Paper Cartridges?

[Rikeman]

Anyone here ever made them. I am thinking this might be just the thing I would like for my Walker.

I have seen two methods. First being the cartridge containing both the load and ball. Second containing just the load. For the second I guess you would just place the load in the cylinder then press the ball down on the entire cartridge.

What do you guys think about this? Either method or both. Anyone actually making these. Once I get my loads for my Hawken nailed down, I was thinking of doing the same for it. Seems as though once the load is poured into the rifle the paper could act as a wad then place the patched ball over that.

 

[longfowler]

lots of other guys on here know more about this than me, and there are alot of posts about it if you search the forums, but this is what I do:
using either cigarette rolling papers, or the brown "onion skin" paper that comes between carbon copies, I roll a cylinder of paper around a ball. I fold one end tight to the ball, fill the other end with powder and just twist it shut. when you slip the "cartridge" into the gun and ram it, the paper breaks open so the cap can ignite the powder. I've used these may times, and never had a missfire. I carry them in a mint tin to keep them dry. these here are about 5 years old, just fired some last fall with no problems. slow to make, but fast to load!

 

[BrownBear]

Haven't tried it myself, but some time ago I saved this link to directions for making a "cartridge" for the powder only. Looks straight forward enough, but not as hassle free as the previous post.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Do you use anything to keep from chain firing?
juice jaws

 

[longfowler]

a little dab of crisco, when I think to bring it.

 

[rice1817]

In the classic Ned Roberts book "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle", he describes making paper cartridges just as described in the Civil War link, but he loaded a live round ball. He secured a wrap of thread both above and below the ball, and dipped the paper wrapped ball into beeswax. He tore the powder side of the cartridge with his teeth, dumped the charge down the bore, and then loaded the ball, paper and all, with the paper acting as a cloth-lubed patch.

 

[Poor Private]

You might want to scroll through the pistol section above. There was a whole thread on paper cartridges for pistols. Some were making them out of cigart papers (Zig Zag).

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Long read, this starts out with one method, then evolves as others weigh in, guy from France had some good ideas.
[url] http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=144094[/url]

 

[Rikeman]

Well last night while watching a movie, I made up 50 paper cartridges. I used the method of powder only. I bought cheap "TOP" brand rolling papers and used the back end of a sharpe felt pen as my mould. I think they came out quite well.

I am hoping to get out and shoot them today and I will let you all know how it goes. It was quite time consuming to make them, but should save a lot of time at the range.

 

[Rikeman]

I finally got out to shoot my Walker using the paper cartridges. They loaded great! Made getting the pistol ready to shoot much faster.

One MAJOR down side! The paper does not completely burn and leaves a bit of crap in the bottom of the cylinder so by the time I was on my 4th cylinder load, 4 out of 6 of the rounds did not ignite. I was even running a nipple pick down the nipple to try and open a path for direct ignition.

No more paper for me! :shake:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

No more paper for me!

I bought some Zig-Zag papers to try, I how know they are definitely nitrated. I took one hand held paper and lit it with a lighter, ignited in a flash, almost got my fingers before I could get rid of it.

Just in case I wanted to try other types of paper, I bought some Grant's stump remover (potassium Nitrate) at Home Depot.

 

[Rikeman]

Hmmm....I didnt try "zig zag" paper and I did not try just lighting the paper to see what it would do. It was however very interesting that on the first go round all 6 cylinders ignited, but there was a very noticable delay. A very pronounced crack....BOOM. :hmm:

Maybe "ZIg Zag" is better. The issue I noticed is the residue building up in the bottom of the cylinders from where the paper was not totally consumed.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Rikeman: The target shooters are shooting only 18 grains of powder out of those replica cylinders. Some even use metal washers inside the chambers to reduce the chamber size so you can only pour 18 grains in them, and the length of the washer, or sleeve, is such that the ball seats against it when it is loaded. That gives consistent chamber length round after round.

NO one is using paper cartridges in their revolvers. I got this from a man you held and may still hold several national titles in pistol shooting at Friendship. If you will use the 11.5 grains of powder per cubic Inch of bore, and apply it to those chambers, you will understand why the target shooters are shooting such reduced loads. Even when you add in the length of the barrel, you get fairly small figures. A 10 inch .44 caliber barrel will shoot only 17.486 grains of powder efficiently. Increase that to 12 inches and you are up to 21 grains! ( 10 inch barrel and approx. 2 inch long cylinder.) For a .36 caliber revolver, back that charge down to 12 grains, max. Since the chambers in these guns are all made too small in diameter for the barrel, they need to be reamed out, at least to seat a properly sized ball.Then, the chambers can be reduces with a washer or sleeve. to act as a ball stop, and to reduce the diameter of the chamber to hold only the recommended powder charge. Now, use an 11 degree angle tapered reamer to redo the throats on the revolvers, tune the trigger pulls, and action, and you should get very good accuracy.