ThorinNNY
Member
Last evening members of my muzzle loading club rolled and packaged cartridges for our June Border Skirmish. We needed a minimum of four pakages of 10 cartridges( plus 12 caps) for each shooter.
Hate to admit it, but most of us are far better at casing Minie balls than making paper cartridges.
During the Civil War women did the cartridge rolling & packaging. They were paid by the piece and usually worked 7 days a week I think they were paid one penny for each complete package of cartridges.They could make up to $2.00 per day. An infantry man`s monthly wage was $13.00 per Month.
Pretty good wages for the ladies,but it was a hazardous job.
We rolled and packaged 2 types of cartridge Frankford and Watervliet- just like they used during the CW. Frankford Arsenal cartridges used a Minie ball that differed slightly from the Minie balls the Watervliet Arsenal produced.
Both styles worked but each type shot a bit different from the other.Get used to how one shoots, they probably give you the other type.
Soldiers used whatever style they were issued, no peronal prefernces allowed. We vary the cartridges to give us a taste of what they had to put up with.
Getting back to last night`s production figures, nobody rolling them would have earned $ 2.00 per day at Civil War pay rates.
Hate to admit it, but most of us are far better at casing Minie balls than making paper cartridges.
During the Civil War women did the cartridge rolling & packaging. They were paid by the piece and usually worked 7 days a week I think they were paid one penny for each complete package of cartridges.They could make up to $2.00 per day. An infantry man`s monthly wage was $13.00 per Month.
Pretty good wages for the ladies,but it was a hazardous job.
We rolled and packaged 2 types of cartridge Frankford and Watervliet- just like they used during the CW. Frankford Arsenal cartridges used a Minie ball that differed slightly from the Minie balls the Watervliet Arsenal produced.
Both styles worked but each type shot a bit different from the other.Get used to how one shoots, they probably give you the other type.
Soldiers used whatever style they were issued, no peronal prefernces allowed. We vary the cartridges to give us a taste of what they had to put up with.
Getting back to last night`s production figures, nobody rolling them would have earned $ 2.00 per day at Civil War pay rates.