1859 Sharps general questions

Loose powder will not burn in a consistent manner. (and at worst will disperse into the vacant space with the cap charge and burn semi-explosively as a distributed/granular-aerosol instead of a train.)
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In theory maybe but not in practice.
 
Sorry... but I've sat down with innumerable shooters who had multiple FTFs to find that they's simply dumped a loose charge into a Sharps chamber to find it didn't ignite reliably (charge settled below the flashcone); and/or had them properly seat the (flat-base) cartridge so that its end was directly against flashcone ... with remarkable (in their eyes) results.

You're not going to "bulge" anything in a Sharps through an airspace -- but the effects at a 100yds (or through a chronograph) are readily apparent.
 
Maybe with really low charges. I don't have a chronograph but 80 grains at 100 yards shows no difference between loose powder or a paper cartridge and I never had a FTF. Even with Pyrodex I never had a FTF but all of those fired slow.
 
According to Larry Flees, the guy who did the gas check plate rework on my Pedersoli, the stock fire channel has lots of extra nooks and crannies in it where the flast blast gets wasted in them. He can re-work the pieces that go into the channel (cleanout screw etc.) so that these nooks and crannies are gone and you will get more reliable ignition.

These nooks and crannies tend to build up with fouling after 10 or so shots, so ignition becomes more reliable after that, but if you get failure to fire early on, it may be because of the fire channel. I'm about to send my block off to be fixed.

I use German caps.

Steve
 
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