Euro Arms enfield 1853 replica

This doesn't look right:

musketry1855.jpg


Looks like the 'minie' is on the wrong end of the charge. I would therefore assume, based on this picture, that one would tear or bite off the twisted end, pour in the powder, then reverse the paper tune and seat the bullet.

Would it not be better to arrange the cartridge where you just tear the end and ram it into place????

Am I missing something?????
 
Whichever way you prefer. That's the original way of doing it. I presume to keep the lube from contaminating the powder. The only way to lube an Enfield bullet is in the base.
 
Forgive my ignorance, but with a Minie there is no patch needed????

Well, like I tried to explain, in the United States, "cartridges" were made up of paper, with the expanding ball and powder inside. You tore the tail off of the cartridge and dumped the powder down the barrel. Then you would crack/tear the cartridge in half, and extract the bullet from the paper. The bullet was pre-lubricated by being dipped in a mixture of tallow and beeswax. This lubricated bullet was pushed "naked" down the barrel.

The 1855-style looks like this:

experiments1855.jpg


It had a separate "powder case", and it and the bullet were housed in the outer sleeve with the tied off nose and the folded up tail.

In 1862 they changed the design, doing away with the special, pasted inner case and just taking two tied-off outer sleeves and nesting them together. The outer one held the bullet, and the inner one held the powder.

They were used the same, though.

Now the English did it different. Their cartridge contained the bullet and the powder, but the finished cartridge was dipped in lube with the paper. So it was a paper-patched bullet. You still tore the tail off, and dumped in the powder, but then you stuck the bullet-end of the paper cartridge into the end of the barrel and tore off the extra paper. So some paper (with lube) went down the barrel with the bullet. The bullet was sized to work this way. It looks like this:

pre59cart.jpg


Here you can see a complete cartridge stuck in the end of a musket. Note that you would have torn the tail off and dumped the powder in before this point. The picture is just to give you an idea of the bullet-end of the cartridge going into the barrel:

enfld3.jpg


All pictures are from here:
http://cartridgetubes.com/Authentic_Cartridges.html

[/quote]Whichever way you prefer. That's the original way of doing it. I presume to keep the lube from contaminating the powder. The only way to lube an Enfield bullet is in the base.[/quote]

:confused: It's not the only way.

In a period cartridge, the bullets were dip-lubed. The powder was separated from the bullet by its own separate paper powder case, for precisely the reason you state - to keep the lube from fouling the powder.

In the N-SSA, many folks fill their plastic "cartridge" tube with powder, then stick the bullet in like a stopper, and then dip the bullet into molten lube, using the tube as a "handle". If you let the lube rise above the seam between the end of the tube and the bullet, you actually get an air-tight seal to boot.

I personally use a Lyman lubrisizer that sizes the bullet and applies lube at the same time.

Of course as you note if you get lube on the mouth of the case when you go to dump your powder some powder stays stuck in the lube.

It's definitely less messy to lube in the hollow base of the bullets - then you can pull them out of their cartridges without getting lube on your fingers and risk dropping the slippery things.

Steve
 
I am working on a prototype paper cartridge that works the opposite of the originals. This one has the cavity in the bullet filled with wax, the end of the 'Minie' exposed and also sealed with wax, the charge on the back of (heel) of the Minie.

To load, just drop in the barrel, ram into place and fire it...
 
Sorry for the dumb question, but all my BP experience with a rifle was a Hawken. Am I correct in what I have gathered in this thread that the Enfield does not use a patch????
 
No patch unless shooting the round ball. The minie bullet has a hollow base that expands upon firing to grip the riflings. That way the soldier could easily load the undersized bullet into the rifle that automatically expanded to fit the bore when fired.
 
Am I correct in what I have gathered in this thread that the Enfield does not use a patch????

Once again, it depends on whose ammunition you are talking about.

US and Confederate .58 expanding ball cartridges were designed to have the bullet removed from the paper and shot "naked" - no patch.

British Enfield cartridges were shot still in the paper, and were thus paper patched bullets.

The Confederates also made British-style cartridges, particularly later in the war.

The simple answer is it was done both ways.

Steve
 
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