Indoor Gallery Practice 1858-1921 Doctrine, Methods and Equipment

[hunter58]

Reading this article on indoor gallery practice. Figure 17 shows the use of 5 grains of black powder with a round ball for the 45-70. Any thoughts on what they may have used as a filler for such a round?

https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2017-B116-Military-Marksmanship.pdf

[M-Tecs]

I don't know how valid this is but I have read that with the light BP gallery loads you could hear loose powder if the case was shaken???

[Don McDowell]

They mostly used specific built cases with long flash channels and a small powder chamber

[HWooldridge]

FWIW, the various sectioned rounds show no filler.

[Kestrel4k]

That was an interesting article, thanks for posting it.
Sad how the conclusion cites the current lack of military interest with regards to gallery practice for marksmanship training;

-----

From 1858 to 1921 the U.S. military made steady
improvements in marksmanship skills, thanks to ef-
fective training methods for both outdoor shooting
and also taking advantage of the lower cost and
more accessible indoor gallery practice opportuni-
ties. While the goal was proficiency with the service
weapons with full charge ammunition, gallery prac-
tice had an important role in achieving that success,
using various innovative arms and ammunition. This
has provided a diverse array of items for collectors
to pursue, and helps understand the doctrine and
methods used to prepare troops for combat.

Gallery practice continued in varying forms after
1921, expanding greatly in World War Two, and then
returning to mostly competitive focus until near the
end of the 20th century when it was largely eliminat-
ed due to purported concerns about safety, and de-
clining emphasis on marksmanship and military skills.
The subject of post-1921 gallery practice arms is a
worthy topic for further research.

[Larry Gibson]

I don't know how valid this is but I have read that with the light BP gallery loads you could hear loose powder if the case was shaken???

It is true as seen in the sectioned gallery 45-70 cartridges in the article. Loose BP in a cartridge case......kind of belies the old adage, taken as gospel these days, "thou shalt not ever, never leave any air space between BP and bullet." That admonition was given on fear of death, destruction and possibly the end of the world.....

However, those small charges of BP, whether compressed or loose, contain only so much potential energy regardless of how they are ignited. None of those small charges of BP can produce enough pressure to cause destruction of the firearm, mayhem to bystanders or cause the sky to fall. I have used such loads in my TDs using BP w/o any fillers under RBs and Rapine 460210 cast bullets. Quite fun actually.

[Washington1331]

There was a gentleman who was selling a kit for making multi-ball and gallery loads for the 45-70. He had advertised almost exclusively on the old trapdoors galore website. If memory serves me on the directions, using fireformed brass it was 5 grains of FFFg black powder with a .457 round ball seated all the way down on top of the powder.

It was a surprisingly accurate round even with over 2 inches of jump before the rifling. I'll see if I can find his card in the controlled chaos that is my man cave. If I do, I'll post it in case he's still open, and anyone is interested.