Enfield Cartridge Rabbit Hole
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Not combustible. The soldier bites and tears them open, pour the powder down the barrel, followed by the ball.
American "minie balls" had grease grooves to carry lube, so the paper was discarded. The British Pritchett bullet was smooth, as seen in the photo, and the paper cartridge itself was dipped in the tallow-based lube. Only the excess paper was discarded: the bullet was loaded along with the lubed part of the paper.
So this is interesting. I'm guessing you bought the bullets, or did you cast them? What is your powder charge? Did you use pig fat in your lube, to offend the Muslims, or did you use beef tallow, to offend the Hindus?
(How would history have been different if they'd used mutton tallow, or Crisco...)
You must follow up with a range report.
Sepoy Mutiny:
The rebellion began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and thus religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus.
American "minie balls" had grease grooves to carry lube, so the paper was discarded. The British Pritchett bullet was smooth, as seen in the photo, and the paper cartridge itself was dipped in the tallow-based lube. Only the excess paper was discarded: the bullet was loaded along with the lubed part of the paper.
So this is interesting. I'm guessing you bought the bullets, or did you cast them? What is your powder charge? Did you use pig fat in your lube, to offend the Muslims, or did you use beef tallow, to offend the Hindus?
(How would history have been different if they'd used mutton tallow, or Crisco...)
You must follow up with a range report.
Sepoy Mutiny:
Cause of the Sepoy Mutiny and its effects
Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 , (1857–58) Widespread rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the English East India Company.
www.britannica.com
Unlike American cartridges, the bullet is reversed in the British cartridge. The powder is poured into the paper tube, then the bullet is inserted point-first, so the hollow base faces up. The paper is twisted shut, tied with string, and after being trimmed, the paper stub is pushed into the hollow base of the bullet. Then the bullet end of the cartridge is dipped into the lube.
Cast the bullets and made the base plugs myself. Alas, no offending pig or cow fat, just beeswax and crisco. Charge is the British standard of 2.5 drams/68 grains. I've been told that the Swiss 1.5F powder is closest to the British musket powder of the late 1850s and early 1860s.Not combustible. The soldier bites and tears them open, pour the powder down the barrel, followed by the ball.
American "minie balls" had grease grooves to carry lube, so the paper was discarded. The British Pritchett bullet was smooth, as seen in the photo, and the paper cartridge itself was dipped in the tallow-based lube. Only the excess paper was discarded: the bullet was loaded along with the lubed part of the paper.
So this is interesting. I'm guessing you bought the bullets, or did you cast them? What is your powder charge? Did you use pig fat in your lube, to offend the Muslims, or did you use beef tallow, to offend the Hindus?
(How would history have been different if they'd used mutton tallow, or Crisco...)
You must follow up with a range report.
Sepoy Mutiny:
The rebellion began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and thus religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus.Cause of the Sepoy Mutiny and its effects
Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 , (1857–58) Widespread rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the English East India Company.www.britannica.com
I think you are referring to the older .568 caliber bullet cartridge from ~1855. This is the latter (1860) .550. Hollow end of bullet as that is filled with the plug to help the skirt of the bullet expand into the rifling when fired. Bullet is seated inside bullet chamber of cartridge point up. Shooter tears off end of upper powder chamber, tips and pours powder, then flips the cartridge back upright and seats bullet in chamber up to nose (i.e., where the cartridge stiffener starts) and breaks it off leaving just bullet and lubed paper patch in bore.
Good deal. Those smooth Pritchett bullets are probably a bit easier to cast than the American Burton style!
I found this article:
It looks like he has a separate, inner tube for the powder, then attached the bullet with an outer onionskin wrapper. Is that what you did?
I found this article:
It looks like he has a separate, inner tube for the powder, then attached the bullet with an outer onionskin wrapper. Is that what you did?
Aha! You used the wooden plugs! That is interesting!
(We posted at the same time.)
(We posted at the same time.)
Clay plugs. Originally they were made from boxwood, but then switched to clay. Too hard to make wood plugs. Folks make them from all sorts of epoxies now too.
I've been casting both Boxer-Pritchett and the Burton-Minie bullets lately. Both about the same effort. Fun. See what you did when you sold me those Parker-Hale guns?
If you go on the Forth Armoury website you can watch a video of him making and loading the cartridges. He sells a great kit with templates and formers too.
No love for the plastic tubes? "They would've used 'em if they'd had 'em!"
Pre-Made 550 Pritchett Cartridges
If molding your own bullets, pure soft lead is a must because the .550 bullet needs to do a lot of expanding to fill the rifling grooves even with the paper patch. NOE makes a bullet mold and a separate plug mold to make base plugs out of epoxy putty. I use a mix of 50/50 olive oil and beeswax for lube on the ones I roll at home.
For my original 1853 Enfields, I use a charge of 65 grains of FF. My Parker-Hale Musketoon needs FFF or the bullet tumbles.
If molding your own bullets, pure soft lead is a must because the .550 bullet needs to do a lot of expanding to fill the rifling grooves even with the paper patch. NOE makes a bullet mold and a separate plug mold to make base plugs out of epoxy putty. I use a mix of 50/50 olive oil and beeswax for lube on the ones I roll at home.
For my original 1853 Enfields, I use a charge of 65 grains of FF. My Parker-Hale Musketoon needs FFF or the bullet tumbles.
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Oh trust me, I love them. Really convenient. And every one of those you gave me still fired after all these years. This cartridge making is just something I wanted to learn how to do.
Pure soft lead is all I use and I have the NOE molds. I make my plugs from low-fire clay though, not epoxy. I use a crisco/beeswax mix for lube.
Pritchetts are great. Once you've tried them, there's just no going back to Burton cartridges. It really surprises other folks at the range how high a rate of accurate fire can be sustained from a BP muzzleloader using them after a bit of practice.
I decided to give them a try after getting tired of trying to jam Burton /Minies down a fouled bore after the 3d or 4th shot. The Pritchett cartridges Brett Gibbons sells are great, but just not as fulfilling as rolling my own from scratch.
Agree. I read Brett's book and went up to his shop to talk to him and buy some of his cartridges a couple of months ago. His cartridges and swaged bullets are great, but I definitely wanted to learn to make my own. I've been shooting a Parker-Hale 1853 3-band, but just got my first original Enfield 3-band, so going to shoot these cartridges from that.
Just FYI, I used to do a lot of relic hunting around Spottsylvania back 25 years ago…dug lottsa fired Enfields with the wooden plugs still present…they were enfolded in the lead when the bullets impacted, I guess.Clay plugs. Originally they were made from boxwood, but then switched to clay. Too hard to make wood plugs. Folks make them from all sorts of epoxies now too.
I've been casting both Boxer-Pritchett and the Burton-Minie bullets lately. Both about the same effort. Fun. See what you did when you sold me those Parker-Hale guns?
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