Took Betsy out to test drive some of these cartridges today, and they perform pretty well. There is a slight pause between cap ignition and cartridge ignition, maybe a couple of milliseconds. 5 of the 6 chambers went popPOW instead of just POW, but it was so slight a gap that it didn't have time to pull off target before sending the ball downrange. Recoil is more of a shove than a jolt.
Downrange power was acceptable. I found one hole a ball plowed into the dirt that was 12 1/2 inches long. going through 12 inches of dirt ain't too bad - it would almost punch through a sandbag.
There is a little too much paper left in the chambers by the coffee filters, but not enough to prevent reloading and firing again. I might start using cigarette papers instead, if I can manage to nitrate them.
I got 2 of the 3 bullet molds I'm after - the two expensive ones, because they are proprietary. One is a Colt Cartridge Works conical bullet. an original Yankee bullet supplied to the Union forces, and the other is a Richmond Laboratories Type III conical bullet supplied to the Confederacy. In particular those bullets were issued to the Army of Northern Virginia, where two of my 4 Cavalry great grand dads rode. They were also the ammunition issued to Mosby's men. The Colt bullet has the advantage of having a lube groove molded into it, where the Richmond bullet doesn't, and has to be dip-lubed to prevent barrel leading, or else have lube gobbed into the chamber mouth like I do with the round balls.
The last mold I have to get is for plain round balls, 0.375 diameter. Everywhere I've looked so far is out of stock, so it's just another waiting game for a while. In the meantime, I have the conicals to make cartridges with, and making cartridges with them is a bit easier, because they have a short shank called a "heel" at the bottom to attach the paper powder envelopes to. I'll eventually get the round ball mold, because I can mold them for about 5 cents each, whereas I have to pay about 12 cents each for store-bought balls.
I've not molded any of the conicals yet, because I'm not gonna melt lead inside the house, and it's been too cold outside to wrestle with it.
Videos for the Richmond Labs bullet:
Note in the following video how the gent is complaining that the bullet is "shooting high". It's not. It's shooting where the gun was designed to put it. As my brother mentioned in a recent conversation we had, "who in the hell uses sights on a handgun, anyhow?" Sights are not how we were taught to shoot handguns, as I mentioned in another post somewhere here. We were taught to shoot a pistol like you were pointing your finger - make that pistol an extension of your being. This fella's problem is he was using the sights. He may not have been informed of this, but these pistols were sighted in for a 75 yard zero. It goes without saying the bullet will strike "high" at the 15 yards he was shooting at, because it is rising in it's ballistic arc. These pistols have barrels that are only 2 1/2 inches shorter than an XM177E2 "Colt Commando" rifle. They were made for range.
Here is Blackie Thomas doing some penetration testing. He's using a 24 grain charge, which is pretty heavy for these guns. I use 17 grains of FFFg Triple Seven powder, because it runs a little hotter than other powders. Instead of #11 caps, I use CCI #10 caps. Moving to a #11 might get rid of that lag between cap busting and charge firing, but honestly it's not a big enough lag to worry over.
.
Downrange power was acceptable. I found one hole a ball plowed into the dirt that was 12 1/2 inches long. going through 12 inches of dirt ain't too bad - it would almost punch through a sandbag.
There is a little too much paper left in the chambers by the coffee filters, but not enough to prevent reloading and firing again. I might start using cigarette papers instead, if I can manage to nitrate them.
I got 2 of the 3 bullet molds I'm after - the two expensive ones, because they are proprietary. One is a Colt Cartridge Works conical bullet. an original Yankee bullet supplied to the Union forces, and the other is a Richmond Laboratories Type III conical bullet supplied to the Confederacy. In particular those bullets were issued to the Army of Northern Virginia, where two of my 4 Cavalry great grand dads rode. They were also the ammunition issued to Mosby's men. The Colt bullet has the advantage of having a lube groove molded into it, where the Richmond bullet doesn't, and has to be dip-lubed to prevent barrel leading, or else have lube gobbed into the chamber mouth like I do with the round balls.
The last mold I have to get is for plain round balls, 0.375 diameter. Everywhere I've looked so far is out of stock, so it's just another waiting game for a while. In the meantime, I have the conicals to make cartridges with, and making cartridges with them is a bit easier, because they have a short shank called a "heel" at the bottom to attach the paper powder envelopes to. I'll eventually get the round ball mold, because I can mold them for about 5 cents each, whereas I have to pay about 12 cents each for store-bought balls.
I've not molded any of the conicals yet, because I'm not gonna melt lead inside the house, and it's been too cold outside to wrestle with it.
Videos for the Richmond Labs bullet:
Note in the following video how the gent is complaining that the bullet is "shooting high". It's not. It's shooting where the gun was designed to put it. As my brother mentioned in a recent conversation we had, "who in the hell uses sights on a handgun, anyhow?" Sights are not how we were taught to shoot handguns, as I mentioned in another post somewhere here. We were taught to shoot a pistol like you were pointing your finger - make that pistol an extension of your being. This fella's problem is he was using the sights. He may not have been informed of this, but these pistols were sighted in for a 75 yard zero. It goes without saying the bullet will strike "high" at the 15 yards he was shooting at, because it is rising in it's ballistic arc. These pistols have barrels that are only 2 1/2 inches shorter than an XM177E2 "Colt Commando" rifle. They were made for range.
Here is Blackie Thomas doing some penetration testing. He's using a 24 grain charge, which is pretty heavy for these guns. I use 17 grains of FFFg Triple Seven powder, because it runs a little hotter than other powders. Instead of #11 caps, I use CCI #10 caps. Moving to a #11 might get rid of that lag between cap busting and charge firing, but honestly it's not a big enough lag to worry over.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’