Thrashing Around Aimlessly

[krinko]

They say the paper cartridge Sharps are not popular---not a high demand item. ("They" being guys who work at Cabelas.)
Oh well.



I owned an Italian replica '63 Carbine back in the late 1970s and I shot it quite a bit. There was a cartridge making kit sold by the same store that sold the gun.
Nitrated paper, nylon mandrel, .54 maxi balls---it was easy. I would fill up a Christmas cookie tin with loaded rounds and shoot until the carbine got too hot to hold onto.
Now, I'm trying to work out something with hair-curling paper, wooden dowels and both a Lee bullet and one from Accurate Molds.
Golly-gosh but it sure is fun!---even though my fingers are not as smart as they were in 1979.
Anyway, thought I'd put up a post about the New Model 1863 that does not mention the other subject.
I am going to shoot both of these dang things---eventually.
-----krinko

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

I did not have a cartridge making kit in the 70's when I was making mine for my Sharps. I used a lee mold, set the finished bullets in a pan and poured a hot lube mixture in until the grooves were all submerged. I twisted them out when the lube had cooled. I wrapped each bullet with a cigarette paper that I had licked so that the lubed grooves were covered. I can't remember if I used my pinky or a dowel inside the tube to stick the wrap together. I measured my black powder charge and poured it into the dry paper tubes and folded over the excess paper at the top. I carried them to the range loose in a rifleman's bag that I had made from a Tandy Leather Company pattern. Never had them come open or spill in the bag. Then in '86 my 2 year old son started getting into everything and my wife talked me into selling all my guns. I didn't start collecting again until I retired in '09 and my wife suggested that I should get a HOBBY. I think she envisioned golf. Its good to be back!

 

[dave951]

I shoot mine in North South Skirmish Association carbine competition and it is really a tack driver. My 63 Sharps is an IAB with the Flees breech block mod so I can shoot up to 100 shots without much binding from fouling at all. I also use the Hahn tubes on the back of the bullets for a cartridge so the block doesn't have to shear paper.

 

[Catman42]

a mag spark nipple will keep that rifle talking every shot.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I have a Podewils Linder from the Franco Prussian war era that uses paper cartridges so I also made my own "kit" for making the cartridges, although I also make my own nitrated paper from water, stump remover, and copy paper. I used a dowel wrapped with a little electrical tape for the proper diameter, some of my wife's craft glue, and mink oil for lube. Making cartridges is almost as much fun as shooting them. I use throat lozenge tins to hold them until ready for use. This type of hobby makes you appreciate the ingenuity and diligence of our ancestors.

 

[JeffG]

I wouldn't worry about what people have to say. Nice rifle!

 

[krinko]

I went and bought some papers (TOP) and will probably find some way to use them in making the cartridges---but---the Sharps used a heeled bullet and a paper holding 65 grains of powder must be of greater diameter than the base of the bullet or it won't fit in the chamber. Hangs out about 1/2 inch.
A separate powder bag will need to be used with the Accurate Molds bullet anyway; unlike the Lee mold, the Accurate has no groove in the base to choke the paper and allow it to be tied to the bullet.
I may end up loading it like a battleship loads its big guns, first the projectile, then the powder charge. i
It's not like anyone is shooting at me, I can afford to load slow.
Excelsior!
-----krinko

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

I think I just squished mine in until just enough stuck out to slice off!?! If the paper opened up inside the chamber so be it.

 

[whughett]

Right, make powder “bags” from paper. I fiddled with curling papers obtained from my hairdresser daughter-in-law. They worked well enough, just to labor intensive for revolver shooting.

 

[shunka]

Greetings Gents
I have the same IAB Sharps 1863 paper-cutter in the business rifle form. I have had similar results as you folk, and generally make my own paper from newsprint soaked in a stump remover solution. The Christmas Tree bullets are the trick for these things as the bore seems a tish (scientifc term) larger than .54, and the ring for tying off the paper is quite handy.

Krinko, you can always seat the bullet and fill the chamber with loose powder... I measured mine and it loads up about 95 grains. Quite the shoulder bruiser,
and the darn breech-blast burned a scorch mark on the brim of my fedora...

I'll see your .45-70 and raise you a .54-95!

yhs
shunka

 

[krinko]

Made two types of cartridges last Thursday-Friday. Twenty or so by the method mentioned in Ephraim Kibbey's post here and a couple with the paper tied to the Lee bullet. Also exactly one with the powder bag being a separate piece.
Found out a couple of things: 1. Do not try to tie paper to the lubed bullet--it just pops off. 2. Pushing a lubed bullet in and then trying to insert the powder bag without getting THAT all covered in lube is a vain pursuit.

I used the curler papers in all cases and got good results from the paper itself. Even without cutting the ends off, all the rounds lit-up instantly and burned pretty clean, no paper residue.
It's True Love, now.
-----krinko

 

[dave951]

I had both my IAB Sharps modified by Larry Flees of the North South Skirmish Association. With his mod, there's no need to use the breech block to cut the end off the cartridge. You use bullets designed to work with Charlie Hahn's tube cartridge. Easy, simple, I've run my Sharps for over 70 rounds in competition with no problems from the breech block locking up.

In Charlie's tubes, you just glue some curler paper on one end, charge the tube, put another paper on the charge to keep it in place. Glue tube on bullet, lube and it's complete.

On caveat with regards to accuracy in the IAB, they do have good barrel steel, but are almost never the caliber marked on the barrel. Both of mine are marked 54cal, but measuring reveals they're actually 55cal and 10thou is significant when looking for accuracy. So I ordered a mold to make my bullets .555 and they shoot great.