pre made cartridges for pistols

[brgreen]

Greetings to all:

Is there any documentationout there that there were premade cartridges for the pistols similar to thecartridges made for the rifle? Myreasoning behind this is because cartridge boxes were issued to US and CS navy personnelas part of the boarding gear (belt, cartridge box, pistol and holster). So far, I have not found any documentation.

Thanks in advance

Bryan
10952V

[Maillemaker]

Hi Bryan,

There is! :)

I highly recommend Dean Thomas' "Round Ball to Rimfire" series. It is 4 volumes and there are more related volumes still!

The long and short of it is that initially pistol cartridges were just like musket cartridges - little paper envelopes that contained powder and the ball, and you tore off the tail, poured in the powder, extracted the bullet, and loaded it over the power.

The problem is they were so small they were fiddly and it was hard to get the powder into the desired chamber.

So they then developed foil, skin, or even combustible cartridges that were designed to be loaded complete into the chamber, bullet and all.

If you do a Google image and video search on "paper revolver cartridge" you will find many examples, though beware, because a lot of the modern reproduction attempts are not completely accurate in execution.

Steve

[Maillemaker]

A fair reproduction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2HUcfAyaaQ


Some originals:
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd346/drm2m/tw1-3.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/Michael1787/Civil%20War/Coltpapercartridges.jpg

Steve

[brgreen]

Gentlemen:

Thank you very much for the information. I'm conducting research on Confederate Navy small arms and CSN personal equipment. Its too far down the road before purchasing a BP pistol.

Bryan Green
Dulany Troop 6th VA Cav
#10952V

[Curt]

Hallo!

As shared, arsenal/laboratory/factory made revolver cartridge packets were the normal way revolver ammunition was issued.

And where possible, NUG more a Federal thing than Confederate due to shortages, revolver ammo boxes were issued that held the pasteboard or paper wrapped wooden blocks holding the six cartridges.

Curt