Royal Navy Sea Service pistol loading procedure?

[zneufeld]

Hi all, my buddy and I are going to take out the Sea Service pistol (recently and beautifully lined to .54 by Bobby Hoyt) out for a spin sometime soon (as soon as my back heals up from a car accident).

I've found plenty of info on this forum and elsewhere regarding possible loads...we will probably start with patched .530 RB over 25-30 grains, and then maybe try some buckshot with cards/wad.

The one thing I haven't found is any info on how these pistols were loaded during the Napoleonic era. Google turns up a blank with all the search terms I can think of. Did they use paper cartridges? Bare ball? Just curious.

 

[Coot]

Hi all, my buddy and I are going to take out the Sea Service pistol (recently and beautifully lined to .54 by Bobby Hoyt) out for a spin sometime soon (as soon as my back heals up from a car accident).

I've found plenty of info on this forum and elsewhere regarding possible loads...we will probably start with patched .530 RB over 25-30 grains, and then maybe try some buckshot with cards/wad.

The one thing I haven't found is any info on how these pistols were loaded during the Napoleonic era. Google turns up a blank with all the search terms I can think of. Did they use paper cartridges? Bare ball? Just curious.

I recall doing some research on loading my RN blunderbuss and reading an 18c letter written from a RN Captain to the gunner on the captains' newly assigned ship. Work to be done prior to the captains delayed arrival on board included making x thousand musket cartridges, and much smaller numbers of pistol & blunderbuss cartridges. The letter gave no details - it was apparently assumed that the gunner knew how & with what loads to make up the cartridges. From the letter, I gather that paper cartridges were commonly used for all three types of personal firearms.