Use of paper cartridges back in the day

[elhombreconnonombre]

In the old days when a feller loaded his cb revolver with new paper cartridges, did he drop them in and ram them home, assuming the paper would break, spilling powder into the chamber, assuring the cap would touch off the charge? Would they doubly insure the cartridge broke using a nipple pick? Would they tear the back off the cartridge and pour the charge directly into the cylinder followed by the paper and bullet? Just wondering about typical practice.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

According to the research I did for my Podewils Rifle from the 1860 era, the paper used was treated with potassium nitrate so that it burned very nicely. I make my own using stump remover, copy paper, and water.

 

[Jim K]

Paper cartridges were used, but foil and skin (animal gut) were more common. There was even a patent type that was a mixture of powder and colloidion that was just glued to the base of the bullet.

Jim

 

[RPRNY]

I doubt that the original paper cartridges were nitrated. Nitrates paper cartridges certainly came along at some point but they will have been costly and unnecessary. I make mine with cigarette paper and have no ignition problems. While ramming the ball and charge home definitely splits the paper, I have experimented with them using finger placed cardboard wad to seat them without breaking the paper and have found they ignite with the paper intact.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

So historically it would be unlikely that they would have used a nipple pick to insure the cartidge was broken, whether of paper, foil, or skin?

 

[kBob]

On YouTube is a guy who's handle is capandball. He is a Hungarian I believe, though most of his posts are in English. All I have watched were exceptionally good and seemingly professionally produced. Well the one about ACW troops being saved by a whiskey flask was a bit odd.....but fun.

I went to youtube and used their search function with "Paper cartridge" and his video of the same was the first up for me.

He uses ladies hair roller papers for the body of his paper cartidges and a tissue base with no treatments and reports no embers. I rather like his version of paper cartridges and he also makes reproduction-ish cardboard boxes for his cartridges.

I especially enjoy his shooting vids where he shoots original guns like a root carbine (against a Remington revolving carbine repro) or his vids on the Kerr and Starr revolvers with original guns rather than repros.

check him out.

-kBob

 

[ofitg]

FWIW, this 1861 Manual of Arms instructs soldiers to tear the paper cartridge and pour the powder into the chamber, then insert the bullet.

http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/library/books/carbine.cfm

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

I have seen folks use the hair rolling papers. They are dirt cheap compared to cig papers for DIY cartridges and reportedly work just as well, but you have to add your own gluing strip. A small craft roll applicator filled with white glue works fine. A pack of 1000 hair rolling papers costs about $3, compared with 30 cig papers for $3, plus you can get multiple cartridges per single hair rolling paper, but like ofitg said....
Everytime I think about making some cartridges I can't help but chuckle about the prospect getting DIY supplies at Dollar Tree and Sally's.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I believe that the cartridges commonly used in the ACW for Colt revolvers featured a conical lead "picket" style bullet with a grease groove or two (not sure if lubed) and had a nitrated paper envelope attached to the bullet with "water glass", which is also combustible. This way the water glass glue, nitrated paper, and of course gunpowder would all burn up as the shot was fired.

I am not sure if users typically poked a hole in the back using a nipple pick, but a properly nitrated paper cartridge with the right paper type generally will not need to be poked open to fire reliably.

Today the common method of using cigarette paper and Elmer's glue stick and round balls work pretty well, but the above materials will reduce fouling and leftover unburnt paper and glue as well as being more historically authentic.

 

[BullSlinger]

A few years back I make paper cartridges using cigarette paper. They worked but I found the entire process to be such a PIA that I went back to loading on the range.

 

[Willie Sutton]

VERY interesting note here... they tore the end of the cartridge off and poured the powder, and then TORE OFF THE PAPER FROM THE BALL, loaded the ball, and DISCARDED THE PAPER.

See this:

2. Handle--Cartridge: One time and one motion.

XLVII.--

At the command "Cartridge," carry the cartridge to the mouth, tear off the paper to the powder, place the cartridge near the chamber which shows itself forward the face, holding it upward between the thumb and first two fingers.

3. Charge--Cartridge: One time and two motions.

XLVIII.--

At the command "Cartridge," empty the powder into the chamber, carry the hand to the mouth, tear off the paper from the ball, place the ball in the chamber, and press it down with the thumb.

Turn the cylinder with the left thumb until the ball is under the lever, seize at the same time the lever at the clasp, between the thumb and first finger of the right hand, and loosen it from the catch.

4. Ram--Cartridge: One time and one motion.


Very very interesting.....


Willie

.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

2nd that Willie
I had always thought that they just inserted the entire cartridge and rammed it home, bingo bango., rather than basically, in effect, disassembling the factory made cartridge during combat. Also, I might have missed it in the SOP's but what about covering the bullet with "grease" to prevent chain fires?

 

[AlexanderA]

I don't think revolvers were actualy loaded "by the numbers," the way muskets were. Such a manual was more or less an academic exercise.

 

[4v50 Gary]

For revolvers, the cartridge was dumped in its entirety down the chamber. Not so for muskets or minie guns which had the shooter bite bullet to tear the cartridge, pour the powder down, etc.

 

[kBob]

Gary,

It was my understanding that when ACW folk wrote about the use of Patent cartridges for their muskets that they were in fact writing about a consumable paper cartridge that was loaded directly as a single piece without tearing.

I have always thought it was interesting that the American Minnie ball was meant to be squeezed out of its paper cartridge and rammed home "bare" while the Enfield was pushed into the muzzle to point even with the muzzle and the excess paper ripped off before ramming. I wonder if the Enfield system with its paper patched bullet allowed more shots between cleaning or the need for a scrapper/ cleaning bullet.

Now there is something you don't see or read much about, the rifle cleaning bullets with expanding copper scrappers that scoured the bore. Wonder how inaccurate those things were.

I was out in the barn this AM thinking about the excerpt from that manual and moving tack around.....I am thinking wait until I can get off a horse before doing any of that juggling act.

-kBob

 

[Willie Sutton]

^^^

We all understand that there were patent cartridges designed to be stuffed complete down the chamber, with dozens of manufacturers each selling their wares. This would have been more true for civil private purchase than for military purchase. And each type of cartridge would have been touted as an "improvement", over what's described in the manual of arms, which is obviously a paper cartridge NOT designed to be placed intact into the chamber.

And that is what I found interesting.


The manual of arms for the Colt 1860 Army Revolver, as recited above, clearly calls for the cartridge to be torn TWICE:

1: Once for the powder dumped into the chamber,

2: and then a second time for the ball to be removed from the remaining paper and chambered and rammed.


There's obviously a reason for this. Non-nitrated paper? Heavy duty (water resistant) paper not suitable for burning? There's a reason somewhere.



I don't think revolvers were actualy loaded "by the numbers," the way muskets were. Such a manual was more or less an academic exercise.

This was likely somewhat variable based on time, unit, and context. But generally... then as now... "In the Army".... the way it's written is the way it's trained, and the way it's trained is the way things get done later. This *was* the Army, with all of it's regulations and mannerisms. For garrison, training, and pre-battle preparation I can almost guarantee you that things were done "The Army Way", save for the obvious observation that Officers, the most common revolver bearers, probably snuck off into their tents and loaded their shootin' irons pretty much how they pleased.




Willie

.

 

[ofitg]

If the Army was buying combustible cartridges from several manufacturers, it is possible that some manufacturers nitrated their papers better than other manufacturers. For a given manufacturer, it is possible that quality varied somewhat from lot to lot.
There might have been "shelf life" problems too, especially when the cartridges were exposed to field conditions.

Perhaps the "Army Way" was developed after observing everything that could go wrong in the real world.

 

[Willie Sutton]

^^

I suspect the Manual of Arms was actually written long before nitrated paper cartridges were available. Lowest bidder and all...


Remember, available commercial accessories for firearms follow in the heels of the use of them. Likely that the patent cartridges followed years after the revolvers were designed and first built.


Willie

.

 

[Jim K]

The only factories making paper revolver cartridges were the service arsenals. The ammunition furnished by contractors was almost all either the foil or the skin type, both of which were loaded intact into the chamber and would split when rammed. Even if they did not split, the force of the primer would burn through the cartridge and ignite the powder.* I may be wrong, and don't feel like checking right now, but I don't recall any use of nitrated paper in the Civil War.

Revolver (pistol) cartridges in that era were usually issued and carried in drilled out wood blocks, not unlike the blocks in the rifle cartridge box. Cartridges made of cigarette paper or something that thin would not have stood up to the jouncing and bouncing that cartridges took in those boxes. They are fine for use on a modern range, but would have dissolved after a few miles on horseback.

*The reason revolver nipples have a tiny hole at the front is to increase the speed and penetration of the hot flame specifically to cut through cartridges.

Jim

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

My Podewils-Lindner is an 1860's era breach loading rifle that used paper cartridges in combat. It used nitrated paper cartridges that were manufactured and boxed before being distributed to the troops. The rifle and cartridges were used by the Bavarian army in the Franco-Prussian War, they were not on the winning side however.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Tools of the trade for my upcoming batch of paper cartridges. I did some burn tests of the hair roller papers. They readily ignited and burned quickly and completely without being nitrated. The tapered end of the marker was the perfect diameter for a .44 cal cartridge. This $2.19 box of 1000 papers can make 2000 cartridges. Your mileage may vary.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Oops...the scissors were out of frame.
PS: For my 1858s, I cut the single 2.5"x4" sheet into two sheets, 2"x2.5" each. This allows for a 1/2" tail to twist-close and trim, up to a 30 grain charge (all bp or a smaller bp charge topped off with corn meal), a .451 round ball (yes I know that original cartridges had conical bullets), followed by a 1/2" head to twist-close and trim. This makes a non-historical cartridge that is 1" oal, with the front of the cartridge with enclosed round ball at the mouth of the chamber. I did sand the surface of the marker a little to make a cartridge tube so that the completed cartridge is easily inserted into each chamber.

 

[AlexanderA]

Jim K wrote:

Revolver (pistol) cartridges in that era were usually issued and carried in drilled out wood blocks, not unlike the blocks in the rifle cartridge box.

Just as a point of information, the standard Civil War rifle/musket cartridge boxes did not use wood blocks. Instead, they used two "tins" -- metal inserts that each contained 10 paper cartridges in the top tray and 10 more in the reserve tray that was accessed by pulling up the tin, for a total of 40 rounds. (Confederate boxes often had a single tin instead of two separate tins.)

Wooden blocks were used in rifle/musket boxes both before and after the Civil War. But generally not during the conflict.

Most of the CW pistol boxes I've seen are sized to contain one or more wrapped package(s) of (paper) pistol cartridges (depending on the size of the packages), and did not use wooden or other inserts (the package itself was the insert). On the other hand, carbine boxes usually used the drilled wooden blocks.

This leads me to think that reloading of pistols was done fairly deliberately (you had to take the time to open the package, etc.) and not hastily during a firefight.

Keep in mind that pistols were secondary weapons, even for the cavalry.

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

paper cartridges

just some one liner tidbits gleaned from various sources.

The earliest known complete purification process for potassium nitrate was outlined in 1270 by the chemist and engineer Hasan al-Rammah of Syria
A major natural source of potassium nitrate was the deposits crystallizing from cave walls and the accumulations of bat guano in caves.

Historians note their use by soldiers of Christian I in 1586, while the Dresden museum has evidence dating their use to 1591, and Capo Bianco writes in 1597 that paper cartridges had long been in use by Neapolitan soldiers.

Paper cartridges were often coated in beeswax, lard, or tallow, which served a number of purposes. It provided some degree of water resistance, it lubricated the paper-wrapped bullet as it was pushed down the bore, and it melted upon firing to mix with the powder residue and make the resulting fouling easier to remove.

The paper also served as a patch in smoothbore firearms, which fired undersized balls sealed in the barrel by a paper or cloth patch.

The paper used in cartridges varied considerably. The instructions for making Enfield paper cartridges, published in 1859, which uses three pieces of paper of two different thicknesses, shows the complexity that could be involved. Some cartridges, such as those for percussion revolvers, used nitrated paper. Treated by soaking in a potassium nitrate solution and then drying, this made the paper far more flammable and ensured it burned completely upon firing

Some commercially produced cartridges, such as those by Hayes of England, were also equipped with a small cloth tear tab at the front to assist in the removal of the protective outer layer prior to loading the cartridge.


The Colt 1861 Navy typically was used with paper cartridges, that is, with a cartridge consisting of nitrated paper, a pre-measured black powder charge, and a bullet that was either a lead round ball or a lead conical bullet.

Ripping off the back of the paper cartridges took time. In the heat of battle, instinct is to ram and fire fast. That is, ram the new powder charge and bullet down the barrel as fast as possible. To do that, the entire paper cartridge was rammed down the barrel either opened or unopened. For this purpose, the paper had been soaked in potassium nitrate to make it completely combustible. Both the powder and the paper used in Civil War ammunition was highly combustible. Keep the cartridge box away from the campfire sparks!

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Define 'Back in the Day'.

During the American revolution paper cartridges were used all the time. They were much quicker to use than measuring the powder out for each charge. We have lots of Minuteman re-enactors in this neck of the woods. They use the same 14 step Manual of Arms that the British developed in 1764. They bite off the tip of the cartridge, prime the pan, pour the rest of the charge down the muzzle, then fold up the paper for wadding which they ram on top of the powder. They are of course shooting blanks for parades and such.

In order to fire three aimed shots per minute, which was the definition of a Minute Man, one would tear open the cartridge, prime the pan, dump the rest of the powder down the bore, insert the ball and wadding into the muzzle, then ram it all down. Three times per minute. They were shooting smooth bores and the ball was not tight fitting, so the wadding was needed to keep the ball in place on top of the powder.