Serious reloading

[mstreddy]

So, today I joined one of my buddies at the range to shoot some of his classics and let his teen daughter and friend shoot some of my pistols.

My friend is a historian, and his firearms interest has gone backwards in time from WWII to WWI, to Franco-Prussian war of 1870, to now - the US Civil War. So, I got to fire a Chassepot using paper cartridges and an (IIRC) 1863 Springfield Armory muzzleloader. Interesting rifles to say the least.

He casts his own bullets for these old birds, and he makes his own paper cartridges for the Chassepot. He had a bit of trial and error in getting the length, diameter, and paper thickness correct, but we fired around 30 rounds through that rifle today. Very awesome.

He has had some of the 1870s - 1890s Black Powder Brass cartridge rifles, but now has let them go. I bought one of his M1870/87 Italian Vetterli-Vitali rifles with the dies and moulds. It was a fun rifle to shoot at the range and I couldn't pass it up when he mentioned he was getting rid of them.

So, the next time we think of case prep -- think of cutting paper, rolling it, keeping it within limits/specs, and all the other steps in making PAPER cartridges. That is reloading at a different level -- or is really reloading?
I'll see if can get a couple of pics of the rifles and the ammo from him and post them.

 

[Candyman87]

I've always been fascinated by those paper cartridges... I've seen a few made on Youtube and am always shocked at how much detail goes into making those!

 

[mstreddy]

Tim, I followed his trials as he was trying to find the exact fit. It's a very exacting process. He would build 5, go test, it was like something out of the 3 bears -- this one is too long, this one is too short -- this one is just right. This one is too wide, this one is too narrow, this one is just right.

When he got them right, he was a happy camper -- and then the "mass production" started -- assembly line style. Cut all the paper tubes, roll, glue, trim, glue the percussion cap/primer in place, powder, and glue the bottom disc in place.

It really is amazing, and to think -- a rifle that is nearly 150 years old is still sending lead downrange!
I'm glad that I got to experience that today.

Oh, and his daughter and friend got to enjoy several pistols and a couple of suppressors. -- they were happy too!

 

[matrem]

Sounds like a great day.

A large part of the reason some of us would rather scour for primers & powder than just accept what's on the shelf.
Of course we complain about it, but that's just human nature.

 

[Scooter22]

That way of making paper cartridges made shooting quiker. IIRC from what I've read women and slaves were tasked with rolling the cartridges.

 

[cfullgraf]

Many years ago, I helped a re-enactor friend make a form for rolling paper cartridge "blanks" for the re-enactments. It was an interesting and rewarding project.

mstreddy's project making paper cartridges with projectiles sounds very interesting. A step farther than what I did.

 

[41 Mag]

Many year ago I wa down at one of the local ranges just happily punching holes in paper when there was a resounding BOOM and huge cloud of smoke covered me up.

Of course I knew it was something BP but didn't know what until I walked down a few benches to see. There were several folks who did the reenactments like mentioned above, but these folks also were true to the era in shooting the same pieces and ammo as well. They had a IIRC Sharps 1870'ish falling block which was shooting similar paper case cartridges with the 400gr lead mini type bullets. I do not know for certain if the cases were actually from the original box they had sitting there as they said or if they had rolled them their selves and simply put them there.

I can say this though, when they asked if I wanted to shoot it, there was no hesitation on my part. It was really something I put away in my memory bank for sure. The smoothness of the action when closing the breech and cutting off the tip of that paper to the push instead of kick from the recoil when that huge ol bullet left for the target. Then after what seemed like a couple of seconds or more you got the WHOP of that thing smacking into the paper and burm.