So, in another thread I mentioned I picked up a few original 1800's firearms. In preparing for our upcoming muzzleloader deer season we went out shooting to check zero on the ole modern smokepoles, but I brought along a couple of the 1800s rifles. Good lord, I was shocked at how fun the Winchester 1873 44-40 rifle was. Absolutely a joy to shoot.

I've also got a true original 1860 Colt Army I plan to shoot soon. I doubt we will ever shoot it much as I want to keep it as pristine and in "original condition" as possible. While researching safe loads and loading techniques, I've run across people making home brew paper cartridges. Seems simple enough really... and very intriguing. Especially now with the world of 3d printing its very simple to download a template file and print out a mandrel for rolling the paper, forms to cut paper to length etc etc.

I really want to give this a go. I'm wondering if any here are experienced with this? I've watched enough videos to understand the simplicity of creating them, I'm curious as to the types of paper people use? I see comments in civil war re-enacting forums some people use plain old tobacco or hemp rolling papers. Some use coffee filters and nitrate the paper themselves. I'm just trying to figure out what supplies to start out with.

I still have other questions like: Can a lubed felt wad be put between the powder and ball? Will the lube break down the paper or contaminate the powder? Or should wads only be used when loading components manually?

While firing a original 1860 Army is certainly going to be a hoot, I've already ordered a decent modern replica that we can shoot "alot" without worrying about hurting the original, LOL. I'm wanting to make up a few dozen paper cartridges for each outing.

I feel like I'm opening a door to an entirely new side to guns and shooting. Its very fun and interesting.

-DallanC

A few years ago, I used a cigarette rolling machine to make small paper cartridge for a .22 caliber belong to a friend
Came out very nice after a few experiments.
I have to add a couple of short rods at the ends of the machine to shorten the whole thing and keep the blackpowder and ball tight roughly in the center of the machine. once rolled, I pull out the rods and make the ends closed.
At the time I actually uses cigarette paper for it so I do not have to cut paper to size, and as a bonus, it already have gum at the end to glue it .

I've seen folks use rolling paper. You can make nitrated paper and cut to fit. There are hazards involved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAxp8dUiJQ

I use "newsprint" paper for my musket cartridges, but they aren't put into the barrel.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I've seen folks use rolling paper. You can make nitrated paper and cut to fit. There are hazards involved. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAxp8dUiJQ I use "newsprint" paper for my musket cartridges, but they aren't put into the barrel.

Gee Gelan, that seems to be a much more efficient process than you were using. But then again, you were “paper patching”, a much more difficult process rather than making combustible paper cartridges.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I've seen folks use rolling paper. You can make nitrated paper and cut to fit. There are hazards involved. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAxp8dUiJQ

I actually watched that video when I was first looking into this, it was rather interesting. Later, I found discussions on just using normal tobacco paper (thinner, apparently works well enough).

Here's a video of a guy who sells a kit with everything rolling up some cartridges. Very straight forward, a tad pricey for what it is.

youtu.be/3Zx3Ph3xsak

-DallanC

If you have access to either a smallish lathe or a 3D printer, it wouldn’t be difficult to make your own kit. Using a lathe, you could make a kit out of aluminium…shouldn’t ever wear out.

I have a 3d printer, its incredibly useful for all kinds of things.

I've printed the mandrel, a press block and some paper cartridge holders. I have paper and glue ordered from amazon that will arrive tomorrow. I'll roll my first ever "paper cartridges" tomorrow sometime.

-DallanC

Outstanding mate…seems like we are pretty much on the same wave length. I’ll be looking forward to the range reviews.

I haven't used a lubed felt wad, but I did use a beer carton lubed with a mixture of beeswax/fat. A beer carton is what they place under the pint. You can melt your wax/fat mixture, let it suck into the beer carton, cool and then punch out the required diameter and use this to separate the bullet from the powder.
A friend uses a pill of pure beeswax/fat mixture between bullet and powder in his 45-120 when doing a match with no-cleaning-between-shots.
but I wouldn't use the normal lube used for bullet with smokeless powder for blackpowder... I think Mr. Lee mentioned this somewhere.

I think there might be a small breakdown in language here…Belgium vs Aussie vs US American.
Aloys mentions using a “beer carton”. A carton, or slab, is the box containing 24 - 30 cans or stubby bottles of beer.
What Aloys is talking about (I think) is using what we Aussies call a Coaster or Beer Mat…a square (or any shape) of cardboard, about 3 inches square, that you put your glass/can/stubby on so it doesn’t mark the table.

Beer Coaster/Beer Mat

A good idea as they are designed to soak up liquid, but not really release that liquid through to the table.

Another option is to use LEE ALOX Lube on the bullets prior to loading. It it pretty much dries out completely, meaning you could use almost anything as a wad without worries of powder contamination.

I'm not happy with the "paper" recommended to me once it arrived yesterday. I'm trying to get some "rolling" paper used for rolling tobacco or marijuana cigarettes. Alot of people recommend those, but they are "age restricted" in my state so I cant just mail order them. There's a smoke shop 10 miles away in the next city, I'll see if I cant swing by to get some soon.

I printed out a better mandrel I found, so I have a couple options there. I also wanted to get a pistol type powder flask that throws proper charge's of Black Powder... then I got a recollection I actually owned one of the silly things. Spent a while rooting around through boxes and sure enough, I had one... I haven't laid eyes on it in probably 25 years. I threw one "charge" into a clear black powder volume measure and it came out at exactly 25gr for FFF. Perfect! And didn't cost me a dime LOL

Hoping to get out shooting before our deer season starts in a week, but weather is starting to turn... we got snow in the high country already, so winter is letting us know its just around the corner and to enjoy things before freeze-up.

-DallanC

DallanC wrote:

I'm not happy with the "paper" recommended to me once it arrived yesterday. I'm trying to get some "rolling" paper used for rolling tobacco or marijuana cigarettes. Alot of people recommend those, but they are "age restricted" in my state so I cant just mail order them. There's a smoke shop 10 miles away in the next city, I'll see if I cant swing by to get some soon. I printed out a better mandrel I found, so I have a couple options there. I also wanted to get a pistol type powder flask that throws proper charge's of Black Powder... then I got a recollection I actually owned one of the silly things. Spent a while rooting around through boxes and sure enough, I had one... I haven't laid eyes on it in probably 25 years. I threw one "charge" into a clear black powder volume measure and it came out at exactly 25gr for FFF. Perfect! And didn't cost me a dime LOL Hoping to get out shooting before our deer season starts in a week, but weather is starting to turn... we got snow in the high country already, so winter is letting us know its just around the corner and to enjoy things before freeze-up. -DallanC

I’m not sure if cigarette rolling papers are made from rice paper, but the rice paper Asians use in their cooking might be another option to consider and shouldn’t be too difficult to source. According to Mr Google, cigarette papers are made from either hemp (Rizla), sisal, flax or rice, so rice paper would be a good option. I’d send you a box of “rolly papers” if I thought it would get to you in Utah, but your laws, coupled with Trump’s import rulings and tariffs, have prompted Australia Post to stop sending parcels to the US

Vince wrote:

I think there might be a small breakdown in language here…Belgium vs Aussie vs US American. Aloys mentions using a “beer carton”. A carton, or slab, is the box containing 24 - 30 cans or stubby bottles of beer. What Aloys is talking about (I think) is using what we Aussies call a Coaster or Beer Mat…a square (or any shape) of cardboard, about 3 inches square, that you put your glass/can/stubby on so it doesn’t mark the table. Beer Coaster/Beer Mat A good idea as they are designed to soak up liquid, but not really release that liquid through to the table. Another option is to use LEE ALOX Lube on the bullets prior to loading. It it pretty much dries out completely, meaning you could use almost anything as a wad without worries of powder contamination.

Vince, thanks for that link. It's exactly what I use.
By the way: this "waxed beer mat" is in the manual of the Parker Hale Volunteer which shoots a rather heavy (whitworth-)bullet in .451 that was sold together with it's manual bulletsizer, casting die and the cutter to stamp this wad. When production of that rifle was recontinued again they even started to use the next serial number folowing the last rifle they produced when they stopped production many years ago. I even don't know if Parker Hale is still producing their Volunteer but when you want a real accurate BP-rifle... (but a Hawkin is much easier to dismantle and clean )

But I don't agree with your suggestion to use Lee Alox because that's not meant for use with blackpowder (according Mr. Lee's advice).
Lee Alox works well for casted bullets used with smokeless powder and is easier to apply than powder coating.

And rolling paper... when you have to do it as indicated in Dallan's link, it's a lot of work.
I never used it myself, I even think there still might be a chain fire when using it in a revolver without adding the extra lube on top of the bullet.
The easier way (I read somewhere) is to cut the rolling paper to the best lenght, glue it round the bullet (using saliva as glue), let it dry, then add the blackpowder in the paper cylinder and close the cylinder so that the paper is forming a point.
The trick is that you tear up the paper while loading the round into the chamber and because it's nitrated paper it will burn completely when shot.

I got some new "curling paper" from the brand "True Wave" as recommended by other cartridge rollers. I tried a test to light both the first papers I bought and the "True Wave" with a lighter just holding one in my hand.

First type, hard to light, burned slow and I had to keep rotating the paper to allow the flame to consume it. It went out before burning even 30% of the paper.

Second type, the True Wave... I lit the corner and couldn't drop it fast enough without getting burned. It fully consumed in a second. It is very combustive. For the price 1000 sheets for $5 USD and I think I can get 2 cartridges per sheet, that's extremely cheap.

I formed an empty paper tube last night with an end as a test, it was fairly easy. I used a single wrap and it seems sturdy enough to contain everything. I 3D printed a couple cartridge boxes that hold dozen per box (along with caps).

I'm waiting on the replica 1860 to arrive, I ordered it but it got screwed up in destination sorting (excuse UPS is giving me) and was delayed. It is out for delivery right now. Once I get that I can test fit the cylinder depth and calcuate where to cut off the cartridge paper for length (I could use the original 1860 but honestly I dont like handling it very much... it has that absolutely lovely 163 year old Patina).

I'll post some pictures of the process and results later.

-DallanC