Reenacting.
Before I joined the Army, I was a Civil War Reenactor. I participated with a small group called the 20th TN Cavalry. Based on a real unit from my hometown of Dyersburg, the were a Confederate Cavalry unit That saw their first major action at Ft. Donelson in the winter of '61-'62 under Forrest. They were one of the handful of troops that Forrest snuck out the "back door" when Donelson was surrendered. They finished out the war, ending at literally less than a third of their original strength. Most of their action was in the Trans-Mississippi theater.
But that's not really what you were after, sorry. Got carried away
We used paper cartridges with no wadding. No ramrods either. Real BP (not substitutes) can be poured into the barrel, the rifle tapped on the ground to semi-compress, and fired normally. Still impressive enough for the smoke and noise, but the "no ram" policy was a lot safer for the battlefeild. You'd be impressed at the damage that can be done by a steel rammer over a 60 grain blank load.
For formal events (Veteran's Day, Cemetary dedication, etc.) we used paper cartridges packed with cream of wheat, and rammed normally.
Cartridges we made using 60 grains of powder in either pre-made paper tubes or tubes we made using newsprint. Easy, just used a dowel rod for the form.
Hope that helps you out. If not, feel free to ask and I can clarify.