Paper Cartridges: Best Rolling Paper Brands

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Lunie

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I've made several batches of paper cartridges for a .44 revolver. But shopping for brands is like playing the lottery. Or maybe like stealing porridge... Too wide, too narrow, or juuuust right.

For lack of any knowledge of rolling papers, I got lucky buying the white pack of Zig-zags. I also have a too-small-to-wrap-the-ball pack of Rizla I don't know what to do with. And a pack of OCD(?) 1-1/2 that are way wider than they need to be. Trouble with the zig-zags is that they are about $2.50 for 32 shots, locally.

So, what brands or products have you found that will work, which are the best bang for the buck, and which ones do you like the best?
 
I use American Spirit papers, they worked well for me. If you have a friend that smokes American Spirit you can ask them to save the spare papers for you to make cartridges with. Appearantly you get something like 500 papers with a can of tobacco. I've got loads of them that someone gave to me, I'm set for a while. Course I wrap my cartridges around a wooden dowel I tapered instead of putting the ball in the paper and powder in behind it. I find it easier to roll all 50 papers on that form then fill them with powder, then a ball, then twist them shut and trim off the ends. I don't know about using that other technique, I can never get it right.
 
Thanks Levi. I don't (currently) know any folks who roll their own cigarettes. If I did, I'd give away the papers that won't make cartridges for me. I'll look into American Spirit, I know I saw that brand name in the store, somewhere.

However, I MAY have just found a new "best" (so far) value...

I bought a package of "Bugler" for a buck. "115 fine quality gummed cigarette papers". Light blue package. I bought the pack, walked out of the store... Pulled out a paper, and thought I had wasted a dollar. They looked too small.

Lo and behold, I just rolled a cartridge with one. The size is almost identical to the Zig-zags. Just enough to wrap around and gum to the paper.

I can handle paying about a penny a piece for these, too, as long as they hold up well and don't cause any unforeseen problems.

I have a decent method of making these cartridges, I think...

I have an adjustable powder measure. 0-50 grains, brass. Outside diameter is .375" (3/8").

Step 1: Fill measure with desired powder charge.
Step 2: Sit ball on top of the mouth to hold in powder.
Step 3: Wrap paper around the ball and measure.
Step 4: Lick and seal the paper.
Step 5: Twist the paper "above" the ball.
Step 6: Turn upside down.
Step 7: Remove powder measure from paper tube.
Step 8: Twist the open end to seal in powder. Tear off any excess paper.

I'm pretty sure I have step-by-step pictures of the way I happen to do it. If anyone cared, I could post. I end up with a slightly tapered package that fits reasonably well into the chamber. I typically rip or clip off most or all of the rat-tail when I load. Sometimes I rip the end, dump powder, and then just sit the ball on top.



But anyway, I'd still love to hear what papers and brands work best for you folks. If you want to sneak in tips on how to manufacture them better, that would be nice, too. ;)
 
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Lunie,

You found the right one there. The Buglar paper does fit right. Price is right too. Your system sounds interesting. Myself, I use a copper tube that is of near ball diameter and set the ball on the end of the tube. Wrap the paper where is just snugs up to the ball and seal it with a small paint brush of shellac. Then turn the tube pointing ball down and fill with the powder charge. Slip the entire assembly off the tube, fold and trim, and seal with a dab of shellac. Been doing that for 40 years and thus far, very few misfires. A might time comsumming, but it does work... The shellac is flamable in dry form and burns up quickly leaving little or no trace of residue.

Hope you fair well with your cartridges. Sounds like you're having fun with it!!

Wade
 
Wait, by the roll? Like toilet paper? I can't imagine someone who smokes so much they need their paper in a roll like that...

I found a pretty neat way to make a form you can roll .44 revolver cartridges with and .50 paper cartridges. You just get a 1/2" dowel, taper one end on a belt sander, then make sure it's nice and smooth so it won't tear the paper. I usually just put the paper with the non-gummed side closest to me, lick it, roll it so it conforms to the taper, twist off the end at the taper, then do that until I have a bunch of them pre-rolled. Then what I do is pour the powder in all of them, then put in a .454 ball and twist the end shut. It's real easy once you get the hang of it! :)

~Levi
 
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I roll my own also, there is different ways of doing it and they all work one way or another but. yes the but. I never lick the gummed papers, after handling the powder and Lead ball your hands get contaminated . Just take a small sponge dampen it , squeeze out the excess water and just lightly wet the gummed paper. A lot more healthy
 
Buglers are the way to go!!

Don't be tempted to buy Top papers though, they are gummed together like notebook paper and are a pain, but they do work.

Personally, I quit putting the ball in the cartridge some time ago. I simply use a small plastic tube that I roll the paper around, then drop in the filler then powder. I tear off the end of the paper and dribble a little powder into the chamber then stuff the works in the hole and ram the ball home.
 
Thanks so much for posting your step-by-step with photos. I'm new to this and found it very very helpful.

I've rolled my own cigarettes for a long time and (funny enough) have been getting my zig zags at www.rollingpaperdepot.com. but now, with cartridges, i'm wondering: does the thickness of the paper matter? this undertaking is a lil more serious than rolling a cigarette, and i'd love the advice of some pros.
 
I wonder if the cone-shaped rolling papers sold there would work for paper cartridges. They already have the tapered shape.
If nothing else, they could be cut in half and used to make carts for 2 different calibers, maybe .31 and .36.

One question about the papers on a roll. How many cigarettes/paper cartridges can you roll from one roll of rolling papers?
I don't smoke. I do like paper cartridges.

Also, are the rice papers better than the hemp papers? Or vice versa?
 
The clear rolling papers (who knew) would make some cool looking cartridges, (you could see the powder charge) but apparently they have glycerin in them
Glycerin is hygroscopic, and could possibly be a problem with a BP cartridge.
 
I figure the average hand-rolled cigarette is about 4" long, I generally use a full paper when I roll cartridges. I do snip the ends off to make them neater so they don't have tails, but then again the tails seem to help in the process. The paper I use is somewhat see through, I twisted a few up and made em' tight. You could see the powder, ball, and filler inside. They aren't very Civil War looking though.

I heard they've got rolling papers with pictures of fruit and stuff on them, you could try those! You'd probably get laughed at when you were at the range though.

~Levi
 
They even have papers with hieroglyphs on them. How cool would those look?
 
Wait, by the roll? Like toilet paper? I can't imagine someone who smokes so much they need their paper in a roll like that...
Click to expand...

Pack a day=20=140 week=7,280 year.
 
Any of you folks have experience with making cartridges with paper from a roll???

I'd like to know more about how the rolls of rolling paper are made... Are they pre-perforated? Are they gummed along one edge of the roll, or are there gums that run across the strip spaced at regular intervals? Etc.

I'd like to keep this more or less centered on "what brands or products have you found that will work, which are the best bang for the buck, and which ones do you like the best?"
 
Hope it's not you. Those things are terrible for you.
Smoking=one of the stupidest things I ever did.
Quitting smoking=the smartest(maybe only smart) thing I've ever done.

I wish I had one of those paper cutters that they use in schools, where you lay a stack of papers on it and it cuts them in a straight line.
That way, I can measure out how long the rolling papers on a roll need to be for each cartridge, and cut them all straight. I'm not that good at cutting straight with scissors.

Or, am I over thinking this?
 
Jaymo, good that you did that! And I'm sure you've done plenty of smart things. I used to smoke a pipe for a while but I quit (met a nice young lady, wanted to impress her) But now I shoot, that' my habit. Course when I can't sleep it's not like I can just climb out my window, go to the forest, and fire off a couple rounds then go back to bed.

I'm starting to think these paper rolls might be great for making cartridges, I like that I can cut them to my desired length. I sometimes wish I had a little more room lengthwise, so that's a plus. I kinda like the idea of having my cartridges with hieroglyphs on them, that would be cool!

~Levi
 
Wouldn't it, though? Sure would be better than fruit flavored cartridge paper.
A lot of the products on those websites are geared toward potheads.

The normal rolling papers are more for 'baccy smokers.

I may have done a few smart things in my life, but I've done my fair share of stupid things too, and somehow lived through it. :eek:

I can tell you one thing. Just because you CAN outrun the police, doesn't mean you SHOULD. 'Nuff said 'bout that.
In the words of Ron White, "I had the right to remain silent, but not the ability."

I may buy the papers on a roll, because it seems a good way to vary my cartridge length. Plus, you seem to get more for your money.

I"ll be honest, I enjoyed smoking a pipe. Captain Black and Captain Black cherry really smelled good.
Cigarette smoke Causes my TS and my allergies to act up. Also it makes my lungs hurt. :barf:
Cigar smoke just plain stinks. Can't believe I used to smoke cigs and cigars.:banghead::barf::cuss::banghead::barf:

Black Powder is the only thing I smoke anymore.
My favorite pipes for it are Pedersoli, Pietta, and Miroku.

Speaking of dumb things I did as a teen; Did you know that a glass peanut butter jar (dating myself here) full of saltpeter/sugar mix will slump/melt, when it burns?
Makes a heck of a smoke pot.
And an old M80 detonated inside an old glass quart gatorade bottle, without the top on, won't shatter the glass, but the glass will crumble like broken safety glass when you touch it afterward.
Sometimes, I'm glad I live in a state that prohibits fireworks.
 
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Yep, I think I'd love hieroglyphs on my cartridges! I think the paper I use for my cartridges isn't good enough, I want to try some different brands out and see what work best. I think I'll try Bugler papers sometime. Our little stop-and-go near my place has tons of cigarette papers, lots of variety.

Did you ever have quarter sticks as a kid? One of those things tied to a rock and thrown into a swimming hole will make the entire pond jump. I would also do stuff like stick the powder from caps into an air rifle pellet's skirt and shoot it backwards, they explode when you shoot something hard. I think I'll buy an airgun and play around with that some more! And cherry bombs... oh my fist love affair with cherry bombs. Their nice color, the pleasing spherical shape, the nice stiff green fuse, the nice boom that would have neighbors complaining. They were my favorite when I was much younger! I aught to make some more, just a small batch. I need at least 20 to stick in my gun cabinet for special occasions. Too bad I blew all mine up on new years eve, there's still some craters in my yard.
 
Yes, we used to have quarter sticks. I lit one and threw it into the vacant lot next door, years ago on labor day, and it shook the ground.
Neighbors were coming out of their houses wanting to know what happened.

I said "I don't know, but it sure was loud. :)
 
Yep, 32 grams of flash powder really will shake the town. Some of my high school friends would light cherry bombs or M-80s and flush them down the school toilet. From what they told me they broke a toilet once, made a pipe bulge, probably shifted the foundation of the bathroom. I remember once setting off a quarter stick at the vineyard about 1/2 a mile from my place. One night my friends were staying the night over at my place, we were just staying in the shop at my place. we got bored at about 2:30 AM or so, then decided to do something fun. hat we did was took the quarter stick, lit a cigarette, took a few puffs to get it going, ripped off the filter, took out some tobacco from the end, then put the fuse right in there. What happened is we lit the device and put it in a hole we'd cut in the ground, Then we biked back to my place and got someplace safe. Our hearts would be pounding until we heard that huge thunder from a distance away, (It sounded like God kicked the earth) and we'd be hoping the family wouldn't wake up. We got totally paranoid, I thought up the plan for if mom or dad got up to ask us what that was. We planned to say something like there must have been a crash on the highway, or maybe someone blew something up a couple blocks away, or maybe a propane tank blew up.

As for paper cartridges I've been teaching my father how to load! That saves me time at the range since I don't have to load for him, I can just shoot or load what I'm shooting. Real time saver for when I load too! I timed myself the other day, I got the gun loaded in 2 minutes and 20 seconds. That's pretty fast, everyone I shoot with says these guns are slow to load, they aren't entirely true about that. With paper cartridges these guns can be loaded pretty fast with practice. I also found that when I switched from APP to Pyrodex my powder was flowing better from the spout. I'd say with that it takes me a pretty short time to load it given I'm not fumbling trying to get the powder from the flask to the measure. I still haven't found a good way to use conical bullets in my paper cartridges though. I might give those bullets cast with my Remington bullet mold I have a try. Those have more of heel than the Lee 200 rain bullets, and I think they weigh more too!
 
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