How did they reload in the field in the old days?

[buck460XVR]

Something to keep in mind as well is that shooting for recreation at that time was not really a thing except for the wealthy. Loaded cartidges, powder, and primers were expensive relative to peoples income's of the time so your average farmer or trapper or whatever would not have been pulling many triggers except to put food on the table, and you would have been darn careful about wasting ammo.

^^^This. When my grandpa handed down his ol Winnie .32 Special to me in the sixties, he still had some of the original bullets he bought with the gun. He bought the gun when he came home from France after WWI. One thing we need to remember too, is that the reason for factory ammo being so much higher in cost today than reloading is labor, transportation and retail markup. Look at how much prices have rose for goods since gas/diesel increased by ten times. Same goes for labor costs. Savings from reloading in the 1800s may not have been that significant, especially since one had to invest in tools(which were relatively expensive) to reload. While stuffing cases with black powder was easy and simple, it may have not been cost effective. Thus having loaded ammo in your saddlebags as opposed to hauling all the components for ammo...... and the tools to do so, may have been the smarter thing to do.

 

[Random 8]

I think there is also a distinction to be made between market hunting and subsistence hunting. The subsistence hunter may have carried sufficient cartridges for the purpose, waiting until a trip to the local trader or a specialist to reload/resupply. In the case of market hunting, the most famous being the buffalo hunts, but also involving the hunting of everything from waterfowl to prairie chickens and sharptails to deer to the passenger pigeon that went on into the 20th century in my part of the country, we're talking about ammunition consumption in the realm of the modern tactical competitor. These folks most definitely had and used the capability to reload cartridges afield. Large, straight walled brass cartridges and shotshells can absolutely be reloaded with simple general tools found at any blacksmith and black powder given a supply of powder, shot and primer. Methods for packing and waterproofing powder and caps were well developed prior to the self contained cartridge, I've already touched on one method of transporting lead, and these items were relatively compact and lightweight compared to the other kit an expedition would pack afield. As today, the brass case was the most expensive and difficult to obtain. We can assume from surviving artifacts, bullet moulds were quite common, and often standard kit when purchasing a firearm. Various greases and waxes for lubricating pure lead bullets were common, as was tin and arsenic for alloying bullets. No doubt the savvy riflemen who took up the buffalo hunt after the civil war knew how to bring these components and technologies together to manufacture serviceable ammunition even for the most powerful Sharps and Rolling block cartridges far from resupply.

 

[buck460XVR]

From an article from WisCONTEXT.......https://www.wiscontext.org/wisconsin-and-extinction-passenger-pigeon

The largest passenger pigeon nesting on record was in 1871 across an 850-square mile swath of central Wisconsin that stretched in a "V" shape from Black River Falls south to Wisconsin Dells and back north to Wisconsin Rapids. Hundreds of millions of pigeons, perhaps even as many as a billion, nested throughout the area. About 100,000 commercial and other hunters flocked to Wisconsin, killing many tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of birds, shipped on ice in barrels that were loaded onto trains headed to market in cities. During the hunt, one gun dealer in Sparta sold 512,000 rounds of ammunition.

I live within that 850-square mile swath. Still hunt those same Oak Savannahs that once held those billion birds. Sparta was on the Mississippi River side of where folks came to shoot. It was not where the majority of hunters, both sport and commercial, came thru to hunt. There was a special railroad line that ran from Kilbourn(now known as Wisconsin Dells) to Babcock, just to carry "pigeoners" to where the birds roosted during the nesting season. It was this same railroad line that shipped millions of birds and their young(a delicacy known as squab) in barrels back to Milwaukee and Chicago. I would suspect iffin that dealer in Sparta sold over half a million rounds of ammo in that one season, dealers in Kilbourn and Babcock would have sold substantially more. Thus it seems at least in this one area, reloading your own ammo, was not the norm.

 

[rpenmanparker]

Thus it seems at least in this one area, reloading your own ammo, was not the norm.

And as we all know, we squandered our chance to reload our pigeons.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

How do you reload more ammunition for your gun while in the field? Do you carry a hand press, powder, and bullets so you can do it in the wilderness? What do you do about primers? Are you doing campfire casting, and if so, where do you get lead? Or do you just forget about wilderness reloading and depend on regular trips into town to buy ammo?

Thanks

Yes, You carried a hand press. Almost all the reloading presses those days were hand presses, and some of them had built-in bullet moulds, too. You carried powder, primers and lead. One trick in the old days was to sell powder in lead kegs. When you emptied one keg, you had the lead you needed for the next keg. You kept drippings -- bacon grease and so on -- to lubricate your bullets.

 

[buck460XVR]

And as we all know, we squandered our chance to reload our pigeons.

yep....lesson learned. This Historical marker is in BRF, just a few miles north of me.

The plaque is dedicated to a spot, again. just a few miles from me. When my Grandpa was a boy, his dad would go and hunt passenger pigeons, but they were already getting scarce. Seemed it was almost a challenge to get "the last one".

 

[WestKentucky]

It is not hard to imagine a person using very basic tools to put together a function metallic reloading operation, but I just don’t see it as being viable. What I do see though is that much like the railroad camps had “ladies” and others following along for business purposes that there was likely somebody hanging around the buffalo camps banging away at ammunition with a slightly more bulky pack than what would have been “in the field”.

I also question how much “rifles” were used outside of the high dollar hide routes. I suspect it to be easier to fold down paper and pour a drip of candle wax over a paper shotgun shell than it is to reload brass. Paper is also cheaper and lighter, if absolutely necessary can be loaded with fine creek gravel.

 

[NoirFan]

Yes, You carried a hand press. Almost all the reloading presses those days were hand presses, and some of them had built-in bullet moulds, too. You carried powder, primers and lead. One trick in the old days was to sell powder in lead kegs. When you emptied one keg, you had the lead you needed for the next keg. You kept drippings -- bacon grease and so on -- to lubricate your bullets.

I'd love to read more about this. Is there a source I can look at? A lead powder cask would seem to be prohibitively heavy for shipping but stranger things have been true in history.

It is not hard to imagine a person using very basic tools to put together a function metallic reloading operation, but I just don’t see it as being viable. What I do see though is that much like the railroad camps had “ladies” and others following along for business purposes that there was likely somebody hanging around the buffalo camps banging away at ammunition with a slightly more bulky pack than what would have been “in the field”.
I also question how much “rifles” were used outside of the high dollar hide routes. I suspect it to be easier to fold down paper and pour a drip of candle wax over a paper shotgun shell than it is to reload brass. Paper is also cheaper and lighter, if absolutely necessary can be loaded with fine creek gravel.

Would it be plausible for someone to have set up a pure reloading business at a fort or base camp, using a more stationary press, where frontiersmen could drop off their expended brass and pick up loaded shells on their way out of town?

Edit: just ran across this article which covers a lot of the topics we're discussing: https://loaddata.com/Article/LoadDevelopment/The-History-of-Handloading-Not-Just-a-Fad-Anymore/448 . I like this interesting historical detail:

During the black-powder cartridge era, it was common to fill the case with 100 percent volume of the correct burn rate of powder then seat the bullet. There was no need for an accurate scale or even a powder measure, except perhaps a dipper. On the other hand, smokeless powders generally did not fill the case and had to be accurately weighed ... For the next couple of decades, if someone chose to handload smokeless powder cartridges, they were frequently viewed as reckless.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

I read somewhere else on the internet (true!) that if you showed up at Ft. Laramie or one of the other outposts during the "indian wars" with the intent to slaughter bison indiscriminately, as was encouraged, the gubmint would supply you with free ammo. Of course that meant you'd need a .45-70 or perhaps .50-70 shootin' ahrn.

 

[.308 Norma]

Would it be plausible for someone to have set up a pure reloading business at a fort or base camp, using a more stationary press, where frontiersmen could drop off their expended brass and pick up loaded shells on their way out of town?

I suspect many of the so called “Buffalo Hunters” of the mid to late 19th century were like the following Wikipedia quote:

“There was a huge export trade to Europe of bison hides. Old West bison hunting was very often a big commercial enterprise, involving organized teams of one or two professional hunters, backed by a team of skinners, gun cleaners, cartridge reloaders, cooks, wranglers, blacksmiths, security guards, teamsters, and numerous horses and wagons. Men were even employed to recover and recast lead bullets taken from the carcasses.”

 

[enine]

I'd love to read more about this. Is there a source I can look at? A lead powder cask would seem to be prohibitively heavy for shipping but stranger things have been true in history.

I remember reading this in the Lewis and Clark journals.

 

[kBob]

The US Army provided units with reloading tools to allow them to shoot more during the 1880's. There were even reduced round ball loads listed for short range gallery training ( even in the barracks) with the 1873 SAA revolver and 1873 series "trapdoor" rifles.

There was also a drill listed for "shooting out candles" using a primer only load at very close range for beginners.

Into the 1900s Guard and reserve units had reloading tools to load Gallery loads for .30 Krag and .30-06 using a swaged RNL bullet and pistol powders. Some have wondered why many old armories have behind one end of the "basket ball court" (indoor drill area was typically re porposed by the 1930s for the hoopsters) have a steel back stop ridiculously heavy for your typical .22LR target or match round. Believe it or not a 150 or so grain .30 cal bullet at 950-1200 fps is harder to stop than your typical .22 LR.

I once suggested that the .30-40 Gatling at Ft. Sill could easily be fired using such gallery loads for demonstrations and was of course told "NO!"

-kBob

 

[gwpercle]

I can't speak to the 19th Century, but when I first took up reloading my father was very much opposed to it because one of his friends reloaded using a tool whose description sounds like the Ideal tool shown in RandyP's Post #2. The friend reloaded 38 Special rounds with black powder and since he did this at night, he used an open flame for a light source. Based on that experience my father always thought I would blow myself up.

Back in 1966 when I asked my Dad to loan me $10.00 so I could buy a " Lee Loader" (whack-a-Mole was brand new thing ) so I could save money for him by reloading our own ...he thought I had lost my mind... " why would you want to do that...you can buy all the ammo you want at the store ! " He could, he had a job....I was still in high school and got $3.00 a week if I mowed the lawn and took the trash out.
He never understood my fascination with reloading... But , he gave me the ten and said here is another ten for the extra stuff , powder, primers and bullets..."Don't Tell Your Mamma , you hear!" and the old man never asked me to repay him either....Thanks Dad ! That was over 50 years ago and I'm still reloading and casting .
Gary

 

[rpenmanparker]

Back in 1966 when I asked my Dad to loan me $10.00 so I could buy a " Lee Loader" (whack-a-Mole was brand new thing ) so I could save money for him by reloading our own ...he thought I had lost my mind... " why would you want to do that...you can buy all the ammo you want at the store ! " He could, he had a job....I was still in high school and got $3.00 a week if I mowed the lawn and took the trash out.
He never understood my fascination with reloading... But , he gave me the ten and said here is another ten for the extra stuff , powder, primers and bullets..."Don't Tell Your Mamma , you hear!" and the old man never asked me to repay him either....Thanks Dad ! That was over 50 years ago and I'm still reloading and casting .
Gary

That is a sweet memory. Did he shoot your reloads?