Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1882!

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>24 Nov. 1882  _Bismark(ND Territory) Weekly Tribune_ p.8, col 1.
>
><<"Doc" Jewell went out gunning Saturday and met with his usual good luck,
>shot his wad and killed the strength of considerable powder.>>
>
>So, making a pretty rational assumption, this is used as a metaphor, derived
>from a gun/shooting sense.
>
>While not conclusive, can we suggest that the metaphor came from
>guns/shooting?

I think it probably did, but I don't think the above item can be adduced as
evidence.

I read the above as a joke on some local figure who was a notoriously
unlucky hunter. Here the paper says "the only thing he shot was his wad;
the only thing he killed was his ammo supply" or so, i.e., he made a strong
effort but failed to shoot or kill any game.

"Shot his wad" was likely already metaphoric, I think ... I suppose it
might mean "exhausted himself" or so here.

Wadding in conventional hunting arms was already long obsolete in 1882,
wasn't it? [I'm not entirely sure.]

-- Doug Wilson