Minie ball in a pritchett cartridge?

[ArbiterThel68]

Hello all, I would like to ask if anyone knows if it's possible to use a burton (minie ball) bullet in the enfield pritchett cartridge. The reason I ask is because I like the idea of having to just break off the powder cylinder and slide the entire unit down the barrel, instead of having to clumsily unwrap the bullet from the paper like with the minie balls cartridge system. That, and the fact that minie balls are cheaper, easier to find, and to find molds for, compared to pritchett bullets and molds. What do you guys think?

 

[Nobade]

If you used them unlubed and sized down enough so they fit with the paper on, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Lube the paper of course but lube on the bullet would encourage the paper to stick.

 

[Keyhole]

Need to size them down but they will work. Nobade’s comments about the lube are very true also

 

[Some_Mook]

Size .577 down far enough to fit the bore with paper rolled around it and you might encounter an issue of stripping the rifling. Make up a few to try, but hold off on making a bunch before you find out it works or not.

Have you considered making the 1855 pattern US Expanding Ball Cartridge? That pattern uses a powder chamber that, once the powder is dumped into the bore, the cartridge is brushed across the top of the muzzle to break the powder chamber off and then the bullet is simple pushed out of the remaining paper covering into the bore. I have never had to 'peel' the paper off of a bullet. I use a tallow / bee's wax lube on these.

The N-SSA has a link to the 1855 pattern if you are interested.