Percussion Revolver Accessory Bag?

[sixshootertexan]

I'm going to have to make some paper cartridges. Loading single shots doesn't bother me but for some reason the revolvers do. I guess because it takes to long to load then you shoot them up so fast. This may make them more enjoyable.

[BlackPowderBen]

Paper cartridges do come in handy.

[marlin39a]

Plastic ammo box from Walmart. Less than 5 bucks.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

There are many ways of making the cartridges, as there were also back in the day. I found the system detailed on the capandball channel on Youtube to be excellent, and then I modified it for my own purposes, and to make it a little simpler. It results in a strong case that won't leak powder grains and is easy to load. Watch his first;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLI...&v=-2HUcfAyaaQ

and then mine;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_JIyc6s8fnQ

The only part of the process that I'd consider challenging is making your rolling mandrel to fit your powder charge. I used a belt sander to make mine, though I suppose a lathe would be better. The specs given are for a 30 grain charge of black powder or an equal volume of a BP substitute. You want the ball or bullet to tighten up in the paper tube at the same time it tightens up against the powder. This isn't terribly demanding, as the perm paper will stretch to some degree. I find that my particular mandrel gives me cases that fit better with 32 grains of powder, and so you see that you can tweak both the mandrel taper and the powder charge to make things fit nicely.

Once you get the process down, it goes fairly quickly. I'll often sit down for a few minutes of a morning and crank out 10 to 20 cartridges, or just make up 30 to 50 paper cases for later loading. The powder measure you see me using (the Lee Perfect Powder Measure in this case) made things a lot faster, and also provides a much more consistent powder charge. There are powder measure though, and then are black powder measure. Apparently it's a safety issue, but Lee says that theirs is good "for all types of powder".

Search Youtube and you'll find a bunch of cartridge making videos.

All that being said, some guns take cartridges easily, and others seem to have been made to discourage the use of cartridges. Italian Colt repros are rather hostile to cartridge use, and you'd want to modify the loading cutout in the barrel. Original Colts took cartridges pretty well (it was the predominant loading method from the Civil War on) but for some reason the Italians can't be bothered with such details as correct shapes and contours.

Also, the Lee 200 grain conical (Lee mold # 450-200-1R) I use in my video won't load into most Pietta Remingtons unless you open up the loading cutout in the frame. Ubertis are much better that way, but the Pietta modification isn't difficult. You should be able to insert the bullet in a chamber and then rotate it under the loading plunger without any interference. Colts are a little more tricky with conicals, but look closely at photos of original guns and you'll see how they provide more room for loading than any of the repros. You can of course make round ball cartridges with my method, and those load more easily in an Italian repro, but repro Colts are often still a problem unless you fix the gun first. Let me know if you need more info on fixing a Colt repro so it will load like an original.

To my way of thinking, some up-front investment in time is well worth it for the benefits you reap in the field. During those long winter nights or periods of bad weather you can make up a lot of cartridges, or spend some time getting your guns to work right.

Really appreciate the videos. I'll have to give paper cartridges a try. I really like the twisted rat tail you use for ease of loading. Have you ever had an issue with the lube cookie migrating into the powder?

[Omnivore]

Have you ever had an issue with the lube cookie migrating into the powder?

Not so far. I've had Borebutter seriously degrade the powder after leaving wads soaked with the stuff (and similar lube from Traditions) after leaving a gun loaded for days. The Gatofeo #1 lube pills I now use in the cartridges haven't been an issue so far. If you’re shooing them up right away it’s not an issue regardless – It’s all about temperature and time. I’ve used the GF1 pill cartridges weeks and even months after making them with no apparent issue there.

However; in hot real weather GF1 may soften enough to degrade the powder charge over time. I have a case of 100 of these cartridges I made a year ago, storing them in a hot room during the hot summer last year. I will be taking them out to measure velocities over the chronograph sometime this spring, comparing the old carts to fresh ones of the same specs. Then we'll see.

One way to combat any such contamination, if it should be an issue, would be to use a card between the powder and the lube pill. Another would be to use one of the "Big Lube" type bullets (having a huge lube groove in the bullet, away from the powder). The pill works especially well in fouling mitigation though, so I'm going to give it as much of a chance as I can. If I use a card it will have to be a custom size, because the .450" cards I got commercially are slightly too big and thus interfere a bit with cartridge insertion. The tapered cartridge would call for a card that's slightly smaller than chamber diameter, so the cartridge can plunk right in without having to shove the card past the chamber mouth. Pushing the bullet into the lube pill, which in turn pushes on the card, can have undesirable effects. I have tried it.

Also; the load I used in the video (30 grains black, the pill and a Lee 450-200-1R bullet) is slightly too much for one of my Pietta Remingtons (It takes a LOT of pressure to get the tip of the bullet below the cylinder face). It fits one Pietta fine, but not the other, indicating differences in chamber volume from the factory. In that case you can use a shorter bullet such as the Accurate Molds 45-200S, etc., or shorten the case forming mandrel slightly from the small end, once you've cut it to spec., to reduce its powder volume. That would leave a shorter cartridge overall, with less powder, and a slightly larger small end, if you get my meaning. If your chambers hold the load OK and you want to use less powder, you can make up the volume difference using a filler such as corn meal, Cream of Wheat or semolina, and that would also serve to *help* keep the lube off of the powder.

The specs for the forming mandrel given by capandball indicate powder and bullet only, and thus it would fit into a Colt Army or most any 44 revolver, but adding the lube pill increases the volume of stuff you're putting into the chamber. So the pill cart I showed will max out some 44 chambers if the bullet is of a design that is on the long side. Lighter, or more compact bullets solve the problem though, so long as your gun's loading cutout can be made to fit them.

So you see we're sort of designing the load for the gun at the same time we're modifying the gun for the load. But the up-front effort is well worth it in the field, once you've got it all working. Or so it seems to me-- Others will have different thoughts.

The twist tail serves two purposes only. It makes it easy to pluck carts from the type of belt box I use, and it keeps the cart together without using glue on the bullet (making the manufacture of the carts easier and less messy). Otherwise, they are torn off as soon as the bullet heel is in the gun's chamber. That tiny extra required motion during loading, and the bits of paper remaining outside the chamber after seating the bullet, are well worth it to me for the added convenience that the cartridges offer, especially when looking at their place in the overall "field carry" system.

[sixshootertexan]

Made some paper cartridges for my .36 to test in the morning if it's not raining.