My New Smith Carbine

[Whughett]

After making the cartridges I read on another forum some guys use a small square of cloth medical “micropore” tape to to cover the flash hole on the cartridge. I picked some up at Walmart (generic Equate brand called “cloth tape” in the bandaid aisle) and removed the scotch tape and placed a little square of the micropore tape over each hole.

Works great! The musket cap easily punched through and I had no hangfire at all, instant ignition.

2F powder may eliminate the need to cover the flash hole.
In the day the gutta-percha cases in use would have been sealed with something other than tape. Perhaps a drop of melted bees wax.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Smokey, you've got to get a horse and cavalry saddle now...

Lol! The only time I ever rode a horse was at Ft. Riley in Kansas. There is an active duty Army unit there who perform parades and ceremonies on horseback, with period gear. We got a chance to take a horse riding lesson with them and a short tour around the base. Here are some photos:

This is General Custer’s house. Very surreal and awesome experience to ride by his home on a real cavalry horse! These guys are too cool. Saw them ride at a ceremony shortly before I left the base and they were carrying what I believe were Dragoon percussion revolvers (could have been SAAs but I think they were Dragoons) and fired some blanks into the air.

I’ve been interested in cavalry weapons and history ever since.

 

[SDSmlf]

2F powder may eliminate the need to cover the flash hole.
In the day the gutta-percha cases in use would have been sealed with something other than tape. Perhaps a drop of melted bees wax.

Just as an FYI, I took apart a Civil War era Smith cartridge and found a powder finer than ffff. Some argue the powder was crushed in the case, but the ‘case’ was made out of some kind of rubber. Powder was loose and not clumped - sorry no photo of the powder, lost with Photobucket. Still have some ‘cartridges’, but not breaking any more down. They don’t make them anymore.

As far as covering the vent hole, believe @Smokey Plainsman is on a good path with the cloth tape. Back in the day before the internet and we didn’t know what we were doing, if we were using reloadable brass cases, we would place a small piece of cigarette paper in the bottom of the case before adding the powder, although most of the rounds we shot were originals the Old Man would pick up at a surplus store as I remember. When I had a Pietta Smith, I used the cigarette paper in the bottom of the case, topped with 3F or 4F and they worked fine. Believe a drop of beeswax is bad idea, but I’ve never tried it. I think it would be like sealing a touch hole or nipple orifice with beeswax, nothing but trouble.

 

[Whughett]

#SDSmif
I mentioned the 2F and the wax as that’s what I do with my Burnside Carbine. I load the cone shaped nylon cases with 2F and a round ball. I’ve even placed a lubed wad under the ball, although for the most part I dip the loaded round in melted bullet lube.
I tried the bees wax over the touch hole as an experiment. It works, no misfires. The wax does not adhere to the nylon cases very well so I don’t bother with it. I’ve no reason to water proof the cartridges at any rate as I don’t load and store them that far ahead.
Thanks for the photos. Are the cartridges paper? I had read they were India rubber. .

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Thanks guys, just posted this thread about this morning’s project: Full-Capacity Smith Carbine Cases

In short, I bored out some of the plastic cases to hold close to the correct original military powder capacity. Check it out!

 

[SDSmlf]

#SDSmif
I mentioned the 2F and the wax as that’s what I do with my Burnside Carbine. I load the cone shaped nylon cases with 2F and a round ball. I’ve even placed a lubed wad under the ball, although for the most part I dip the loaded round in melted bullet lube.
I tried the bees wax over the touch hole as an experiment. It works, no misfires. The wax does not adhere to the nylon cases very well so I don’t bother with it. I’ve no reason to water proof the cartridges at any rate as I don’t load and store them that far ahead.
Thanks for the photos. Are the cartridges paper? I had read they were India rubber. .

Appears a musket cap is is enough to go through the beeswax in the touchhole, good to know. With the ignition issues you hear about from different folks, my go to position is to keep ignition paths as clear as possible. But can’t argue with something that works.

The original Smith cartridges are some kind of rubber (reported to be India Rubber) covered with paper. When shooting original rubber cased cartridges you really had a mess on your hands as I remember it. The ‘all you need is tepid water’ for cleaning gang would probably wear their elbows out and still have a half melted/baked rubber deposit in their bores.

Here is the one of the few photographs I currently have of my original Smith Carbine (old lost with Photobucket thing), call it an inventory photo. I have to pull it out, shoot it some and take some new photographs. The gun has clear cartouches and a 10k serial number.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Appears a musket cap is is enough to go through the beeswax in the touchhole, good to know. With the ignition issues you hear about from different folks, my go to position is to keep ignition paths as clear as possible. But can’t argue with something that works.

The original Smith cartridges are some kind of rubber (reported to be India Rubber) covered with paper. When shooting original rubber cased cartridges you really had a mess on your hands as I remember it. The ‘all you need is tepid water’ for cleaning gang would probably wear their elbows out and still have a half melted/baked rubber deposit in their bores.

Here is the one of the few photographs I currently have of my original Smith Carbine (old lost with Photobucket thing), call it an inventory photo. I have to pull it out, shoot it some and take some new photographs. The gun has clear cartouches and a 10k serial number.
View attachment 131955

Very nice gun. I want to pick up an original someday as well. Ones in good condition are not cheap, at least not anymore.

 

[Dirty Mike]

What bullet lube are you using?

 

[SDSmlf]

Very nice gun. I want to pick up an original someday as well. Ones in good condition are not cheap, at least not anymore.

Not sure what originals are currently selling for, but an ‘associate’ of the person I sold my Pietta Smith to (War Between the States Reenactment crowd) offered over $3k for my original and was somewhere between mad and insulted that I just said not interested and didn’t counter. The guy had a wad of Franklins in his wallet and was serious. So was I.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

What bullet lube are you using?

2 parts beeswax to 1 parts lambs tallow.

 

[toot]

A Burnside or a Smith??

both of them. toot.

 

[toot]

After making the cartridges I read on another forum some guys use a small square of cloth medical “micropore” tape to to cover the flash hole on the cartridge. I picked some up at Walmart (generic Equate brand called “paper tape” in the bandaid aisle) and removed the scotch tape and placed a little square of the micropore tape over each hole.

Works great! The musket cap easily punched through and I had no hangfire at all, instant ignition.

so I take it that you leave the scotch tape on during fireing?

 

[toot]

Thanks! I had this rig custom made by Dove & Dandy’s leather a few years ago for my Remington New Model Army. The little cartridge box actually holds 20 Smith cartridges perfectly and the cap box is ideal for musket caps.

Smith carbines were a popular surplus weapon after the Civil War and were carried out West. This rig to me seems like something that could have been made up by a saddler for someone using a surplus Smith carbine and Remington revolver out on the frontier, maybe to replace a worn-out cavalryman’s rig.

REMMY is the way to go!

 

[Whughett]

both of them. toot.

Amy opinion on to which is best. The Smith, a reproduction or the Burnside, an authentic civil war relic.
Almost had a Smith at a decent price just couldn’t agree on method of payment to an unknown party. Shuda bite the bullet so to speak ……