Model12Win
Moderator
The nitraterationating will help burn that stubborn paper. Also don't use too thick a paper. One that holds up in your cartridge box out on the trail, but not so thick as it won't burn well.
Just traded my Pedersoli P1853 for a Pedersoli 1859 Sharps Carbine!
- Thread starter maillemaker
- Start date
maillemaker
New member
Here is a nice article that describes the evolution of the Sharps cartridge:
http://www.berdansharpshooters.com/Making_Rounds.pdf
Steve
http://www.berdansharpshooters.com/Making_Rounds.pdf
Steve
You lose a few particles of powder but it doesn't affect anything and I have yet to get any under the forearm or inside the action. I fail to see how it could get under the forearm anyway unless you just blew it in that direction maybe. I can see maybe getting between the breech block and receiver but that would burn off when fired and you would never notice it.
maillemaker
New member
Like I said, check out this PDF:
http://www.berdansharpshooters.com/Making_Rounds.pdf
It explains the historical and modern issues that drove the development of the flat-end cartridge in favor of the sheared-tail version.
Steve
maillemaker
New member
I am using an Elmer's Glue Stick (the purple kind that dries clear) to roll the tubes with, I'm using Elmer's white glue to secure the roller paper end cap, and I used super glue to secure the bullet to the tube.
I have been told that cheap fingernail polish is also a good adhesive for securing the bullet in the tube. I do not have any but I do have super glue so that is what I used.
I do think I recall that waterglass (sodium silicate) was a period adhesive used for cartridges.
Steve
maillemaker
New member
A guess is that perhaps if you don't seat the cartridge into the chamber to the same depth every time you will chop of different amounts of tail each time, resulting in inconsistent performance. With a flat-bottomed cartridge, it's obvious when the cartridge is properly seated because it is fully in the chamber and flush with the chamber mouth.
I noticed as I was firing my flat-bottomed ones that as I fired more and more sometimes a little bit of tail was sticking over-flush and I had to use my thumb to push it fully into the chamber, whereupon I could feel something "give way" and collapse as it drove flush.
Maybe with fouling less and less of the cartridge fully seats?
Anyway for competition purposes it seems like a no-cut solution is more likely to provide the most consistent charge and ignition.
But I will probably make and test the cut-tail version also.
Steve
I seat mine until I feel the first band crunch into the rifling. Sometimes I don't get the bullet seated to the same depth in the cartridge and it goes a little deeper than flush and then I have to tear the end off. Mine fit almost flush with just enough sticking out to cut off as per the pic I posted.
It's been awhile since I've shot my Pedersoli Sharps Carbine, but I believe I use a mixed solution of 2{?} parts rubbing alcohol, one part hydrogen peroxide, and one part Murphys Oil Soap in a spray bottle; so I can clean the action when it gets stiff.
If you can get a better type of paper clue in a office business store, you might be able to use hair curler paper for the whole cartridge case. Smooth steel tapered dowels are the best.
If you can get a better type of paper clue in a office business store, you might be able to use hair curler paper for the whole cartridge case. Smooth steel tapered dowels are the best.
maillemaker
New member
I was thinking about the cut-tail version and another problem has occurred to me.
I have discovered that my optimal load for my bullet is 50 grains of 3F.
But if I made my tube, glued the bullet in place, and put in 50 grains of powder, and then twisted/folded the tail to where the powder ends, this would result on a "short" cartridge. If you put this into the chamber until the bullet hit the rifling, even if "tail" stuck out of the breech when it was cut off there would still be twisted/folded tail in the chamber. So it would probably not light off.
I think the only way you can use cut-tail cartridges is with maximum-capacity loads (which is probably how they were done in period). Either that, or you'd have to figure out exactly how much filler to put on top of the bullet, plus a wad, then powder, so that the powder ended exactly at the end of your chamber for slicing. That sounds tricky to me.
Steve
I have discovered that my optimal load for my bullet is 50 grains of 3F.
But if I made my tube, glued the bullet in place, and put in 50 grains of powder, and then twisted/folded the tail to where the powder ends, this would result on a "short" cartridge. If you put this into the chamber until the bullet hit the rifling, even if "tail" stuck out of the breech when it was cut off there would still be twisted/folded tail in the chamber. So it would probably not light off.
I think the only way you can use cut-tail cartridges is with maximum-capacity loads (which is probably how they were done in period). Either that, or you'd have to figure out exactly how much filler to put on top of the bullet, plus a wad, then powder, so that the powder ended exactly at the end of your chamber for slicing. That sounds tricky to me.
Steve
maillemaker
New member
This sounds like the old-time "Possum Piss", which is 1/3 parts rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and Murphy's Oil Soap.
I still use it because I made a bunch of it up, but you have to be careful because it will damage wood.
My problem with the hair curler paper was not the glue, but that the tubes were simply too fragile. You could barely hold them to work with them without them collapsing.
I think the printer paper worked fine; nitrated will probably work even better.
Steve
maillemaker
New member
Yup, that's what I do.
It's possible I could make the whole thing out of hair curler paper, it just seemed fiddly to me.
Steve
Mine shoots better with 80. Kind of funny it goes to hell with 90 but gets even better at 100 but mine doesn't have a sliding chamber sleeve so flash is excessive with 100. 80 grains is the recommended load for mine and 80 grains puts the tail of the cartridge right at the best point for cutting it off. At least it does the way I load my cartridges.
maillemaker
New member
62 grains 3F is the most I can fit in this Pedersoli gun with this Pedersoli 525 grain bullet. I think some guns have larger chambers than others.
Steve
Steve
maillemaker
New member
I shot about 60 of the nitrated cartridges last weekend. While they do seem to generally burn more fully, they do sometimes still leave paper remnants in the barrel.
I do suppose making nitrated ammunition results in a slightly more risky end product, in that they are much more susceptible to ignition from a stray spark or ember. So ironically I actually worry a little more about thumbing in a nitrated cartridge than I do a plain paper one!
Steve
I do suppose making nitrated ammunition results in a slightly more risky end product, in that they are much more susceptible to ignition from a stray spark or ember. So ironically I actually worry a little more about thumbing in a nitrated cartridge than I do a plain paper one!
Steve