Tapered cup wad

Claim 1

A combination shot cup and over powder wad for a shotshell, comprising: a sealing base of resiliently yieldable and flexible plastic to overlie the powder in the shotshell case and to engage the sidewall of the case, a connecting structure of such plastic and formed integrally of the base, and a shot cup of such plastic and having a base disc on the connecting structure and formed integrally with the connecting structure, said disc lying transverse to the cup axis to engage the sidewall of the case, the cup also including a peripheral cup wall formed integrally of and connected to the disc and having an upper substantially cylindrical portion adjacent the open top of the shot cup, the upper portion of the cup wall having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending slits, and the cup wall also having a lower portion tapering convergently to the base disc and smoothly rounded in a longitudinal direction, said lower portion joining the base disc at a location spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge of the disc to normally diverge from the sidewall of the shotshell case and flex outwardly against the case sidewall and against the base disc to provide cushioning during acceleration of the shot.