Make paper cartridges

[Grant]

I have an 1839 Springfield that was converted to perc. in 1840. It is a 69 cal. and I would like to find out how they made paper cart, for it. PS. it also went through the civil war on the north side. If you could point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Thanks Grant

[NickSS]

Paper cartridges during the CW were made for 54, 57, 58 and 69 caliber ML rifles and muskets. Except for the size of the papers used they were all made the same in the North. The paper for the outer wrapper was cut in a trapezoid about 4 X4 inches with on edge cut on an angle leaving about 2.5 inches at one end. This wrapper was placed on a table with the diagonally cut edge up or away from you and the 4 inch edge to the left. Place a forming stick (made from a dowel on the horizontal edge and role up a tube going away from you. The dowel should be slightly larger than the bullet diameter. Slide the dowel to the right and gather up the extra paper at the end of the tube and tie with a half hitch using silk thread. Once tied spread the excess paper of the tied end back wards the make a nice rounded end to the tube. Next push a ball,bckshot, minnie down into the tube to the very end of the outer tube. If you are using ball, buck and ball or buckshot take a turn around the cartridge above the ball and in between the buckshot and ball or each layer of buckshot with the same thread you tied the end with making a half hitch at eadh tie. The make an inner wrapper slightly smaller in diameter but just fold the end over and glue it shut. Insert the inner wrapper into the outer wrapper and add powder charge. Once charged hold the cartrige nose down and fold the excess paper over then fold it back on itself making a good solid fold and press the remaining tail alongside the cartrudge and you are done with one round. A young lady working a 12 hour shift could make several hundred cartridges per day.

[gnoahhh]

I do the same thing, but with a couple of variations. Make one end of the dowel radiused to match the radius of the ball. Tie off the end of the tube squinching (?) it around the rounded end. Trim the excess paper above the string/knot to make it look neat. I then drop the ball in and re-insert the dowel behind it and tie off the ball with another piece of string, sort of choke it pretty tight. The dowel behind the ball provides a shoulder to keep the paper tube from collapsing while tying the "choker" (which is done to prevent powder from migrating up around and over the ball). Then I dump the powder charge in on top of the ball, fold the base of the tube over into a neat tail which I leave about an inch long. The tail gets folded up tightly against the side of the cartridge and glued thereon with a tiny little drop of glue from a kid's glue stick, just to keep everything from coming un-raveled. I found an as-issued 3/4" dowel works well for .715 Brown Bess balls, but is a little sloppy for the .67 balls for the Springfield. A 5/8" dowel is too tight for them too, so I turned one on my lathe.

If you (or anybody else) need a custom cartridge rolling dowel, let me know. I just need to know your ball diameter and the length you want.

I only use separate inner tubes for powder when making cartridges for Miniés, as I like to put a little grease in the base cavity and don't want the powder co-mingling with it.

[Grant]

Thanks for the info. Grant

[Longwood]

Thanks for the info. Grant

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paper+cartridge+musket&aq=1&oq=paper+cartridge

[Grant]

Thanks for the link. Grant

[nanuk]

do you use nitrated paper so you can just ram the whole thing home and prime/shoot?

or do you tear and dump?

[gnoahhh]

Tear and dump. With smoothbore muskets I tear and dump paper, ball, and all without even first dumping all the powder out of the cartridge. By the time it gets down to the breech I figure most of the powder has gone on ahead. I've never had a misfire due to loading like that. Back when live firing in competition we would prime the pan with with a little powder out of the torn cartridge, close the frizzen, "cast about", and ram the remainder down the tube as described. (Standard loading techniques in the armies back in the days when flintlocks were standard issue.) For safety reasons I prime separately now.

Minié balls require a slightly different approach. One shucks the bullet out of the cartridge after dumping the powder and ram it separately. English Enfield bullets could be loaded paper and all, or so I'm told. I personally never messed with that type of cartridge.

I suppose one could use nitrated paper but I never saw the need and am fairly sure that nitrated paper cartridges were rarely if ever used back in the day. (And no, I never heard of an accidental discharge from a burning ember in the bore and it certainly never happened to me over the course of many years and countless thousands of shots. It COULD happen though, I suppose.)