The Paper Musket Cartridge,Today when one thinks of ammunition one probably imagines modern cartridg

The Paper Musket Cartridge,Today when one thinks of ammunition one probably imagines modern cartridges made of brass which contain smokeless gunpowder, a bullet, and a primer.  Many firearms today even have magazines that can hold 20, 30, perhaps even 100 cartridges at a time.  However before the end of the American Civil War, when soldiers fought with flintlock or percussion muskets, most firearms were limited to one.  Cartridges of the time were also much different from the metallic self contained cartridges of today.  From the 17th century until around 1865, most cartridges were actually paper.Before the invention of the cartridge, a soldier or hunter would typically load a musket by pouring loose powder from a flask, then loading a patch followed by the bullet.  With a flask it was not uncommon for a soldier to simply estimate the amount of powder poured down the muzzle, and even a few grains less or extra can have significant effects on accuracy.  In the late 16th century soldiers in Denmark and Naples had the idea to wrap a pre-measured amount of gunpowder as well as a bullet inside a piece of paper.  Doing so ensured consistency of powder and sped up the process of loading.  By the 17th century the use of paper cartridges became widespread in Europe and the America’s.To load a musket with a paper cartridge, the user would first bite off an end of the cartridge.  The user would then pour the gunpowder down the barrel, insert the paper down the barrel (to act as a patch) and then drop the bullet in.  If the user had a matchlock or flintlock musket, some of the powder would have been used to prime the flashpan. The ramrod would be used to push the entire cartridge down the barrel, thus properly seating it and ensuring there was no air gaps between the bullet and gunpowder (which could cause an explosion.  Typically the paper was also lubricated with wax, tallow, or lard to protect it from moisture and lubricate or clean the muzzle.  Using this method a well trained soldier could expect to fire around 3 shots a minute.  A seat of your pants, loading on the run method called the spit and tap method could increase it to 3-4 shots per minute.The paper musket cartridge would be most popular in the 18th and early to mid 19th century.  By the mid 1800’s gun makers began designing others types of cartridges, eventually inventing the self-contained metallic cartridge, which allowed for convention loading and multi-shot repeating firearms.  The last conflict which saw the widespread use of paper cartridges and muzzleloading firearms was the American Civil War.  After 1865 the reign of the paper cartridge ended with the production of rimfire and centerfire metallic cartridges.   -- source link

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