Paper Cartridge Lube?

[JamesCT]

Just got a 20 gauge fusil and plan to shoot
paper cartridges thru it. Does anyone use lube in them? I used to shoot them with no lube and got fair
grouping at 50 yds. Not as good as a patched ball tho. Just thinking there should be something besides
paper to seal the bore. Do you have any thoughts on this?

 

[musketman]

When making them, you could try adding an over-powder card in the tube between the charge and projectile, this would offer some sealing capabilities to the cartridge...

I would only make a few until you know if it's going to work or not, it may be too hard to load with the extra material from the paper itself, unless you get a slightly smaller over-powder card...

 

[musketman]

As for lubing the paper, it could soak through to the powder and ruin it...

However, you could wax the ball area of the cartridge paper prior to rolling them, this would offer some lube and shouldn't leech into the powder unless it's really hot out or you do some serious rappid shooting...

 

[JamesCT]

Hey thanks for the suggestions. Ill give it a try.
Always good to have an excuse to do some shooting.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Back in the dim, dark past of the 19(censored)'s, we used Crisco or lard mixed with whatever lube you could buy locally. Not high tech but it got the job done. One of the best at it fired his from original Besses and English fowlers. His technique worked well. The muskets shot balls of .76 and .75 in the original .775 bores. Both sized balls were rolled up in paper tubes with string ties above and below the ball. The cartridges were dipped in lube covering the ball end only. The larger ball loads were used first by opening the cartridge, pouring the powder down the bore and then pushing the ball-end of the cartridge into the muzzle and tearing off the rest of the paper. Follow up shots got the smaller ball loads but after the powder was poured in the cartridge was pushed in ball end up, the entire paper tube loaded in to act as wadding. Worked great.

Shot loads were done a bit differently. When the tube was formed on the wooden dowel, a thick wad was glued in about the middle of the paper tube. Back then the wads were fiber with a thin plastic base. When dry, the shot was poured into the top and tied off with string. Then the same lube used for the ball loads was brushed on with a small paint brush, just enough to lube the side of the paper tube and just over the shot and wad area. The bottom was bitten off to load and the powder was poured in the bore the cartridge loaded as a normal ball load. The the entire paper cartridge was pushed into the bore with the shot end up, of course, and when even with the muzzle the curled, tied twist was pulled up gently and the top of the cartridge cut off with a patch knife. Then an over-shot card was put on top and the whole rammed down. This worked as well as the ball loads and took birds up to goose.

Now many folks roll tubes like used to hold coins and the ends folded like coin tubes with the shot charge inside. This can be loaded on top of cards or cards & wad with an over-shot card. You'll have to experiment to see which your gun likes best but that's the fun of this sport. Good luck.

 

[squirejohn]

For speed events with my 20g I used to lube the ball end of paper catridges with bear grease. I too found accuracy wasn't quite as good as a patched roundball. Also sometimes there would be too much lube and the load would rupture. Now for speed events I just use pre-measured paper powder charges and patched round balls in a loading block. For me this method is only six seconds slower than the paper catridge and no worries about rupture and accuracy.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I was pretty much a smoothbore shooter for 15 years and tried all kinds of paper cartridges. The "dux-deluxe" of my manufacture started with a fairly tight ball (0.648" in a .662" bore). I rolled the cartridge on a ball-diameter dowel (a 5/8" dowel built-up to diameter with masking tape) using onion skin typing paper (good luck finding that). I found the English tied variety easier. The ball is pushed into the tube (which is about three layers thick when rolled) using the dowel and thread is used to tie the paper closed ahead of the ball, and tight up against the back of the ball (with the dowel in place, so it just forms a shoulder to hold the ball tight. I then removed the dowel and placed a waxed paper "cup" inside the cartridge, formed ahead of time on the dowel. The powder is poured into the cargtidge then and the open end folded shut. I then dipped just the ball end in a mix of 50/50 beeswax and Crisco.

I did the wased paper as much to waterproof the load for hunting as to keep the oils from leeching into the powder. For shot, make a little capsule using the dowel but crimp the ends in and hold with paper paste.