Question about paper cartrige kits

I have not used any of them, but this one looks more interesting to me.
https://www.mesawinds.net/

I don't know about the "kits".... I just tapered a dowel and use my fingers for the rest......cost = less than 25 cents. Has worked perfectly for hundreds and hundreds of paper cartridges. It's not rocket science. A glue stick and a tapered dowel are all you really need.

A very smart gentleman on the Remington 1858 Forum did all the ground work using curling iron papers. They are durable, burn up great and are easy to work with. He didn't bother trimming the paper around the projectile, instead just pulled the paper over and twisted it leaving a little "tag" on top. It doesn't look quite as sexy as a trimmed one.....but it gives you a little "handle" to grab the cartridge out of the box when you're in the field. I do all of mine that way.

Miguel Loco said:

I don't know about the "kits".... I just tapered a dowel and use my fingers for the rest......cost = less than 25 cents. Has worked perfectly for hundreds and hundreds of paper cartridges. It's not rocket science. A glue stick and a tapered dowel are all you really need.

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Exactly!

Cigarette paper. Tapered dowel.
Kit complete.

I bought the case former from Capandball a while back but haven't gotten off my lazy backside long enough to try it. But what I did do was roll some cartridges using paper coffee filters soaked in dissolved potassium nitrate granules (aka tree stump remover), using a dowel shaped to the dimension according to (if memory serves) one of the dualist1954 tutorials. These work well but the process is a bit time consuming, which won't be an issue once I'm retired. As I understand it from research, it was far more common during the era to obtain pistol ammunition in commercially made paper cartridge form than it was to haul a flask and loose RB's around.

I believe that at this point I have enough tools and knowledge to make a good run at it next time I build a batch.

Roverguy said:

Cigarette paper. Tapered dowel.
Kit complete.

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Untreated hair curling paper is stronger and burns cleaner. I started out using tea bags and they work well too.

I bought the Guns of the Old West kit. Made a few. They’re not so bad. I dipped the bullet (J&D) in melted SPG. It’s a tight fit to load in my Uberti 1860. I’ll probably mostly just use loose powder and round ball in the future or just use the kit to make powder only charges and load ball or bullet over that. The fun is in experimenting

I have the Guns of The West kit, and I like it a ton. Mostly because it comes with a whole kit, it has lube, papers, the former and a funnel.

Pocket said:

I kinda like the clean looking ones from the kits,,, the money I have been able to save that has been budgeted for caps that are not available can be redirected.

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You can easily make your own caps too. Pop can, punch, red ring caps (the plastic ones)...and a few other simple tools are all you need. There's a great write up on the "how to" over at the Colt Country forum. The gentleman did exhaustive research with lots of different materials and came up with a very simple and cheap method.

This is on our site. It covers a lot of information. It is a long read. Skip to the last several pages for the most current information.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/how-i-make-hot-percussion-caps.849353/

Kleanbore said:

Cigarette paper is treated to burn slowly. I used to have to scrape ash from the chambers.

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I don't.

Looks good @Pocket, excellent results.

Cool! Do you plan to dip the rb end in lube?

@Pocket They look great brother! How much Holy black is in each cartridge?

The kits are neat, but aren’t needed. Here’s my setup:



Homemade tapered dowel and hair curling papers. Works great, fast and easy to make up a few dozen cartridges in little time. Shoot clean and reliable.