Capandball's latest video on Youtube...

shows him making .36cal paper cartridges for his original Colt Navy [lucky fella].



The spiffy little loading block, AND the replica cartridge box, too, can be bought by mail order from the gun store run by him and his brother in Budapest. You'll just need to look for kapszli.hu

They do the same thing in .44cal, BTW.

These are neat, this is how these revolvers are supposed to be used.

TFoley, very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting but keep in mind the responses Elmer Keith got when interviewing actual Confederate cavalrymen from the United States American Civil War.

They claimed the round ball from the .36 Navy hit with more power and authority than did the paper carts with conicals. Savvy horseman loaded their navy’s with roundies and loose powder.

Absolutely. Those pointy noses just poke a smaller than caliber hole as the velocity is low which allows the flesh to stretch, whereas a ball, being much more blunt, tends to create a caliber sized hole from the few ballistics gel tests I’ve seen, and from what often gets mentioned from rifles after about 75-100 yds where the velocity has dropped.

If one wants a very large wound a wide meplat must be incorporated, much like what Mr Keith (among a few others) spent a lot of time developing and proving. It’s why I’ve made custom molds for my revolvers meant for hunting, and even at very, very low velocities they still create a wider than caliber hole. Those would have been the preferred projectile as the wounds are more devastating, the mass provides better penetration, and the higher BC would give better wind resistance and range. Imagine what Wild Bill would have been able to do!

I like this guy's videos. I have used his methods(a slightly different earlier procedure) to make paper cartridges and they work well. FWIW, for those who prefer to shoot a bullet with more of a flat meplat, take a look at Accurate Molds #38-120. It is a heel design with a flatter meplat but no grease groove. I simply load then grease over the chamber mouth. At 120 grs, along with that meplat, it provides a bit more punch for the 36 Navies. I can tell the difference using that bullet on Cowboy steel knock down targets compared to the round ball.