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Old March 28, 2014, 11:08 PM   #11
emishi
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Join Date: November 9, 2008
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 36
Tracing Paper

I've tried the rolling papers and found them too thin, too fiddly and the final product too loose and 'squishly' when trying to insert and ram home.


So, thinking about how to improve the process, I realized I needed to pay a bit more attention to my Ubertis, over my Piettas, since their chambers are tapered. Having done that...

It took me about 20 minutes to taper a .375" dowel, round the nipple end and sand it slightly smaller than my Uberti's chambers. I inserted the dowel into the chamber and marked it with a Sharpie, then tapered the dowel a bit more to ensured the finished paper tube at the Sharpie mark would barely accept a .380 projectile.

I decided to use coated tracing paper, cut to rolling paper size (with a scrap-booking cutter). This paper is thicker than rolling papers, can take a bit more force when tamping the powder, grits, wads before finally squeezing in the lead and combusts faster than rolling papers. I don't glue any ends. Rather I center the paper on the rounded end of the dowel and pull both the ends up to the depth mark.

Using white glue, I glue the edges together length-wise up the dowel, doing a military style bed crease at the bottom of the paper, forming an enclosed tube (much like the rubber finger tip used to count paper money)... the open neck of which is .380" due to the taper (same as the round ball and conicals I use). The now formed, empty tube is the exact depth as my cylinder chambers.

With this setup, I don't have to worry about misfires as there is only 1 layer of paper (and no glue) for the cap to blow thru. I load 22 grins of powder, 12 grains of grits, a wax wad (tamping them down tightly with the flat end of the dowel) and slowly work a waxed .380 ball or conical into the tube to finish it off. The round ball obviously goes in easier than the conical, as the air escapes the tube more easily around a ball versus the waxed grooves of the conical and I find I don't destroy as many cartridges when I load them as I previously did with the rolling papers, tea bags and other methods of producing the paper tubes.

This makes for a nice, tightly packed round (similar to a brass cartridge) and easily loaded without the worry of 'squishing', tearing or spilling. Also. I find no paper remains at the bottom of the cylinders after firing. The paper either fully combusts or the white-glued bits are blown down range.

However you decide to do it, make sure no glue is holding the cartridge together at the nipple end or you'll find yourself 'pricking' each nipple to ensure ignition.

Another thing about paper cartridges no one seems to make mention of... they help to ensure no chain fire, since there is no loose powder... either at the nipple or as a residue at the mouth, readily available to ignite while blazing away at your chosen target..
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