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Old March 22, 2011, 03:21 PM   #1
poppa59hd
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Nitrating Sharps Cartridge Papers

I posted a question some weeks ago about where to find potassium nitrate to make cartridge papers for my Sharps rifle & carbine and recieved a lot of useful information and some links to where to purchase the stuff. For all the answers I recieved, I am greatly appreciative.
My question is: How much nitrate should I purchase? Used in a glass baking pan, how much nitrate will it take to thoroughly saturate the water to soak the papers in? I've found nitrate for sale in 1-lb, 3-lb & 5-lb jugs and have no idea how much to order. "Quess-timating" about a quart of water in the pan, how much nitrate before the heated water will not dissolve any more nitrate? I've been told (not on here) that inch-and-a-half of saturated water with soak 25-35 notebook-size sheets of paper and I'm figgering on @6 cartridge papers per sheet. I suppose I should get a Sharps cartridge rolling kit from Dixie Gun Works and use their stuff for patterns and info, too, but I thought I'd ask on here, first. I know there are Sharps shooters in here and figgered I'd get the voices of experience for advice.
I'd appreciate any/all the info/advice anyone out there feels like passing on to a Sharps shooter neophyte.
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Old March 22, 2011, 04:47 PM   #2
Ideal Tool
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Hello, poppa59hd. The last time I made cumb. ctg's. for my Shilo 1863, I always cut papers to size before soaking. I never used as much as a quart..usually a small container such as an empty cottage cheese container. I used hottest tap water, & made super solution..kept adding salt until there was some undesolved on bottom..This isn't rocket science, with that amount, the papers will completly burn.
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Old March 22, 2011, 07:49 PM   #3
arcticap
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http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...nitrated+paper

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smokin_Gun in Post #5 of the linked thread
1) Used 3 1/2 tablespoons KNO3 to 1 cup of extremely hot water from the tap. Pour in beeker and thuroughly desolved KNO3.
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Old March 22, 2011, 09:06 PM   #4
bbqncigars
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You can always check with the bunch on the Shiloh Sharps rifles forums. A lot of those folk have BTDT years ago.
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Old March 24, 2011, 01:11 AM   #5
ofitg
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It really depends on the temperature of the water. Here's a solubility table, you will have to scroll down to find potassium nitrate -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solubility_table

At 20 degrees Celcius, 100 grams of water will dissolve 31.6 grams of potassium nitrate.

Very hot tap water, say, 40 or 50 degrees Celcius, will dissolve more than twice as much potassium nitrate.

I have nitrated paper and cotton rope a couple of times using room temperature water (approximately 20 degrees Celcius), worked OK for me.
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Old March 30, 2011, 06:35 PM   #6
JiminTexas
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I'm just thinking here. Can you just as easily use nitric acid to soak the papers in? That should turn the paper into cellulose nitrate (gun cotton). I'll guarantee you that will all burn out.
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Old March 31, 2011, 04:26 AM   #7
Bill Akins
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In my Foxfire books it says that in the old days the women would save the family's urine in a slop jar and take it to the gunpowder mill. There they would pour the urine into a cistern and then let it evaporate. The crystals left behind in the cistern were potassium nitrate. Just a little history tidbit.

I'm anxious to see how your nitrated paper cartridges turn out. Magic shop nitrated paper being so expensive, exactly what solutions and what kind of paper are you using? I'd appreciate knowing because I'd like to replicate that myself. Much cheaper than buying the paper from the magic shop.


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Old March 31, 2011, 10:03 AM   #8
ofitg
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Bill, I never played with flash paper from the magic shops, so I had to read up on it - sounds like it is prepared by soaking paper in sulfuric & nitric acids - Jimin Texas indicated that the paper is converted to guncotton.

When I nitrated paper, I cut typing paper into squares measuring 2-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches, then I soaked the paper squares in a solution of water and potassium nitrate for a few minutes.

I just did a "burn test" on one of my paper squares - I ignited one corner, and it took 45 seconds for the fire to sizzle across the entire square. It does not "flash".

I have used these nitrated paper squares to make cartridges for a percussion Sharps, and they work quite well for that purpose.
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Old March 31, 2011, 05:36 PM   #9
Bill Akins
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I forgot to add, although I usually use cornmeal over the powder to preclude front of cylinder chainfires, when I made and used magicians flashpaper homemade cartridges, in those instances I used grease over the balls because the flashpaper is so very volatile an entire 8x10 sheet of it and will disappear is a second or two if exposed to a spark . In reading this thread, it sounds like the nitrated paper burns slower than the flashpaper and would be a bit safer to use. Although it took 45 seconds for your nitrated paper to burn across, when it is contained in the chamber and exposed to the heat and flame of the chamber, I'm sure that nitrated paper (like contained BP) would burn much faster.

This is a very interesting thread to me. I'd like to make up a batch of nitrated paper myself rather than using the more volatile magicians flashpaper.



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"To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target".
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Old April 9, 2011, 09:09 AM   #10
Ivan
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I made a whole bunch of cartridges for a BP Sharps with just plain ole wrapping tissue. It worked just fine without nitrating.

- Ivan.
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