Cannoneer
11-19-2011, 08:30 AM
I used to shoot with N/SSA and had a .50 caliber Shiloh Sharps Percussion Carbine. Great gun and I made my own cartridges from both nitrated paper and nitrated cotton sheet material, (old bed linen).
To start out I got the correct paper cartridge kit from Dixie Gun Works. It included a mandrel that was the same diameter as my bullet, a small pad of nitrated paper and a glue stick.
I found out the hard way that the best way to make the cartridge was to make the tube the length of the chamber so the end would be flush with the breech end of the barrel.
To do this so you DO NOT have a tail to shear off when you close the breech block is to add this step.
Once you have your paper/linen cut to the proper length and width take a one inch square of silicone eye glass cleaning tissue. (I use this because it is stronger than TP and super thin.) Apply the one inch square to the end of the mandrel and form a cup. Fold it against the mandrel and apply glue from the glue stick on one short end of the precut paper and along one edge. Take the precut paper and lay the unglued side against the mandrel making sure that the glued short end is applied against the silicone paper cup on the end of the mandrel. As you wrap the paper around the mandrel snugly the glued edge will overlap the precut paper and form a tube with one end closed.
Put this aside. Repeat these steps until you have as many as you want or need.
Once the glue is dried, pour in a .7 cc Lee dipper full of 4Fg or 3Fg. This is your ignition charge. The pour in the amount of powder you plan to use leaving enough room to seat your bullet into the tube. At this point I would run a bead of Testors model airplane glue around the circumference of the paper/bullet juncture.
After letting everything dry, I would load them into the chamber and thumb them in until the end of the cartridge was flush with the breech.
Close the breech block and put the cap on the nipple.
When the trigger was squeezed, the hammer would fall setting off the cap.
The fire will then pierce the silicone paper and ignite the ignition charge which will ignite the main charge. Somewhat like the bag charge in modern day 155mm howitzers. The Nitrated paper would be consumed and leave nothing in the chamber but some ash. I never had and burning embers using the nitrated paper. If you don’t use the nitrated paper, you risk having glowing embers in the chamber that could ignite the next cartridge you chamber. That is not fun, especially in the heat of competition when you are shooting in a team match trying to cut a pole in half before the other team does.
When done like this, I never had a misfire with my Sharps.
Nitrated Paper and Bed Sheet Material:
I used typing paper that had a 25% rag content and old sheet the wife was going to throw out.
I cut the sheet into 8.5 inch x 11 inch sheets. Using a ball point pen and a straight edge, (a steel 12 inch ruler is best) I would draw lines that, when I cut the sheets later, would give me the correct size rectangles to form the cartridge tubes. Be sure to use a pen that has waterproof ink.
I used a large Pyrex casserole dish to put the sheets (paper or cotton) into it and boiled up 2 cups of water in a separate sauce pan. Buy a new one so your wife doesn’t have a fit about ruining her cooking utensils. As the water boiled I added Potassium Nitrate I got from the pharmacy and poured it into the water until I couldn't get it to dissolve any more. I then poured the super saturated solution into the Pyrex dish and let it sit for a half hour. This gave the sheets ample time to absorb the Potassium Nitrate from the super saturated solution.
After the solution cooled, I took the sheets out and hung them in the shower to dry. Once dry, I smoothed them out on a smooth plastic cutting board and cut them to the correct size for my carbine.
I stored them in an airtight/water tight ammo can until I was ready to make them into cartridges. I stored the completed cartridges in the same ammo can in a small plastic container that I bought at the Grocery store that were sold to store leftovers
To start out I got the correct paper cartridge kit from Dixie Gun Works. It included a mandrel that was the same diameter as my bullet, a small pad of nitrated paper and a glue stick.
I found out the hard way that the best way to make the cartridge was to make the tube the length of the chamber so the end would be flush with the breech end of the barrel.
To do this so you DO NOT have a tail to shear off when you close the breech block is to add this step.
Once you have your paper/linen cut to the proper length and width take a one inch square of silicone eye glass cleaning tissue. (I use this because it is stronger than TP and super thin.) Apply the one inch square to the end of the mandrel and form a cup. Fold it against the mandrel and apply glue from the glue stick on one short end of the precut paper and along one edge. Take the precut paper and lay the unglued side against the mandrel making sure that the glued short end is applied against the silicone paper cup on the end of the mandrel. As you wrap the paper around the mandrel snugly the glued edge will overlap the precut paper and form a tube with one end closed.
Put this aside. Repeat these steps until you have as many as you want or need.
Once the glue is dried, pour in a .7 cc Lee dipper full of 4Fg or 3Fg. This is your ignition charge. The pour in the amount of powder you plan to use leaving enough room to seat your bullet into the tube. At this point I would run a bead of Testors model airplane glue around the circumference of the paper/bullet juncture.
After letting everything dry, I would load them into the chamber and thumb them in until the end of the cartridge was flush with the breech.
Close the breech block and put the cap on the nipple.
When the trigger was squeezed, the hammer would fall setting off the cap.
The fire will then pierce the silicone paper and ignite the ignition charge which will ignite the main charge. Somewhat like the bag charge in modern day 155mm howitzers. The Nitrated paper would be consumed and leave nothing in the chamber but some ash. I never had and burning embers using the nitrated paper. If you don’t use the nitrated paper, you risk having glowing embers in the chamber that could ignite the next cartridge you chamber. That is not fun, especially in the heat of competition when you are shooting in a team match trying to cut a pole in half before the other team does.
When done like this, I never had a misfire with my Sharps.
Nitrated Paper and Bed Sheet Material:
I used typing paper that had a 25% rag content and old sheet the wife was going to throw out.
I cut the sheet into 8.5 inch x 11 inch sheets. Using a ball point pen and a straight edge, (a steel 12 inch ruler is best) I would draw lines that, when I cut the sheets later, would give me the correct size rectangles to form the cartridge tubes. Be sure to use a pen that has waterproof ink.
I used a large Pyrex casserole dish to put the sheets (paper or cotton) into it and boiled up 2 cups of water in a separate sauce pan. Buy a new one so your wife doesn’t have a fit about ruining her cooking utensils. As the water boiled I added Potassium Nitrate I got from the pharmacy and poured it into the water until I couldn't get it to dissolve any more. I then poured the super saturated solution into the Pyrex dish and let it sit for a half hour. This gave the sheets ample time to absorb the Potassium Nitrate from the super saturated solution.
After the solution cooled, I took the sheets out and hung them in the shower to dry. Once dry, I smoothed them out on a smooth plastic cutting board and cut them to the correct size for my carbine.
I stored them in an airtight/water tight ammo can until I was ready to make them into cartridges. I stored the completed cartridges in the same ammo can in a small plastic container that I bought at the Grocery store that were sold to store leftovers