Nitrating Sharps Cartridge Papers

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poppa59hd

Inactive
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.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: Rebels-0 Yankees-1 Halftime
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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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.
 
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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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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