my first attempt at making paper cartridges

[tom in nc]

I finally tried it. I made my mandrel from dimensions given on someone's video. I probably should have made the big end a few thousandths bigger. I made up several paper "cones" with cigarette papers then realized I had not made a block to stand them in. I proceeded anyway. After measuring and putting in 25g of FFFg powder I dropped a .451 cast ball in. The balls I was using are the correct size for my Colt 1860 .44 but my Remington 1858 Pietta is supposed to use .454 or .457. I'm told. That's where I had a problem. I did not have the forceps shown in the pic at the time and since the balls I have are cast they have sprues. Trying to drop them in on top of the powder charge and push them down firmly I couldn't be sure where the sprue was. I would be happy with them up or down. I began to "disassemble" the ones that I had made to check and found the sprues were all over the place, up, down , and sideways. So. I went to Harbor Freight and bought the forceps. Now I will drill a piece of wood to make a loading block, as soon as I get over the flu I now have. I plan to buy a bench loader so I will not have to load the brass framed Colt with the loading lever and put stress on the brass frame,

 

[Stantheman86]

Making 6 right now to try tomorrow (non combustible) . For my Dragoon. I'll load the rest loose.

 

[sourdough]

View attachment 25051
Making 6 right now to try tomorrow (non combustible) . For my Dragoon. I'll load the rest loose.

Chuckle... just don't load those picket bullets backwards! Very nice, Stan!

Jim

 

[Stantheman86]

I'm gonna charge them at the range , honestly too lazy to sit and roll a bunch of them.

It's supposed to be cold so I probably won't be out long anyway. Just basically want to test fire the Dragoon with the bullets and round balls .

 

[tom in nc]

I forgot the pic with my first post.

 

[Eutycus]

Swaged balls, no sprue to worry about.

 

[Stantheman86]

I'd like to someday play around with the cigarette paper cartridges but the non-combustible cartridges are also "correct" for the "Big Colts". I had kinda experimented with them years ago when I had a Walker, they're not much faster than just loading loose with a flask but it's easier to bring a bunch of cartridges then all the loose stuff.