Breech Load Paper Cartridge

10x100

I'd appreciate either some advice from the experienced here or a pointer to some information. I'm interested in a breech load, paper cartridge BP rifle. I shoot M/L, but would like some info on the breech load. Can I treat this as a M/L and load loose powder with a minie ball (.54 cal.)from the muzzle? My concern is seating the paper cartridge as a breech load without getting a void between the bullet & the powder. Thanks!

Hawk Carse

The void between powder and bullet did not seem to worry Sharps and other makers of paper cartridge breechloaders. The Shiloh board has a forum on the subject.
http://shilohrifle.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=b914b270f56b620ba2c62ff96bc935d1

I think muzzleloading a "capping breechloader" would be a waste of time and money. I cannot see the point of interest in a system you would not be willing to use as designed.

That said, I recall an old article on the briefly available Gallagher reproduction that suggested muzzleloading it for hunting. Not for any concern over a void space but simply to get in more powder than the cartridge would hold. So it can be done.

You could get a reproduction (or real) Smith with rubber cartridge or Maynard with brass cartridge that can be filled full and ignited by external cap and thus avoid all concerns and evasions about paper cartridges.


If you run out of ammunition and try to help yourself to mine, I will bump you on your punkin' haid. I got my own problems with Those People.

andrewsw16

I guess if you were in some Civil War battle and ran out of paper cartridges and the soldier next to you had a flask and a pocket full of bullets or balls in a usable size, you might as well load the loose components instead of just smiling at the enemy damned Yankees. [:D]

(Fixed it)

navc130

You do not specify what make / type of firearm you have. I have shot my original Sharps 1863 percussion rifle with loose powder and a .54 cal. ball, loaded at the breech. As to muzzloading a breech loader, I don't think you would have any issues, as long as the bullet was a tight fit and would not move after loaded. If you seated it on the powder it may allow powder to escape past the bullet and into the bore. Probably a over powder wad or a filler of cornmeal or cream-of-wheat would assure a gas tight seal between powder and bullet. Just my thought, having never tried this. But I don't see why this could not safely be done.

ken44-40

If you're not using paper cartridges, seating the bullet from the breach and filling the chamber up with loose powder then closing the block on a .54 Sharps repro is the next best thing. The design of the breach block negates any worries about air space. I would not recommend trying to load one from the muzzle with the breach closed. They're not designed for that.