Paper Cartridge Building

[Daryl]

There is no better instruction in this endeavour than the original step by step as provided by the French Government.
My own method differs slightly, in that I use a tapered mandrel for the shape, adjusted by the charge needed and diameter of the ball.
The reason for the taper, is that when in the pocket, they sit ball down and are easily and quickly retrieved. Due to the shape and sealed point,
the ball is placed into the ctg last. I've found with the tapered end, less powder is lost and insertion into the muzzle is easier and faster.
Now, the French Way:



An English Ctg., similar except for the string tie below the ball + a tied end.



American, buck and ball:



My tapered ctgs. with the tapered form along with a box for carrying more than a few in the pocket.
These particular ctgs. have a .715" ball and 90 or so gr. of 3F.



Incidentally, these paper ctg. appear to work well down to .54 calibre as bound by forum member Bruce S.
Dan Pharris also found they worked well in his .16 bore rifle and as Bruce and I found, shoot to the same point
of impact and with the same accuracy as patched round balls, in our rifles. Bruce used a .72 cal. rifle.

[Jerry]

Daryl, thanks for taking the time to show the differences in French, English, and the tapered ones you make. Very informative, much needed, and appreciated. Thanks, Jerry

[Daryl]

You are welcome, Jerry.
 I first got really excited about paper ctgs. when I found they shot exactly the same as my tightly patched round balls. I could fire a couple patched balls, then 3 paper ctgs. and those landed inside the same group at 100 meters.
I practised pretty hard with them and could fire an aimed shot 8 seconds after the first shot with my .69.
I also found that I could load and gire 10 shots of ctgs. before I had to load and fire a cleaning shot. After that shot, I could load and fire another 10. The cleaning shot was simply a squib load of 82gr. 2F and 12 thou denim(.030") and .682" ball.
I should note that it took a good shove with a choked up ram rod to get the patched ball started. With practice, this is fast and easy. They were a very snug fit to start with. I did not put any lube
on the nose of the ctg.
After tearing the small end off the ctg, I stuck the tapered ctg. into the muzzle, ball up, then grasped the rod, withdrew it and grabbed it just above the end, then pushed the ball into the muzzle.
Then by grabbing the end, shoved the whole works down, dropped the rod and grabbed the thong'ed round capper out of my top pocket and capped, drawing the hammer back to full bent, shouldering and firing very rapidly. The fit & point-ability of the English styled rifle put the sights onto the moose (or target) instantly. There is no need to aim and aim. Just shoulder while looking at the moose and fire almost the instant the shoulder is met to butt stock & cheek hits the comb.

[Nessmuck]

One of these days...I’ll give it a go...thanks for sharing

[Bsharp]

I was just thinking about the time of year to post this again.

https://rjrenner.blogspot.com/p/tapered-paper-cartridges.html

This is how Daryl showed me how to make them.

[taterbug]

haha!  really liked your description of the process Daryl!!  Make it sound pretty easy, even for this flatlander!  Now if we just had some moose around here to try it out on...

[taterbug]

... minute of moose!

[Daryl]

Thanks Bruce. I was hoping you would chime in
 with the web site.

[Justin Urbantas]

I'll definitely do some experiments with this for my .62 rifle, and do a post about it.

[Leatherbark]

69 cal. French style here minus the American version on the right.  I do make the paper partition like the English style to close off the powder from the ball but have started folding and gluing instead of tying.

Bob

[Daryl]

Looks like really heavy paper you are using Leatherbark.
When I was making a lot of them, I used a glue stick for the paper wrap as well as for the folded paper over the ball, gluing the folds together.
Due to the hunting charges I used in the rifle, all I every got out the muzzle, was confetti, never a tube of paper.
Bruce's recovered paper tubes, show there was obturation of the ball, due to the rifling marks and no burns. Of course the wadded up paper between
the powder and ctg. would help seal.  I am certain there is obturation, due to the mass of the ball used.  I suspect I got the same, however even WW alloy
balls shot identically as the pure lead ones.

[Leatherbark]

I actually use the painters masking paper that is recommended by Jefferson Arsenal and most others.  Easy to tear but stronger than newsprint.

[Justin Urbantas]

How would one waterproof cartridges like these to keep them viable in all weather?

[Daryl]

You could dip them in a 70:30 BW and Vaseline. The Vaseline would be needed to keep the BW from flaking off.