Thinking of making a paper cartridge...

[sussexmuzllodr]

for use while hunting. .50 paper tube crimped over and glued then round ball followed by a cork disc then filled with 70 grains of powder then folded and glued with the usual tear off tab. In your opinions do you think the paper would be thick enough to impart spin?
Would the paper not be strong enough so that there would be blow by and lack of accuracy?
Have not tried this at the range yet but I thought I would ask if anyone has attempted this.
Right now its just a consideration.Lunch bag paper.
Thanks for the feedback

SM

 

[Loyalist Dave]

...do you think the paper would be thick enough to impart spin?
Would the paper not be strong enough so that there would be blow by and lack of accuracy? ...

Nope....

Have not tried this at the range yet but I thought I would ask if anyone has attempted this.

Hessian Jaegers would do it all the time during the AWI.

What they would do is either have a separate pouch with the balls already wrapped in the cloth or leather patches, with a bit of thread to hold the greased patch cinched around the ball over the sprue. They would draw a powder only cartridge, pour it down, then they could ram the paper as a wad, followed by the pre-wrapped ball, OR simply discard the empty paper tube and load the pre-wrapped ball. The thread breaks when the ball is launched, and the patch falls away.

The other method was to place the pre-wrapped ball into the cartridge at the bottom, sprue/sewn end down toward the end of the cartridge, then load the powder on top. To load the rifle they would remove the ball by biting the ball portion free of the cartridge, pour the powder down, and then spit the ball into their hand for loading on top of the powder with the ramrod. The paper bitten off with the ball would come free during the loading.

The paper alone doesn't work because there is just too little surface area on the ball for the paper to contact both the ball and the interior wall of the barrel. A patch by virtue of its being wrapped around the ball, even though it doesn't touch any more of the interior of the barrel wall than does the paper, it is strong enough to grip the half of the ball where it is kept tight during loading.

making paper cartridges of powder and using a loading block holding a few ball wrapped in greased patches works well along the same lines.

LD

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Thanks Dave, Repestfully.
SM

 

[Stumpkiller]

Works great in smoothbores but I never tried paper with rifling. Keep us posted!

 

[Desperate Lee]

SM
I too have had this thought. Like Dave said about the paper not impacting spin i have to agree. Got on line and watched a lot of videos on how the the British and Persians and Germans used to do it and they tore the paper,poured powder, rammed paper, then clothed ball. Saw one video where a soldier tore paper and charged frizzen, then poured in powder then rammed paper, which had a clothed ball in it, then cocked and fired. He did about 10 cartridges in a row with no failures. Looked promising for hunting situations. Only mine will be in a 50 cal 10" barreled hand gun. Experimenting myself and will report in my post on this forum.

 

[DaveC]

https://www.thejeffersonarsenal.com/product-page/cartridge-kit-50cal-round-ball-20rds

Get the kit as a tutorial. Then get your own materials and see if you might like to change up the cartridge in one or another way, but do so one variable at a time.

 

[dave951]

There a several of us in the North South Skirmish Association that hunt with our competition muskets and loads. That means minies already set up as cartridges for speed loading in competition. You also don't need tons of power. A 500gr chunk of lead moseying along at 1k fps still hits harder than a 44mag and nobody turns their nose up at that for bambi hunting. Add into the equation that the hole is already right at 60cal and we don't even need to talk about expansion. Now if you use the wadcutter minie that is often shot in our competition and you have a 60cal hole made by a 500gr bullet cast from pure, soft lead. Yeah, if bambi meets one of these his next stop is the freezer.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Hi,
If you cut portions of paper towel to the size needed to make your paper powder cartridges, then soak them in a saturated potassium nitrate solution, you will make consumable paper cartridges.
You will NOT have paper smoldering on the ground with potential fires about to start.
It will still demand caution, but the remainder ( if any ) smoldering paper will be quite evident.
This paper cartridge is totally independent from the bullet or ball. But it does improve reload speed.
You still have to tear open each cartridge prior to loading, but paper towel tears easy, and yet is strong enough for carry.
I use these cartridges quite often in my fowler. I have done so for over thirty years without starting a fire, but eastern Ontario is no way as dry as southwestern USA or Australia.
There you have to carry a fire extinguisher or drink lots of beer.
Fred