Paper cartridges loading cylinder in OR out of gun ?

[Brokenbear]

OK be patient:... I have an 1849 Colt pocket .31cal, 1862 Colt police pocket .36cal & an1860 Colt army

Working first with the 1862 I built some 20 Grains + .375 round ball w/ nitrated coffee filter paper cartridges that were too long to load with the cylinder in the gun

So are paper cartridge shooters limited to starter loads if the cylinder is to be loaded in the gun?

So I table the 1862 and pick up my 1860 Colt army with 25Grains + .454 round ball and same paper ..It will barely fit via loading the cylinder in the gun BUT after loading this load fully seated ..the ball sat a long ways from the chamber mouth ..I say to me "that dog ain't gonna hunt" (NOTE; I am new to BP pistols and the 1860 is new to me also) as there is almost enough room to seat another ball

So I know if I lengthen the charge column on the 1860 .44 paper cartridges with wad (s) or filler they are for dang sure not going to stuff with the cylinder in the gun

So if I have to take my Colts apart to load a proper length charge column on a free standing "cylinder stuffer" machine ...am I saving that much time over just throwing loose goods in each chamber?

Seems the more I know ..the more I don't know ..such is life I suppose

Thanks
Bear

 

[hrt4me]

OK be patient:... I have an 1849 Colt pocket .31cal, 1862 Colt police pocket .36cal & an 1860 Colt army

are these original Colt revolvers?
or modern replicas?

 

[jdesro]

So I table the 1862 and pick up my 1860 Colt army with 25Grains + .454 round ball and same paper ..It will barely fit via loading the cylinder in the gun BUT after loading this load fully seated ..the ball sat a long ways from the chamber mouth ..I say to me "that dog ain't gonna hunt" (NOTE; I am new to BP pistols and the 1860 is new to me also) as there is almost enough room to seat another ball

Did you shoot the 25gr load yet? That is a mild load but is usually a pretty accurate load - at least in a lot of my revolvers. I don't use fillers or anything, and it still usually works pretty well regardless of how far it is seated in the chambers.

If you really feel the need to stuff more powder in then you may need to modify the loading window in the barrel to allow enough room for the cartridge. It's a common issue with replica revolvers - Pietta/Uberti didn't quite follow the contours of the original 1860 barrel when they reproduced it. If you look up "Duelist1954" on YouTube he has a video or two describing how to modify the window.

Just out of curiosity, which cartridge forming tool are you using? Could also be there is not enough taper to your cartridges to allow them to enter the chambers freely.

 

[Brokenbear]

are these original Colt revolvers?
or modern replicas?

1849 3rd gen Colt
1860 & 1862 Uberti

Bear

 

[Brokenbear]

Did you shoot the 25gr load yet? That is a mild load but is usually a pretty accurate load - at least in a lot of my revolvers. I don't use fillers or anything, and it still usually works pretty well regardless of how far it is seated in the chambers.

If you really feel the need to stuff more powder in then you may need to modify the loading window in the barrel to allow enough room for the cartridge. It's a common issue with replica revolvers - Pietta/Uberti didn't quite follow the contours of the original 1860 barrel when they reproduced it. If you look up "Duelist1954" on YouTube he has a video or two describing how to modify the window.

Just out of curiosity, which cartridge forming tool are you using? Could also be there is not enough taper to your cartridges to allow them to enter the chambers freely.

Guns of the West on the formers
IT is a comfortable load
Likely won't modify the barrel assembly
Way too much bullet jump before encountering the forcing cone for me so a filler is in order
Powder is way too hard to come by to use as filler I think
So Cream of Wheat? Corn meal?

For sure I am going to build some long tapered dowel formers and see if I can come up with a length and diameter per caliber that will allow me to stuff paper ctg into a gun mounted cylinder
Why do I care if I crush the over long small diameter tube spilling loose power into the chamber as I seat the ball?

Bear

 

[ZUG]

The original Colt and Remington revolvers were designed to shoot conical bullets and ball. The new reproduction revolvers were made to shoot ball. You will see videos that modify the loading area of the modern reproduction revolver to allow for the very issue you are referring to.
I do not like to grind on my guns to modify them so I chose to either shoot loose ball & powder or load the cylinder out of the revolver. My older Uberti 1858 Remington will load both conical & ball paper cartridge but not my Colt repo's.