The results of the other day's casting.
Now I'm figuring out how to store them. Tupperware for now, but I made another ball pouch out of a leather pouch kit I bought at Hobby Lobby. It's so easy, I'm going to wait for a sale on leather crafts and load up on tools and components and make other stuff.
There's nothing special about my .533 Minie ball paper cartridges. I just cut about 1/2" of rolling paper off with scissors and ran a glue stick along the top edge and glued it to the bullet below the first lube ring. The first few I made, I didn't cut off the excess and some of them were too large to fit in the bore, so I load them with little overlap so they slip snugly into the bore. I loaded those with 60 grains of 777, but the rest of them with 90 after yesterday's good results. Flatten the open end after loading it with powder, then apply the glue stick, pinch the end and then fold it a couple of times with a dab of glue on the folds. You can see that I did the same with the .68" cartridges.
It's been my experience that if I use grease pills, lubed wads, or wonder wads, the gun gets really greasy with 777. I've read that it creates it's own lube, I've had good results so far, so I don't lube the Minie Balls. I thought paper patching eliminated the need for it, since the paper scrapes the barrel tight, keeping it from leading. I read about some guys adding Cream of Wheat to make sure the rifling gets filled with filler to reduce leading and fouling and to eliminate the gap between the bullet and bore.
I did the .68" balls about the same way, but I didn't have to cut the excess off the paper, I just glued it whole to the flash line of the ball. I added 90 grains of 777 and glued it shut the same way as the .533" Minie ball cartridges.
Then I read about Buck and Ball, so I made some paper cartridges after doing some research. I had some synthetic sinew handy, so I used it to tie the clusters off for the heck of it.
The rolling papers are too short to package the balls and the powder, I had to use two of them.
The finished product, notice the folds.
There's been no fire hazard so far, the cloth patches land several feet in front of us, can't find any remnants of the rolling papers and we pump the ramrod down the barrel a few times to tamp out anything that is in there. Reckon it gets completely burned or fragmented upon firing? There is some residue left in my cap and ball from rolling paper and Cream of Wheat.
Now I'm figuring out how to store them. Tupperware for now, but I made another ball pouch out of a leather pouch kit I bought at Hobby Lobby. It's so easy, I'm going to wait for a sale on leather crafts and load up on tools and components and make other stuff.
There's nothing special about my .533 Minie ball paper cartridges. I just cut about 1/2" of rolling paper off with scissors and ran a glue stick along the top edge and glued it to the bullet below the first lube ring. The first few I made, I didn't cut off the excess and some of them were too large to fit in the bore, so I load them with little overlap so they slip snugly into the bore. I loaded those with 60 grains of 777, but the rest of them with 90 after yesterday's good results. Flatten the open end after loading it with powder, then apply the glue stick, pinch the end and then fold it a couple of times with a dab of glue on the folds. You can see that I did the same with the .68" cartridges.
It's been my experience that if I use grease pills, lubed wads, or wonder wads, the gun gets really greasy with 777. I've read that it creates it's own lube, I've had good results so far, so I don't lube the Minie Balls. I thought paper patching eliminated the need for it, since the paper scrapes the barrel tight, keeping it from leading. I read about some guys adding Cream of Wheat to make sure the rifling gets filled with filler to reduce leading and fouling and to eliminate the gap between the bullet and bore.
I did the .68" balls about the same way, but I didn't have to cut the excess off the paper, I just glued it whole to the flash line of the ball. I added 90 grains of 777 and glued it shut the same way as the .533" Minie ball cartridges.
Then I read about Buck and Ball, so I made some paper cartridges after doing some research. I had some synthetic sinew handy, so I used it to tie the clusters off for the heck of it.
The rolling papers are too short to package the balls and the powder, I had to use two of them.
The finished product, notice the folds.
There's been no fire hazard so far, the cloth patches land several feet in front of us, can't find any remnants of the rolling papers and we pump the ramrod down the barrel a few times to tamp out anything that is in there. Reckon it gets completely burned or fragmented upon firing? There is some residue left in my cap and ball from rolling paper and Cream of Wheat.