700X in .308 needs it).And yes,might slightly increase pressure as I found with my 38-55 load using 4198. but just use common sense and keep an eye open on the posssibility and nothing serious should happen.Of course,if you load at hunting velocities with powders that nearly fill the case,do not use fillers,period.
So yes,I believe in filler but only under specific circumstances.And if you are a beginner,I'd say wait to gain some experience as to what signs are to be considered as warnings...just like I don't venture into duplex loads.Just don't feel confortable and knowledgable for it.Maybe one day....