Paper Cartridge

[davem]

A smaller portion of combustible ammunition was made for rifles, mostly the shorter cavalry carbines. It didn't seem that popular. There may have been other issues such as the blast of the cap having to go through a drum and into the bore and also no way to inspect the chamber for embers. All that changed with the percussion revolver. The revolver was ideal for the combustible ammunition that a cavalry man could carry on his belt. As I understand matters the manual for the revolver included instructions on how to load from a flask and I therefore spent some time trying to find out if the Federal Army ever issued flasks to troops. So far I haven't found any thing in that regard.
There is often the idea that first Sam Colt developed the revolver and then, after a period of time, he came up with the idea of combustible ammunition. Actually the combustible ammunition came about almost as soon as the revolver.
There are a few pictorial books on old Colts in bookstores that often show cased sets of revolvers and these cased sets often had a box or two of this type ammunition.
Once again, in the interest of safety, I think to carry ammunition in the field a person is better off with the re-useable plastic or paper tubes (speed loaders). Still, the combustible stuff is interesting and worth a try at the range just to get a better feel for how these revolvers were often used. Just keep any loose ammo covered up- it is COMBUSTIBLE.

[Rachen]

The military aspect on the use of paper cartridges is very interesting.

I wonder how much logistics came into play.

With pre-made cartridges they would have an accurate count on how many rounds they had in the field, and for which weapons.

Dispensing pre-made cartridges from the ammunition wagon sounds a lot easier than dishing out loose powder and bullets.

Easier, too, for the quartermaster I would guess.

I have read that the waste of ammunition was much frowned upon by those higher up the command chain.

In Cold Mountain (the novel), W.P. Inman talks to the blind peanut vendor about how during the Battle of Fredericksburg, he wished that his comrades could have loaded their rifles with loose powder and ball instead of their issued cartridges because they always let the Federals get so close before firing their volleys and cutting them down. That way they could have "saved on precious powder" by using much smaller charges.

The rifled muskets were ALWAYS issued with preloaded cartridges, at least on the Confederate side. I don't know about the Feds. The Whitworth rifles used by some Confederate marksmen could only be used with the supplied Whitworth cartridge, which contained the hexagonal slug and special grade English sporting powder. The other British weapons imported by the CSA, like the Webley, Adams, and Kerr double action revolvers all came with boxed cartridges.

Flasks were literally non-existent in regular combat issue, unless you count in the fact that some CSA militia units carried their own muskets, including flintlock fowlers, and they probably loaded them with flasks or horns, since these guns most likely were in non-military calibers. So no loading with issued ammo.

The pictures that you see on black powder websites that always show the revolver and a powder flask sitting beside it are erroneous. Most shooters of the day were not recreational shooters. Their lives depended on their weapons' reliability. So they would either use precharged cylinders, or carried reloads in reusable casings made of "India rubber".

[Hawg]

The Whitworth rifles used by some Confederate marksmen could only be used with the supplied Whitworth cartridge,

That's not true. They could be used with a standard .45 minie. The standard minie conformed to the hexagonal rifling. I don't know how much accuracy suffered with the fast twist tho.

[davem]

We are getting confused here. The paper cartridges for the muskets were not combustible, You used your teeth to tear open the end, removed the Minnie bullet, poured the charge down the bore, then the paper was wadded up and rammed then the Minnie. Then you capped and fired.
On the revolver- those rounds were combustible because the case was treated with nitrates and sulfur. You loaded the whole thing as is and then capped and shot.
It should be noted that these originals used a long tapered bullet and when rammed down the chamber (revolver) the conical could twist, the base was very short. This obviously didn't do much for accuracy plus the powder charges were only about 17 grs- so not maximum.
On the pistol, the two biggest suppliers were Colt and D.C. Sage (Middleton, CT), there were others. Colt used a small two piece wood box and Sage used a one piece wood box. For the South- the Richmond Armory just used a cheap cardboard box that didn't protect the rounds and breakage was an issue.
There are quite a few books on this subject.

[maillemaker]

Most musket cartridges were not combustible. There were some attempts at them, however.

I remember one funny one made of guncotton rope on a stick stuck into the rear of the bullet.

Steve

[Erno86]

I use hair curler paper, that I buy at a hair salon supply store for women/or shop Google; for loads for my Sharps Carbine.

[celem]

See the link below for how I do it for revolvers:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=723983