Pat 1858 Enfield Paper Cartridges

[Heelerau]

Had 112'f day at home yesterday, so made some more paper cartridges. I am using two different diameter Pritchet bullets, one a .554 and the other at .568 diameter. The .554 is the longer bullet, very suited to the Navy Rifle by Parker Hale, the latter in .568 is shorter and shoots quite well in an original Pat 53 3rd Model contract Enfield rifled musket. This time I rubbed more wax onto the waxed cotton chokeing thread, (to tie off the outer wrap at the bullet base) Charged with 2 2/1 drs of FFg Goex black, lubed with 5 to 1 by volume beeswax to unsalted lard at about 320'F . The outer wrapper is Bienfang 360 linen rag paper. I have been messing about with paper cartridges for the last year or so to see what sort of accurace I can get. The have not performed as well as the Bugg minnie which is a nice slip fit, but accuracy quite accept able for hunting.

[/URL][/img]

 

[Zonie]

A couple of years ago there was a topic about making paper Enfield cartridges.
They are quite complex.

Back in 2002, there was an article in the NMLRA magazine, "Muzzle Blasts" that shows the paper that is needed to make the original cartridges.

Here's a drawing of the paper patterns



And here's a link to the discussion here on the forum in 3013
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/.../1245919/hl/"CARTPAPER"/fromsearch/1/#1245919

 

[Heelerau]

Zonie, thanks mate, that is the pattern for the cartridges I am making, minus the little strip as I use a glue stick to hold it all together, careful not to put any glue on the smooth sided Pritchet bullet. I guess I have made about 120 rounds over the last year or so, the hard bit was getting a mould. Have a mate in South Australia that makes a nice Pritchet mould if any one is interested I can PM them with contact details. I suspect that these rounds may never shoot as well as a well fitted Minnie does, i.e. can shoot a score of 98 at 50 yards bench rest with the Minne, an 80 at best with the paper cartridge. Still have some minor tweaking such as weighing the projectiles and powder charges rather than just eyeball and flask to charge. They are a lot of work, but you get faster if you persevere. It would be nice to get some saddler type cutting dies made to cut all the paper components out, that is what takes the most time. Not a bad way to while time away when the weather is crap.

Cheers

Heelerau

 

[Heelerau]

Gents, Pretty pleased with these results, 73 grains of Goex FFg, .554 pritchett bullet, lube 11parts beeswax 1 part Paraffin. I actually put 15 rounds down range, first 5 were the .568, and interestingly grouped poorly. The next 10 were the .554 bullets aka thumbnail in previous post. Outer envelope was slit, tied off with pure cotton string. Looks like they are shooting pretty close to what I would get with my Trevor Bugg Burton style minnie'. All fifteen shots loaded like the first, practically no fouling. All these .554 bullets were weighed within a grain. I did not have time to do the same with the .568 bullets. All charges weighed. I had to use a pretty fine sight well below the black so there is room for sighting error in this target. Thanks again Rob for your excellent video which tuned me up a bit.

[/URL][/img] Ps 50m off the bench.

 

[ChrisPer]

Nice work Heelerau! I just got my first Enfield from an SA member, a PH 1858. Cast some Minies ready to shoot it for the first time. Hope to see you at the club.

 

[Heelerau]

Mate, will be there this Sunday, for pistol, also bringing the .451 to try some new bullets out and lube.

Cheers

gordon

 

[ChrisPer]

Mate, will be there this Sunday, for pistol, also bringing the .451 to try some new bullets out and lube.

Cheers

gordon

Well I was there, but late after everyone left, to try out my 'new' PH 1858 that I bought from an Adelaide member. First five off the bench into 9 and 10 rings at 50, then first five after I figured out the sight picture at 100 gave three 9s and two sevens. It is a pearler, I may have to learn to shoot so as not to let the rifle down! :thumbsup:

 

[Klaus]

Hi Heelerau,

we was in contact at the Bristish ML Forum an i was following Rob`s impressive Videos too

my first and second steps in the old time loading technique for british paper cartridge take place
and the results are growing up.

my final level at this time are a 575 Lee old style Bullet with a flat bottom and a sizing die by .571 inch
I use some Bienfang 360 paper and some of a sketching block i found a Wal Mart Store

58 to 60 grs fffg Powder

it`s just a lot of fun to shoot the PC out from the PH Enfield

just some pice for all with interrest in this issue

some pics about my results will follow

Klaus :v

 

[TFoley]

Thank you, Sir, for your excellent and informative post - I very much enjoyed reading it and learning from it!

tac

 

[smoothshooter]

Glad you are having fun with your new toy.

But can you tell us what size of groups you were getting in inches or centimeters?

Many of us don't shoot standardized paper targets, and are not familiar with how big a 9 or 8 ring is.

 

[Klaus]

here i`m back with some pics taken some times ago

at first the rifle and following by 4 papertargets
all done by 50 m rested on a sandbag

for your interrest

the 10 circle maesured 5 cm and each circle measured 2,5 cm

this one are the RCBS DeepBottom .575 patched to .582

following by the Lee Classic .575 Bullet

and here 10 Shoots by unsized Lee .575 Deep Hole 4 in the lower 10 and one outside left in the 8.
rest are 5 Round with same bullet but flat hole.
patched with thin tracerpaper

i`ve been looking fwd this weekend to check another combination of Bullet/ Paper / Powder Charge.

will update you soon

Kl :wink: aus

 

[Heelerau]

Klaus keep at it, I will compete in the class 1 rifle musket event at the Perth club on Sunday with my.55 original style pritchett bullet. We had a 41"C day yesterday, so cast early in the morning, wieghed them all out and made them up into cartridges. I will charge and grease them this morning. 2 1/2 drams of Goex FFg, lube 11 parts beeswax to 1 part paraffin oil as per Hans Busk Handbook for Hythe. I was quite surprised at how well this lube worked as I am using these cartridges in an ancient well used Parker Hale Navy Rifle whose bore seemed to be suffering ver fine pitting in the grooves but not the lands. The bore is shining up over time like new using these cartridges.
I had a very encouraging group last time that would have come in over 90 at 50 m off the bench and comparable to my best groups with the Bugg Burton style Minnie which has been my regular bullet for Donkeys' years !!. I now have the confidence to try it out for real in open competition.
It has been interesting to see others working with the Pritchett and seeing the differing approaches, often with very good results. Robs tube videos are well worth studying, re making these cartridges. I differ only that I do the whole 3 part thingy and use full chat military loads. The use of reusable tubes is and excellent idea.

Cheers

heeler

 

[Heelerau]

Gents here are my Pat 1858 Enfield Cartridges, no plug, .554 diameter Pritchett, pretty close copy of the original bullet. 2 1/2 drams of Goex FFg, outer wrapper Beinfang 360 100%

[/URL][/img] rag vellum. Lube 11 parts beeswax to 1 part by volume of paraffin oil. Tied off with plain hemp string.

 

[Klaus]

well done heelerau :thumbsup:

hope your match was successfully for you.-.
by the way i have had made a lesson for the cold days here. actually - 5 up to - 10 Degrees Celsius.
Went to the range with my well made Cartridges nad ubes with 50/50 Beeswax / Coconut ( Palmin called here)
works right at plus degrees but at the cold days i was not able to get a close group size in the Black
Impacs are all over the Cardboard.

the lube are not made for these cold days.
have to chance to a 10/90 mix it a bit Olive Oil added ...
Heelerau may you can post some rsults / pics next time?
Greeting from Germany

Klaus :hatsoff:

 

[smoothshooter]

How well does the load and bullet you referenced work on donkeys?
Penetration should be really good even at extended ranges.

 

[TexanFW]

I'd like to convert this template to 54 caliber minie balls any suggestions?

 

[Zonie]

Not really.

As there is only a 5% difference in caliber between a .54 and a .577 (.58) I suppose you could reduce the dimensions by 5 percent but I really don't think it would be worth the trouble.

 

[TexanFW]

Thank you

 

[TexanFW]

what type of paper are you using?

 

[Zonie]

As I mentioned in the link, I never tried building the cartridge and it's been about 15 years sense I read the article.

I also no longer have the Muzzleblasts magazine the directions came from.

I know some of our members have kept all of their old MuzzleBlasts so maybe one of them will read this and find the article to answer your question.

The cartridge information came from here:

In Volume 64- No. 2 of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Associations magazine Muzzle Blasts, Oct., 2002 on page 65 is an article written by Stuart Cruickshank entitled,
"The Enfield Rifle Musket and its Complex Paper Cartridge".