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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:26 pm 
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Location: Old Northwest (Michigan)
Calum and Jeremiah,

Thank you gentlemen for your feedback on the flat base (aka 1860 Ordnance) blank cartridges. I hope other fellows who read the forum take the time to make up a dozen or so cartridges and try them out.

Calum, I finished my next photo project "Making Sharps Cartridges 101-Live Rounds" just before leaving for vacation. The photos are finished, now I need to organize them and add text. I realize that the guy who participate in the NSSA breechloading competitions may make their live cartridges differently than the ones I do. They are shooting for speed, my cartridges are designed to look and function like the originals. However, mine depart slightly from the originals since they are made from paper, not linen.

In the next two weeks I am hosting a "Honor Guard Drill and Shoot in" for my Son of Union Veterans Camp here in Traverse City. The Honor Guard is tasked with performing Civil War drill, marching and arms handling (including loading and firing in 'Nine Times') for public ceremonies. As an extra incentive to get other Camp members to come out, I'm loading up .58 caliber live cartridges for the Springfields, a goodly supply of .54 live cartridges for my CSA "Honey Badger' Pattern 1856 Enfield and Shiloh and Garrett Sharps rifles. Throw in a lunch of grilled burgers and brats after shooting, and I think I'll be able to attact a platoon of interested chaps. Brian White will likely join the skirmish line with his new and impoved "Old Busted" Ped (that now sports a new set trigger system). So it is possible that four of us (a real comrades in battle formation) will be shooting Sharps "to make the string".

I hope to post a peformance report and pictures of the flat base live rounds shortly.

Bill Skillman
Hudson Squad-USSS


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:55 pm 
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Location: ROCKPORT, MAINE
Bill,

As usual, you have outdone yourself in your generosity of sharing your flat based cartridge making instructions. At a local hobby shop I found a brass tubing of 17/32 diameter which, when combined with my half inch diameter forming dowell, made for a very smooth cartridge making operation. I seem to remember that you used some tape to make your brass tube a little larger than one half inch. It was an "ah ha" moment when I found the 17/32 tubing.

The cartridges made using the 17/32 diameter tubing precisely fit into the wood blocks in my cartridge box. The holes for the blocks were drilled with a metric sized (I don't have the size registered in my rapidly aging mind) forstner bit that I purchased at an upscale hardware store on one of my voyages to Germany a few years ago.

Tests of flat based cartridges of your design are entirely satisfactory. I have found that the edge of the paper where the glue stick was used has remained after firing. This may be because the glue still retained some moisture and had not cured completely.

Thank you again Bill for sharing from that fountain of knowledge that you possess.

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Captain Dave Sulin
Rockport, Maine
"Mind your helm"


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:25 am 
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'morning,

I had a chance to try out my first run of flat base cartridges, and I agree - they work very nicely! :) I am going to have to go to a slightly smaller former for the next batch - without the actual bullet to lead the way, they were a little snug getting into the chamber. Or more likely, I didn't get the leading shoulders rolled quite properly - it's definitely a skill that takes practice!

Thanks again for posting the instruction! Without the photos, I probably wouldn't have attempted the construction.

Calum

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 1:21 pm 
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Location: Old Northwest (Michigan)
Calum and Fellow Sharpshooters;

If a cartridge 'hangs up' when I try to push it into the chamber, usually one of the crimped 'nubs' is sticking out from tube. If you look at the last photo of the 'finished cartridge' in my photo article (that hasn't had the final 'seating crimp') you can see that it isn't 'true' to the rest of the cartridge shape. Once the three seating crimps are done; I position the wood dowel vertically over the center of the crimped cartridge and firmly push down. This compresses the three crimps while creating a slight 'lip'. Most rounds have small edges from the crimps (the design and paper thickness, admittedly, doesn't allow me to make perfectly cylindrical rounds). But the majority of rounds will easily slide into the chamber.

I usually find 2-3 out of every 100 rd batch (poor quality control starts at home) wind up in my cartridge box just as we start getting pushed by a Reb skirmish line. In the past, I'd pitch the cartridge and grab another. But I found that if I grab the crimped end I can 'finger feel' the protruding 'nub' and squeeze it between my thumb and fore-finger, the cartridge can now be seated into the chamber.

Considering the positive results that you, Jeremiah and other fellows have had with your first run of cartridges, you boys are way ahead of where I was during my early trials with the flat base cartridges. Congratlations!!!

Happy Forth of July!!

Bill Skillman
Hudson Squad-USSS


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:53 am 
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Location: ROCKPORT, MAINE
Gentlemen,

Have any of you tried to replace the old style Pedersoli block assembly with the new version (with "o" ring, special tool for cone, etc.) as is now shown on their schematic of the 1859 Pedersoli Sharps? Is this a viable option or does it require the services of a gunsmith? Or does it not fit at all on models for which this system was not originally supplied with?

I suspect that my Pedersoli is fairly old as it came through with a clear urethane finished stock (once removed and stain and oil applied it looks fine) versus the oil finish that I believe they come through with today. The plate and face of my breech block came through quite well polished when compared with photos that I have seen posted on this forum, but I still have the fouling problem, though not nearly as bad as some others have been reporting. After about forty to forty-five rounds things start getting tight. A good "slathering" of Bore Butter on and around the block surfaces seems to help keep things going longer than when the block is left "dry".

I will be interested to hear if any of you gentlemen have replaced your original block with a block using Pedersoli's new system. Thanks for any information you can supply. The folks in Italy were quite vague when I posed this same question to them. Besides, they are in business to sell, so getting the scoop from someone who has actually tried the replacement approach to the fouling problem is in a better position to give me the straight scoop than any "contact person" would be.

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Captain Dave Sulin
Rockport, Maine
"Mind your helm"


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