Which type of paper be used to make your cartridges

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Which type of paper be used to make your cartridges

Steven, be aware that virtually all the ball molds and swaged bullets available are oversized. I measured a few bullets the other day, the US Burtons I measured seemed to be about .565 - one nearing .570. The Confederate Gardners uniformly .565 and the Pritchett types - which ARE loaded with paper around them - all seem to measure about .550. All too often modern shooters want too tight of a ball, and I have gotten bullets too large to enter the muzzle of my .577 Parker-Hale because they measure .578! For a more authentic shooting experience I "swage" them down by rolling them (singly) between two small panes of thick glass. You can get a cheap pair of calipers and it won't take long to resize them. With the US type balls I rip the paper off close and squeeze the ball out - with Enfield type you put the paper wrapped ball in the muzzle and just break it off. I was just working on making some clay plugs for a little batch of Enfield ammo - being lazy and using Fimo clay, but some day I might make a huge batch of real clay plugs...

[maillemaker]

Re: Which type of paper be used to make your cartridges

Jeff Henion's six-month study of this very topic in 2001 included measuring with a micronmeter the thickness of original cartridge papers versus fairly available modern alternatives. He also evaluated things like color and appearance of the paper (fiber content, etc.), although these matters were, of course, more subjective than the paper-thickness measurements. His conclusion was that the best modern expedient for more-accurate reprodutions of Civil War cartridges for rifle-muskets and muskets is masking paper such as the type manufactured by 3M Corp, available at any hardware store in the painting section.

3M's masking paper is a good deal thicker and stiffer than the much-more pliable newsprint-type paper used by many reenactors.

Jeff's results are summarized in his essay on small-arms ammunition of the Civil War included in The Columbia Rifles Research Compendium.

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread.

Is The Columbia Rifles Research Compendium a single publication, or a periodical? I can find mentions of it via Google but I want to make sure I get the right one that has this article by Jeff Henion.

Steve

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Which type of paper be used to make your cartridges

It is a publication. The original was a three-ring binder full of articles. The second edition was a honest-to-goodness BOOK! I own neither... to my detriment!