Making paper cartridges

[wicket]

Given the availability of commercially manufactured flash paper for making cartridges, i see no point in folks making it at home. Trying to produce more than a few grams at a time, or doing so without employing an ice bath to avoid a run-away reaction, or failing to neutralize the paper after it's been made is too much to expect of the average shooter. We all pride ourselves on using our guns safely and responsibly, and that attitude should extend to the preparation of the ammunition we employ.

 

[crockett]

On this combustible cartridge topic, it should also be noted that the Colt 1851 "Navy" had a small loading port. If you make a cartridge with a large powder charge or rounded nose it may not fit into the port for easy ramming into the chamber. The Remington Army has a much larger area and this isn't a problem.
Because I like 1851 Colt Navies I make combustibles occasionally for the range but for the field I use a small Altoids tin with balls, small paper tubes with powder, felt wads, and caps.

 

[wicket]

My powder measure is an M-1 carbine shell, which with home-made riced powder results in a 15 grain charge. My '61 navy will accept such a cartridge topped with a conical, but not my '51, which would require a bit of grinding to handle Lee conicals. The '51 will accept a round ball, even with a swaged 1/8 lubed felt wad over the powder, so since i also prefer the '51 navy, i mostly make round-ball cartridges.
Something that's made me curious for a while about combustible cartridges based on flash paper is whether the paper adds anything to the charge. In theory it should,whether detonating from the effect of the cap, or merely burning completely along with the powder, and providing a bit of extra expanding gas to the charge.

 

[crockett]

I don't know. I seems the paper would have to produce gases, etc. to add much. If the burn rate is slower than the black powder the ball may already be out the barrel.
I was using a Dixie conicals which were copies of the original. The point is very "pointy" and they tended to twist a little while being rammed down the chamber. The accuracy wasn't that great. I think the advantage was fast reloading. Why Colt didn't use a round ball- I have no idea.

 

[wicket]

since the paper is nitrocellulose, it's all converted to gas. My guess is that it burns at the same rate as the powder since the single thickness is in full contact with the powder. I'd expect the gun to kick harder with a louder report if the paper was detonating, but that's just a guess.
I prefer conicals, they're easier to work with, make a stronger joint between the cartridge paper and the bullet, and don't require a wad. I've held off grinding an 1851 to fit conicals, but have a clunker kicking around that i might decide to experiment with.
My conical shooting 1861 is a very accurate well-made revolver, but i just prefer 1851's for some reason.

 

[nkbj]

My 1861 loved a Lee 9mm round nose mold drilled out with a 3/8" drill bit. Produced a taper on the slab sides by rolling between two pieces of formica (the backside having a grain pattern to grip the lead).
The resulting bullets were extremely accurate.

 

[wicket]

Interesting the way you modified the mold and rolled the taper. I'm pretty happy with the Lee conicals i cast, but i wouldn't mind losing the lowest cannelure and boat-tailing the bullet a bit more to get a good start into the chamber. Challenge with paper cartridges is that nobody seems to sell a mold that casts proper bullets for them.

 

[crockett]

I thought Dixie Gun Works had them but I may be wrong.