Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

[rd72]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Gentlemen,

I apologize for the transgression as I did, in fact, misunderstand exactly what was meant by the rule... Won't happen again.

Rob Deans

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

I'd love to see the article on the Enfield cartridge.

Interesting bit about the sizing die for removing excess lube but not actually sizing the cartridge. I had read that they sized the cartridges and I assumed they would size them after paper patching since that is what is going down the barrel. I considered sizing the bullet also but figured that that is less important than sizing the finished product. But I don't know what the paper will do being pushed through a sizer. I assumed, if you pushed the lubed cartridge through the sizer nose-first, it would not only smear off excess lube but compress the paper and bullet down to the correct size. I am hoping that the nose of the bullet causes a compression effect as it passes into the sizer rather than trying to shear off a paper ring as it hits the sharp edge of the sizing die I have.

I'm looking forward to making some cartridges this weekend and maybe shooting them.

Steve

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

I have found legible plans for the later 1959 Enfield Cartridge here:

http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/British%20Rifles/Articles/Enfield%20Paper%20Cartridges.html

This is the style that utilized the gummed band and the .55" diameter bullet.

Does anyone know a link to a legible set of plans for the 1855 Enfield Cartridge?

You can see them here:

http://www.newyorkcivilwar.com/qm/cartridgetubes.pdf

The plans are said to be from the 1855 "Instruction of Musketry".

heheheheh

OK while composing this email I hit on the idea to check Google Books, a great resource for "ancient" texts that have been scanned. And lo and behold, here it is:

https://books.google.com/books?id=11kBAAAAQAAJ&dq=instruction%20of%20musketry%201855&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false

Page 27 has the dimensions.

So, future readers, if you want to make 1855 or 1859 style Enfield cartridges, here be your patterns. :)

Steve

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

For convenience, I have ripped out the relevant portions of the two references and constructed a document with just the instructions for making 1855 and 1860 British Enfield cartridges:

http://4thla.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/9/6/37969349/enfield_paper_cartridge_instructions.pdf

Steve

[rd72]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Here is the Bruce Carins article... with permission.









Continued in next post...

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Some good info to study from, wish I had some of it way back when I was trying to make Enfield style cartridges for live fire and LH!

As to the question of the DIFFERENCE between British and confederate...from the outside, I'd say not much. But, the bullets's mostly produced by the Confederate Arsenals the cavity base was mostly cone shaped, no wood, or clay plug, and .562" diameter was adopted, but many variances there too. Also the length of the confederate bullets varied considerably. The British imports were plug shaped, for use of a wood, or clay plug, sized .568", or a lot of times .550" diameter.

I'd say that the quality control of the British was much more stringent than at the Confederate Arsenals. On the Confederate side, Mallet had uniformity issues that were numerous! Bullets badly cast, sizing dies wearing out, bullets too big, paper too thick, too thin, not always available, bullet weights/length varied from one cartridge to another, too much glue used in the cartridge formation, slits not cut in the cartridge...it's a wonder that they did as well as they did in their cartridge production!

The picture is of 3 different Enfield Cartridge examples I have made. The left one is can either be a Early 3-paper British Enfield, or one produced by any one of the Confederate Arsenals. The middle one I copied from an original. I believe it's Confederate, the inner wrapper was green color, the outer wrapper is white, with a green color paper band to join the inner/outer wrappers together. I'm guessing it was due to paper availability? the right cartridge is a copy of a Ludlow Brothers 4-paper Enfield Cartridge imported from England.

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Nice cartridges, Kevin!

Do you have a picture of the original Ludlow band laid out flat? Or, failing that, one of your reproductions? I would like to print some out on green paper and construct my own Ludlow bands.

Thanks,

Steve

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Nice cartridges, Kevin!

Do you have a picture of the original Ludlow band laid out flat? Or, failing that, one of your reproductions? I would like to print some out on green paper and construct my own Ludlow bands.

Thanks,

Steve

Steve:

Hey, be glad to send you what I have, get me a PM, and I'll get you what I'm using for you own use. I have Confederate and British Enfield Arsenal Pack labels you can have also.

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

I have re-organized the web site and put the paper cartridge information under its own page. So the previous link is broken and I cannot edit the post.

Here is where I have collected information in 1855/1862 US Expanding Ball cartridges and 1855/1859 British Enfield cartridges.

http://4thla.weebly.com/paper-cartidge-patterns-and-information.html

Steve

[rd72]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Sorry about the delay, here are the other pages...





















Cheers,
Rob Deans

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Rob:

THAT is cool.
In forming my Enfield cartridges, I can see that I was doing most things correctly, a bit incorrectly too! Thanks for posting!

[mason dixie]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Any body making a arsenal 10 round cartridge pack rubber stamp for Enfield rounds?

[mason dixie]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Great You Tube Channel for learning how to make Pritchett Rounds... minus the pharby plastic tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZXLv5u1JSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_pOUN3VnCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzE8YMqeDNs&list=PLkOVIw4NSWVKLj6tnVaE13GshHB8uxbK2&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_pD8Y4tkpc&list=PLkOVIw4NSWVKLj6tnVaE13GshHB8uxbK2&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDiyhotvJg&list=PLkOVIw4NSWVKLj6tnVaE13GshHB8uxbK2

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Jason Wickersly is making numerous rubber stamps for everything imaginable. He posts on FB quite often and is an approved vendor I think.

[maillemaker]

Re: Difference between Confederate and British Enfield cartridges?

Hi Rob,

That is an excellent article, thanks.

I assume the author is Bruce Carins? Do you have contact information for him?

Is it possible to get it in its original format? I have taken the liberty of downloading and re-orienting all the images and pasting them into a Word document and exporting as a PDF to make a complete document of it once again, but the legibility is not what I'm sure the original has.

Thanks,

Steve