A paper cartridge is one of various types of small armsammunition used before the advent of the metallic cartridge. These cartridges consisted of a paper cylinder or cone containing the bullet, gunpowder, and in some cases, a primer or a lubricating and anti-fouling agent. Combustible cartridges are paper cartridges that use paper treated with oxidizers to allow them to burn completely upon ignition.[1][2][3]
Paper cartridges have been in use for nearly as long as hand-held firearms, with a number of sources dating their use back to the late 14th century. Historians note their use by soldiers of Christian I in 1586, while the Dresden museum has evidence dating their use to 1591, and Capo Bianco writes in 1597 that paper cartridges had long been in use by Neapolitan soldiers. Their use became widespread by the 17th century. The first army to officially use paper cartridges is presumed to be "piechota wybraniecka" of Poland under the rule of Stephen Báthory.[4]
Cultural impact
Paper cartridges were often coated in beeswax, lard, or tallow, which served a number of purposes. They provided some degree of water resistance, they lubricated the paper-wrapped bullet as they were pushed down the bore, they melted upon firing to mix with the powder residue and make the resulting fouling easier to remove, and they were not as hazardous to carry and handle (especially in combat) since the gunpowder inside was not as susceptible to being ignited by stray sparks or other ignition sources.
The standard procedure for loading a musket or rifled musket involved biting open the cartridge; this caused problems for those with strict dietary restrictions. In 1857, a new cartridge greased with tallow helped start the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The grease used on these cartridges was rumoured to include tallow derived from beef, which would be offensive to Hindus,[5] and pork, which would be offensive to Muslims - and the sepoy soldiers in the employ of the British were largely Hindu or Muslim. Rumors of the use of lard and tallow in the lubrication of the cartridges they were using were part of the cause of the Rebellion of 1857.[6]
Construction and use
The most common applications of paper cartridges were in muzzleloading firearms. While these may be loaded with loose powder and balls or bullets, a paper cartridge combines a pre-measured amount of powder with the ball in a sealed unit. This eliminated the operation of measuring the powder during loading. In the case where multiple projectiles were used, such as buck and ball loads, the cartridge also served to package up the projectiles, so they did not have to be measured or counted out. The paper also served as a patch in smoothbore firearms, which fired balls that were smaller than the diameter of the bore, and wrapped a paper or cloth patch to make them fit snugly.[1][7]
The paper used in cartridges varied considerably. The instructions for making Enfield paper cartridges, published in 1859, which uses three pieces of paper of two different thicknesses, shows the complexity that could be involved. Some cartridges, such as those for percussion revolvers, used nitrated paper. Treated by soaking in a potassium nitrate solution and then drying, this made the paper far more flammable and ensured it burned completely upon firing.[8]
Despite the complexity involved in their construction, paper cartridges were used through the 19th century, from the Napoleonic Wars through the time of the American Civil War, after which time they were displaced by modern metallic cartridges and the breechloader.
Paper cartridges varied in their construction based on the specifications of the buyer or the practices of the builder; a cartridge tended to be built with a specific weapon in mind, with a specified powder charge and a correctly sized ball or bullet. A cartridge built for a .65 caliber musket obviously could not be used in a .50 caliber weapon. However, similarly-sized weapons could often share cartridges. During the American Civil War, the primary small arms used by each side were the .58 caliber Springfield Model 1861rifle-musket (North), and the .577 caliber Enfield rifle-musket (South). The two guns were similar enough that both sides could make use of ammunition captured from the enemy without any problems. The loose-fitting nature of minie ball ammunition in rifled muskets meant that slightly undersized ammunition could be used in a pinch, although accuracy would be degraded compared to correctly sized ammunition.
There are a number of features which are not specific to any particular firearm, and so apply to any paper cartridge. For example, the cartridge must be sturdy enough to withstand the handling it can be expected to receive. This means either a sturdy paper must be used, or the cartridge must be reinforced for strength. The importance of paper cartridges can be seen by the existence of cartridge paper, a paper specially produced for the production of paper cartridges. In some cases the cartridges were produced directly from paper pulp, and formed into a seamless cylinder of the correct diameter.[1][6]
For smoothbore muskets
Smoothbore muskets were loaded with lead balls, slightly smaller than the diameter of the bore, to make them easier to ram down the barrel (especially as fouling built up); a "patch" of paper or cloth was wrapped around the bullet before inserting it into the barrel, to make it fit snugly, so it wouldn't roll back out when the muzzle was tipped downward. It also helped the ball to not bounce around inside of the barrel as it was fired (see windage). A typical flintlock cartridge consisted of a paper tube, tied off in three places to form two compartments. The first compartment contained the projectile or projectiles, either a single round ball or a large round ball plus three buckshot in the case of a buck and ball load. The second compartment contained the charge of powder. To load the musket, the following steps were used:[7][9]
Hold the musket level, place at half cock, and open the flash pan
Bite open a cartridge, pour a small quantity of powder into the pan, and close it
Hold the musket vertically, and pour the remaining powder down the barrel
Ram the ball and remaining paper down the barrel with the ramrod
The paper, typically a thick, sturdy variety, keeps the undersized bullet centered in the bore. As each shot leaves progressively more fouling in the barrel from the black powder, this makes each shot harder and harder to load. This can be helped by using a lubricant, which serves not only to help the ball slide down the barrel, but also serves to soften the fouling in the bore, so that it is pushed clear during loading.[1][7]
For percussion rifles
Diagram of an 1853 Enfield rifled musket cartridge, showing the three layers of paper and how they combine to form the cartridge
With the advent of the rifle-musket and the widespread adoption of rifled barrels by military forces, the spherical projectile eventually died out – though the new elongated bullets were still called balls in the military. Full metal jacket bullets are called ball ammunition to this day. While both conical bullets and balls were used with rifles, both in cartridge and loose form for several hundred years, the mid 19th century Minié ball contained a number of important innovations that allowed rifled weapons to be adopted by the main infantry units, rather than being the preserve of elite skirmisher and rifle units as had been the case before.
Minie balls were manufactured in a smaller diameter than the bore of the weapon it was to be used in, just like a normal musket ball; this allowed for easy loading, even when the gun was fouled, while a rifle ball had to be forced down the tight-fitting barrel by force, even using a mallet. When fired, the pressure of the gases would force the skirt of the bullet to expand, fitting tightly into the rifling grooves, unlike the loose-fitting and inaccurate musket ball. This was achieved by including a deep cavity in the rear, into which fitted (initially) an iron hemispherical cup, later a conical clay or timber plug, which caused the base of the projectile to expand upon firing, sealing the skirt to the bore, allowing an undersized projectile to be used for ease of loading without a patch. (Eventually it was found that the pressure of the powder gases expanded the base to fit the bore, without any plug or filler.) Another was a number of grooves around the projectile, the leading edges of which are intended to scrape out the fouling but were found better used making the projectile more accurate when filled with a lubricant (traditionally made of beeswax and rendered animal fat.) As noted before, this lubricant also serves to keep the black powder fouling soft, thus making the fouled barrel much easier to reload.[1]
As the speed of the projectile increased with better and more consistent black powders, loading and firing techniques, it was found that a lead projectile, in close fit, would leave lead streaking behind adding to the fouling of the bore. Lubrication aided somewhat, but that too had its problems picking up grit and other hard detritus which damaged the bore of the firearm. The solution was to encase the bearing surface of the projectile in paper, with a lubricated wad or waxed cotton disc placed behind the projectile. With a grooved projectile, lubrication is available directly, often negating the need for further lubricated wads behind the projectile.
With a rifled barrel, the projectile needs to engage the rifling for it to impart the spin which improves accuracy dramatically. The Minié ball allowed easy loading of a slightly undersized skirted projectile that would expand to seal; or a loose-fitting round ball would use the paper of the cartridge as wad and sealant. Accuracy went from 50 to 100 yards for the smoothbore out to some 400 to 600 yards with repeatable accuracy for rifled barrels. At the longest of ranges a rifled barrel could accomplish 2000 to 2500 yards. While lacking pinpoint accuracy, effective harassing fire at an enemy some distance away became possible with units of disciplined riflemen firing in alternating volleys aimed at a common target.
A solid lead projectile used in a rifled barrel requires the paper around the bullet to be much thinner than in a smoothbore, to fill in the space between bullet and bore achieving a gas-tight fit. To meet this requirement, while still ensuring a rugged cartridge, the cartridges were made in multiple parts. The following describes the construction of a cartridge for a British Enfield musket, from the inside out:
A short tube of stiff paper, which provides the strength for the cartridge
A longer tube of thin paper, pushed inwards at one end, which serves to separate the powder from the bullet
A long tube of thin paper, which holds the bullet at one end, and the stiffened powder container at the other
The bullet end of the cartridge was crimped shut, and the powder end was filled and folded closed. The bullet end of the completed cartridge was then dipped in a mixture of melted beeswax and tallow to lubricate the bullet.[1]
To load the rifle, the powder end was opened up by unfolding or tearing, and the powder was poured down the barrel. The bullet end was then inserted up to the level of the thick paper tube, which was then torn off and discarded. The bullet was then seated with the ramrod, and the nipple primed with a percussion cap.
Nitrated cartridges for percussion revolvers
.44 and .36 paper cartridges for Colt percussion revolvers
Typical paper cartridges for revolvers differ from the robust percussion rifle cartridges, in that the cartridge is inserted into the chamber whole, and rammed into place. Revolver cartridges were often combustible, and the bullet was typically exposed. The paper cartridge was glued, typically with sodium silicate, a high temperature glue that was widely available, as it was also used to preserve fresh eggs. Many examples were tapered into a cone, being wider at the bullet than at the rear. Some commercially produced cartridges, such as those by Hayes of England, were also equipped with a small cloth tear tab at the front to assist in the removal of the protective outer layer prior to loading the cartridge.[3][8]
The revolver paper cartridge lasted longer than it otherwise would have and encompassed a wider range of forms, due to Rollin White's patent covering bored through cylinders on a revolver (adopted for a paper cartridge application). That patent was exclusively licensed to Smith & Wesson, giving them an effective monopoly on the American manufacture of effective cartridge revolvers until the patent expired. Prevented from converting to rimfire or centerfire cartridges, other manufacturers had to remain with percussion systems or develop proprietary front-loading cartridges.[3][10]
For breechloaders
An 1872 diagram of a Prussian needle gun cartridge
The concept of a fully self-contained paper cartridge for a breech loader was patented in 1808, only a year after the invention of the percussion cap. One of the earliest breechloading firearms that was widely adopted was the Dreyse needle gun, patented in 1839, which was used by the Prussian army. The needle gun used a unitary cartridge, containing bullet, powder, and primer in a paper wrapper. The primer was located at the base of the bullet, and the firing pin, or needle, penetrated the back of the case, went through the powder, and struck the primer to ignite it.[2][4][11]
The acorn-shaped bullet used by the Prussians was carried in a Papier-mâché sabot which served not only to seal the bore, but also contain the primer.[12][13]
The fragility of the breechloading needle gun was a primary reason that only a few militaries adopted the system; in the well trained Prussian army, this was handled by having each soldier carry several spare needles. This allowed the individual soldiers to repair their guns in the field.[2][12]
Paper shotshells
Paper shotshells, consisting of a paper body with a brass base and rim, have continued to be made and used many years after their general replacement with plastic shotshells. The only areas where these are still used in fairly large numbers, though, are in extremely cold areas where plastic shells often split when fired at −40-degree C temperatures (−40F), and when handloading very low pressure rounds for extremely old shotguns. Paper shotshells consist of a coiled paper tube placed in a brass base, with the web of the case made of compressed paper pulp. These cartridges are sturdy enough to be reloaded many times.[4][14]
Related Research Articles
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles have been used in warfare, law enforcement, hunting and target shooting sports.
A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constructions, including specialized functions such as hunting, target shooting, training, and combat. Bullets are often tapered, making them more aerodynamic. Bullet size is expressed by weight and diameter in both imperial and metric measurement systems. Bullets do not normally contain explosives but strike or damage the intended target by transferring kinetic energy upon impact and penetration.
The percussion cap, percussion primer, or caplock, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. Its invention gave rise to the caplock mechanism or percussion lock system which used percussion caps struck by the hammer to set off the gunpowder charge in rifles and cap and ball firearms. Any firearm using a caplock mechanism is a percussion gun. Any long gun with a cap-lock mechanism and rifled barrel is a percussion rifle. Cap and ball describes cap-lock firearms discharging a single bore-diameter spherical bullet with each shot.
A cartridge, also known as a round, is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile, a propellant substance and an ignition device (primer) within a metallic, paper, or plastic case that is precisely made to fit within the barrel chamber of a breechloading gun, for convenient transportation and handling during shooting. Although in popular usage the term "bullet" is often used to refer to a complete cartridge, the correct usage only refers to the projectile.
A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun. This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading firearms, in which user loads the ammunition into the breech end of the barrel. The term "muzzleloader" applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may also refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber.
Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term for creating such grooves.
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known as the true flintlock, that was introduced in the early 17th century, and gradually replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the matchlock, the wheellock, and the earlier flintlock mechanisms such as the snaplock and snaphaunce.
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the (muzzle) end of the barrel.
The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the French Minié rifle, for muzzle-loading rifled muskets. It was invented in 1846 and came to prominence during the Crimean War and the American Civil War, where it was found to inflict significantly more serious wounds than earlier round musket balls. Both the American Springfield Model 1861 and the British Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled muskets, the most common weapons used during the American Civil War, used the Minié ball.
Obturation is the necessary barrel blockage or fit in a firearm or airgun created by a deformed soft projectile. A bullet or pellet made of soft material and often with a concave base will flare under the heat and pressure of firing, filling the bore and engaging the barrel's rifling. The mechanism by which an undersized soft-metal projectile enlarges to fill the barrel is, for hollow-base bullets, expansion from gas pressure within the base cavity and, for solid-base bullets, "upsetting"—the combined shortening and thickening that occurs when a malleable metal object is struck forcibly at one end.
The Dreyse needle-gun was a 19th-century military breech-loading rifle, as well as the first breech-loading rifle to use a bolt action to open and close the chamber. It was used as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians in the Wars of German Unification. It was invented in 1836 by the German gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (1787–1867), who had been conducting numerous design experiments since 1824.
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The term later included rifles that directly replaced, and were of the same design overall as, a particular model of smoothbore musket.
Buck and ball was a common load for muzzle-loading muskets, and was frequently used in the American Revolutionary War and into the early days of the American Civil War. The load usually consisted of a .50 to .75 caliber round lead musket ball that was combined with three to six buckshot pellets.
The M1819 Hall rifle was a single-shot breech-loading rifle designed by John Hancock Hall, patented on May 21, 1811, and adopted by the U.S. Army in 1819. It was preceded by the Harpers Ferry M1803. It used a pivoting chamber breech design and was made with either flintlock or percussion cap ignition systems. The years of production were from the 1820s to the 1840s at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal. This was the first breech-loading rifle to be adopted in large numbers by any nation's army, but not the first breech-loading military rifle – the Ferguson rifle was used briefly by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War. The Hall rifle remained overshadowed by common muskets and muzzleloading rifles which were still prevalent until the Civil War. The early flintlocks were mostly converted to percussion ignition.
The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle.
The Minié rifle was an important infantry rifle of the mid-19th century. A version was adopted in 1849 following the invention of the Minié ball in 1847 by the French Army captain Claude-Étienne Minié of the Chasseurs d'Orléans and Henri-Gustave Delvigne. The bullet was designed to allow rapid muzzle loading of rifles and was an innovation that brought about the widespread use of the rifle as the main battlefield weapon for individual soldiers. The French adopted it following difficulties encountered by the French army in North Africa, where their muskets were overtaken in range by long-barreled weapons which were handcrafted by their Algerian opponents. The Minié rifle belonged to the category of rifled muskets.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
Four bore or 4 bore is a black powder caliber of the 19th century, used for the hunting of large and potentially dangerous game animals. The specifications place this caliber between the larger 2 bore and the smaller 6 bore rifles. This caliber was the quintessential elephant gun caliber of the black powder safari rifles. The caliber was also used for the Coffman cartridges used for starting large aero engines such as the Rolls-Royce Griffon as used in the later Marks of Supermarine Spitfire.
The carabine à tige was a type of black-powder, muzzle-loading rifle invented by Louis-Etienne de Thouvenin. The method was an improvement of the invention of another Frenchman, Henri-Gustave Delvigne. Delvigne had developed chambered carbines and rampart rifle-muskets so that when forced against the chamber rim by ramming, the bullet would become deformed and flatten, so as to expand in diameter against the inside of the bore, allowing the bullet to press against the rifling grooves. When fired, the bullet accompanied the rifling and spun. This was an early attempt to work around one of the greatest hindrances to the use of military rifles; in order for a rifle to impart the proper spin to a projectile, the projectile must fit snugly inside the barrel to engage the rifling grooves. The problem, however, was that the black powder used at that time would quickly produce a thick layer residue of fouling. After only three or four shots, a typical rifle would be impossible to reload without using a mallet to force the bullet down the fouled barrel. Delvigne's design addressed this problem by introducing a projectile that was smaller than the bore of the barrel which after loading could then be struck with a ramrod. With three strokes of the ramrod, the bullet would become deformed and flatten, so as to expand in diameter against the inside of the bore, allowing the bullet to press against the rifling grooves. When fired, the bullet would accompany the rifling and spin. This improvement preserved accuracy while reducing the time required for reloading which would otherwise have been necessitated by the heavy fouling.
A cannelure is a groove or channel around ammunition, either bullets or cartridge cases. The cannelure may be pressed into or cast with the bullet or case.
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