Paper Cartridges
1863 Sharps. Lever comes down and the ball goes into the chamber first, then the powder. Close the lever, put on a cap, ready to go. Messy with loose powder. How do you make paper cartridges? What kind of paper? Source? How do you attach the ball to the charge? Glue? Any help or direction greatly appreciated.
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Anybody make paper cartridges or the components for BP guns anymore? 0 -
Search links, you can make your own. They are very easy to make. 0 -
Are you looking for combustible revolver cartridges, or paper cartridges for Muskets?
You can even make paper SHOT cartridges for shotguns or muskets for hunting small game. I've done quite a bit of hunting that way.
Ask again if you can't find links, or need more advice.
Have fun.0 -
Here is a link to a post I placed on another forum:
[I have passed the link on by e-mail as you should have done]
I shoot paper cartridges all the time in my Colt Navy0 -
quote:Originally posted by dandak1
Here is a link to a post I placed on another forum:
[I have passed the link on by e-mail as you should have done]
I shoot paper cartridges all the time in my Colt Navy
Thanks, I got it ,good info, will try it.0 -
If you are making paper cartridges for a musket or muzzle loading rifle, here's a tip. I made some nice ones using cigarette rolling paper. It's already about the right size and has an adhesive strip already. If the paper isn't quite large enough you can stick two together. These have the added benefit of usually being nitrate treated and burn up well, leaving no smoldering bits to surprise you when you pour the next powder charge down the barrel. [:D]
(added)
If you are going to need a lot of papers, then the suggestion for making your own is a good alternative. However, the cigarette rolling papers have the advantage of already being thin and nitrated. So, there is a definite convenience trade-off there. You can figure out what works best for your needs. I haven't bought any in the past year, so I can't speak to their price. I don't recall them being too high. Maybe they have gone up. Have fun.0 -
I think dandak1's link (which I fortunate enough to catch before it was deleted) is an excellent resource.
However, if you want to just do it from scratch (the obsessive-compulsive way) :-) you need to buy the thinnist rice paper (this is the best paper to use) you can find (Michaels?) or very thin newsprint (a tablet-full from Michaels) and a pound or so of potassium nitrate. Mix the potassium nitate with distilled water to the saturation point in a shallow pan and slip individual sheets of the paper into the solution. Remove carefully and set on a screen to dry. Cut up the treated paper and make the paper cartridges from that. Over the long haul, if you shoot a lot, it beats the price of cigarette papers and lowers the cost of your paper cartridges by about five cents each. Buy the potassium nitrate online through EE Bay sellers or elsewhere. A crafts store like Michaels should have the paper. Oh yes, I would use fine, 100% cotton thread to tie off the cartridges. Soak the thread in the potassium nitrate, too. The potassium nitrate, as previously mentioned, makes the paper quite flammable and will ensure a good, complete burn.
I am digressing now, but during the Civil War, pre-made paper cartridges were furnished to the troops. These were inserted by the troops into their leather cartridge boxes (hung by a strap or on their belts) with wood inserts for the cartriges. Guys with no front teeth were in a world of hurt and may have :-) been declared 4-F, :-) because the soldier loaded their guns by biting off the end of the cartridge with their teeth, poured the powder down the barrel of the musket, pushed the paper in as a wad and then rammed the ball home, pushed a cap over the nipple and fired away.
However, dandack1 was talking about making these paper cartridges for his 1851 Colt Navy revolver, which is what I do, too. I don't believe pre-made paper cartridges were available from the military stores for the handguns of the Civil War period, but I don't know that for sure. Anyway, very active warriors of the time period, especially out West in the then Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Californa and sometimes in the Confederate State of Texas were Indian fighters first and Civil War fighters second. Fighting the Rebs was secondary and rather tame compared to fighting the Apache Indians. It was common for Union military "volunteers" of the period, say 1840's through 1860's from California and other points in the West to carry as many as four heavy Colt's revolvers and and two muskets, giving themselves 26 rounds of ammo to fire without having to reload....quite a lot of firepower. But often as few as ten or fiften soldiers, including one officer would engage 50 to 200 Apache warriors with only their firepower and better horseflesh between them and death. The Apache were well-armed as well amd were good shots too. They also were expert in camoflage and tactics. Also, during winter engagements, a soldier's hands were often too cold to be able to perform the somewhat delicate task of applying the percussion caps to the nipples of their weapons, necessitating the multiple weapons. Consider trying to place six percussion caps on a Navy Colt's nipples under fire and in the best of conditions! The idea of carrying extra loaded cylinders for revolvers is not a practice that I have seen mentioned in period accounts.
Oh well.....interesting stuff. Compare that to today's handguns and you can see that we are advanced....but how far? Not that far, really. Major advancements were the metallic cartridge of the 1860's(?), the double action revolver of the 1870's and the automatic pistol, invented prior to 1900. We still rely heavily on the Colt Model 1911 .45acp, which is of pre-1911 design, really. Long gun development followed a similar path.
EDIT:
the US Army contracted with Colt to supply ..... sever millions of combustable cartridges for all models except the .31 cal. Pocket models. These combustible cartridges were made of nitrated paper and nitrated gut with a conical projectile glued to the outer
Very interesting information....thanks!0 -
When the US Army contracted with Colt to supply the M1851 Navy and .44 cal. Dragoon models, they originally required Colt to supply a powder flask and bullet mold for each pair of revolvers. This ended around 1855. From about that time, until the end of the War of Northern Agression, only the bullet mold was required under contract, because in 1855, the Army contracted with Colt to supply sever millions of combustable cartridges for all models except the .31 cal. Pocket models. These combustible cartridges were made of nitrated paper and nitrated gut with a conical projectile glued to the outer nitrated shell with water glass (Sodium metasilicate). These cartridges were packaged in a wooden block having 5 or 6 cavities and wrapped in shellacked paper with a tear string for opening.
Colt combustable cartridges were made by hand in a building about a hundred yards down river from the Colt Factory main building in Hartford, Ct. There is currently a softball field where this building used to be.0
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