MTNWINDS
I'm really surprised that ignition is so good through the twisted, glued ends, but the results speak for themselves.
Sounds like the Ped design is very workable. Might be something Shiloh might consider. At least the washers for snugness.
I get off no more than 10 rds or so, depending on humidity before I have to put a few drops of cleaning solution between the block and barrel.
Gluing bullets to wads might result in flyers, but there's only one way to find that out.
'63s are worthy of tang sights and in my experience, group well out to 200 yards. A couple years back, me and four Americans I met on this site did a postal match with our '63s - 50-100-150-200 yds. We were all surprised at the accuracy we got.
We haven't done it since. Next time we thought we'd do the Berdan test of 10" string measure at 200 yds.
"Shoot" magazine did an article on the '63 Military Rifle a while back. You might find it on thier web site or get a back copy. I really enjoy my Farmingdale '63 Military Rifle in .50. I shoot the same Lyman 515141 in it as I do in my Shiloh Military Rifle.
Todd
New To Me 1863
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Todd Birch
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mtnwinds
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Todd, let me clear up some misconceptions. Here's a picture of the curler paper wrapped around the jig and glued. You can't see it but I have marked the jig with a line that leaves the correct amount of paper exposed for folding and gluing. Two folds are down and the third fold is glued. 
The jig is hollow. I fold the glued section over and I place the glued end down on a solid surface. The dowel is passed through the jig & is used to compress the glued end making it nice & flat and spreading the glue to the other folds.
This shows the powder measure, adjustable fill tube, and jig with paper cartridge still in place.
Now I empty the 60 grains of BP into the jig. The mouth of the jig is drilled large enough to accept the fill tube with no spills. I normally use two hands to do this but had to use one to hold the camera this time.
I start to slide the cartridge off the jig and as I do I place the cartridge in a loading block. The cartridge fits perfectly in the block and is now ready for the over powder wad.
I then drop in a veg. fiber wad and twist the top shut.
Making the paper cartridges goes very quickly. I've just roughed the jig out and am using it to see how I can improve it. If someone has already done this, I apologize. I haven't seen it anywhere and just came up with it as a solution to help make shooting the 1863 Sharps a little more fun.
As you can see, the glued end, not the twisted end, receives the flame from the musket cap. I've never had one fail but must admit I was not expecting it to work after reading many people's experience. It works very well. The glued end is a little fragile until the glue has had time to set but by keeping the cartridge in the loading block when twisting I haven't had one fail.
Hope this clears up any misconceptions.
The jig is hollow. I fold the glued section over and I place the glued end down on a solid surface. The dowel is passed through the jig & is used to compress the glued end making it nice & flat and spreading the glue to the other folds.
This shows the powder measure, adjustable fill tube, and jig with paper cartridge still in place.
Now I empty the 60 grains of BP into the jig. The mouth of the jig is drilled large enough to accept the fill tube with no spills. I normally use two hands to do this but had to use one to hold the camera this time.
I start to slide the cartridge off the jig and as I do I place the cartridge in a loading block. The cartridge fits perfectly in the block and is now ready for the over powder wad.
I then drop in a veg. fiber wad and twist the top shut.
Making the paper cartridges goes very quickly. I've just roughed the jig out and am using it to see how I can improve it. If someone has already done this, I apologize. I haven't seen it anywhere and just came up with it as a solution to help make shooting the 1863 Sharps a little more fun.
As you can see, the glued end, not the twisted end, receives the flame from the musket cap. I've never had one fail but must admit I was not expecting it to work after reading many people's experience. It works very well. The glued end is a little fragile until the glue has had time to set but by keeping the cartridge in the loading block when twisting I haven't had one fail.
Hope this clears up any misconceptions.
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Todd Birch
- Posts: 2133
- Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:01 pm
- Location: Somewhere in the Cariboo ....
Mtnwinds
Nice solution to the problem ..... The pics cleared up my misconceptions.
I do something similar but find that rolling a lubed bullet in the paper to make the tube is efficient.
If I had a jig to hold the cartridge tube bullet down, it would make it easier to fold over the paper. Must work on that .....
For my .50 '63, I simply roll a .54 60 gr Pyro pellet with the lubed/sized bullet - done. It would work with a .54 as well, but be a pretty anemic round.
I have also 'Pope' seated bullets with a ML short starter and put paper cartridges behind. That works as well, but is a slow process.
I've even considered muzzle loading a bullet to a set depth which would pre-engrave the rifling into the bullet.
I have an article in an old NRA mag about Civil War paper cartridges and there were several types using compressed BP; one even utilizing a patented process of using three different grades of powder to facilitate burning rates.
Wrappers were skin, paper and gauze-like linen. Most were shellacked to make them more robust to handle and water resistant.
BPCRs shooters fuss over BP compression but the '63s seem to do well within their limitations. Once the paper was sheared off a paper round, the powder is free to spill into the cavity and elsewhere. This would seem to create the possibility of an air space 'twixt bullet and powder, a big no-no in brass cartridges. Or is that just one of the myths 'everyone knows because everyone says it's so'?
The British Army tested the Sharps slant breech extensively, even sending a Regiment of cavalry off to India armed with them. After the supply of US ammo was shot off, they were rebarreled to accept the .575 Enfield bullet.
The troops liked them, but it was rejected for adoption as too many fancy uniforms were being burned at the cuffs by gas leakage! It was also the first arm considered for adoption by the British Army that did not have a one piece stock.
Todd
Nice solution to the problem ..... The pics cleared up my misconceptions.
I do something similar but find that rolling a lubed bullet in the paper to make the tube is efficient.
If I had a jig to hold the cartridge tube bullet down, it would make it easier to fold over the paper. Must work on that .....
For my .50 '63, I simply roll a .54 60 gr Pyro pellet with the lubed/sized bullet - done. It would work with a .54 as well, but be a pretty anemic round.
I have also 'Pope' seated bullets with a ML short starter and put paper cartridges behind. That works as well, but is a slow process.
I've even considered muzzle loading a bullet to a set depth which would pre-engrave the rifling into the bullet.
I have an article in an old NRA mag about Civil War paper cartridges and there were several types using compressed BP; one even utilizing a patented process of using three different grades of powder to facilitate burning rates.
Wrappers were skin, paper and gauze-like linen. Most were shellacked to make them more robust to handle and water resistant.
BPCRs shooters fuss over BP compression but the '63s seem to do well within their limitations. Once the paper was sheared off a paper round, the powder is free to spill into the cavity and elsewhere. This would seem to create the possibility of an air space 'twixt bullet and powder, a big no-no in brass cartridges. Or is that just one of the myths 'everyone knows because everyone says it's so'?
The British Army tested the Sharps slant breech extensively, even sending a Regiment of cavalry off to India armed with them. After the supply of US ammo was shot off, they were rebarreled to accept the .575 Enfield bullet.
The troops liked them, but it was rejected for adoption as too many fancy uniforms were being burned at the cuffs by gas leakage! It was also the first arm considered for adoption by the British Army that did not have a one piece stock.
Todd
"From birth to the packing house, we travel between the two eternities ....." Robert Duvall in "Broken Trail"
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Rabert
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