The Firearms Forum banner

made civil war paper cartridges with my daughter

4K views 13 replies 3 participants last post by  fleetwood1976 
#1 ·
Had an assembly line going. she lubed the bullets and dropped them in. and tied off the ends. just happend to have a box that held 15 perfectly. it was a lot of fun. we are going to try some of the ones for the revolvers next.
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#4 ·
The original cartridges used greased paper, which both made loading easier (you know that you bite the end off, pour the powder in, then shove the entire rest of the cartridge - bullet AND paper - down on top of the charge, right?) and kinda/sorta waterproofed the paper, which helped to keep your powder dry.

Ever heard of the "Indian Rebellion", or the "Sepoy Mutiny"? Native Indian troops mutinied against the British Army. One of the reasons given for the mutiny was the ammo issued to the Sepoys (native troops) used a mixture of beef tallow and pig fat to grease the paper. With the Indian troops being a mixture of Hindu (where the cow is sacred) and Muslim (where the pig is profane), putting this into your mouth was a terrible thing.

I don't know if that is true, but I have heard it many times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857#Tallow_and_lard-greased_cartridges

See paragraph 2.1 - tallow and lard-greased cartridges.
 
#5 ·
the research i did stated the minie ball needed to go on top of the powder without any paper when loading and the powder charge expanded the skirt of the minie into the rifling. but maybe i did some bad research
 
#6 ·
No, apparently you are correct. My knowledge of the paper cartridge and how it is used seems to be for round ball.

Here http://www.civilwarguns.com/9110b.html it is explained how to use it, and they say to get rid of the paper after dumping the powder.

This picture of the Enfield cartridge was quite surprising to me. It shows the bullet upside down - that is, the nose projecting into the powder. And if I'm reading it correctly, you tore open the bottom, dumped the powder, then reversed the cartridge, putting the base of the bullet into the muzzle, pushed it down until the nose was even with the muzzle, then tore off the rest of the paper and discarded it, before ramming the bullet down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cartridge#/media/File:Enfield_cartridge.svg
 
#7 ·
that would make sense on the round ball to have it as your wad. I do not have an enfield musket so not familiar with them. I get surprising accuraccy with a .570 ball and patch. but that 500 grain minie ball is wicked. I would hate to get hit by one.
 
#13 ·
this method is with cigarette papers and supposedly doesn't require nitrite. I only made a few to see how they preform. the ball one are supposed to bust when rammed home. and the 36 and 44 are supossed to be thin enough to burn through. we will see.
 
#10 ·
It has been a very long time since I made paper cartriges. However I seem to recall that I used potassium nitrate ( saltpeter ) diluted with water and rolled while still very damp. The paper I used was called onion paper.
It was a very long time ago, but I think that's how I used to do it.( I don't have my notes handy , so I could be wrong.)
 
#11 ·
I've heard of people using cigarette rolling papers. And "onion skin", which is very very thin typing paper. I suppose that's what you mean by "onion paper".

I'm guessing - soak the paper in the nitrate solution, then wrap it around a dowel of the correct size, and let it dry on the dowel? Then when you slide the dry paper off, the overlap would have stuck together and you have a tube?
 
#12 ·
I found the Onion Paper. It's like a silky parchment paper. (not thin at all) And it"s made from onion skins just like modern paper is made from wood pulp. I even found the price tag still attached to the package. 25 sheets for $19.95. (1974 price tag) I also found one of my old notes in the package. For use in making bullet patches and paper cartriges .
I still can't find my notes , but maybe this will kick start someone's memory.
 
#14 ·
the cigarette paper cartridges shot fine and were accurate, but they did leave some partially burnt paper in a few of the chambers. so I would not call it a total success. nitriting may be in order for a clean burn
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top