Fellow Sharpshooters
During the waning months of Covid 19, I was walking through the near empty BAM bookstore when my eyes were drawn to the Fall 2020 edition (Issue 111) of Black Powder Cartridge News. Gracing the cover was a Berdan contract Sharps, a faded forage cap with ‘D’ ‘2’ and eagle devices affixed to the crown, and a broadside advertising Captain G.S. Tuckerman’s (NY) company. Of course, I had to buy it. Sharps researcher, William Mapoles contributed an article entitled:
Accuracy Test IV: Linen cartridges with a Sharps Rifle. I was intrigued what he would discover shooting ‘my/our’ favorite Sharps.
Mapoles introduced his article: “
In a lifetime of reading gun books and magazines, I have never seen a test of linen cartridges, nor have I ever seen an accuracy test of an original New Model 1859 Sharps rifle. The question I will answer is, “How accurate were they?” Precision accuracy tests as we know them today, were simply not done by the government back then. We also know that linen cartridges were widely used in the Civil War, and that this type of rifle was used by Berdan’s Sharpshooters, among others. Suffice it to say that Berdan’s men killed more Confederates than any other regiment in the Union Army, mostly using linen cartridges, so let’s see how well their rifles actually performed.”
Mapoles selected ‘
Irish handkerchief linen’ .011 inches thick, that was sized with cornstarch, then cut into 1 3/8 by 2 7/8 inch in lengths. The linen was wrapped around a wood mandrel and closed with diluted liquid Elmer’s glue. The thickness of the finished tube measured .012 inches (original cartridges were .006 inches). Mapoles dispelled the myth that Sharps cartridges (paper and linen) were ever nitrated; “
neither by Sharps or their competitors or U.S. Arsenals”. The base was “100% cotton rag paper, .002 inches thick, glued to the base using diluted Elmer’s glue”. In 1865, the U.S. Ordnance Department ordered the powder charge increased to 65 grains, (to improve the point of impact for the shorter carbines) so he used 65 grains of Goex 2 Fg black powder. The charge yielded a 10 shot average velocity of 1,047 feet per second. The bullet was a “c
lose copy of the original CW flat base Sharps bullets in our collection”, weighing The 420 grains (originals were 458 grains); measuring .526 top band, 536 middle band and .547 bottom; it’s overall length was .890 inches. For ignition, Mapoles used old ‘hot’ CCI percussion caps. Shooting in the hot Southwest, Mapoles had already discovered Sharps used a higher beeswax to tallow (8:1) to avoid the lubricant melting and ruining the powder charge.
The Sharps rifle used was an original New Model 1859; “t
he bore was 9.5 on a scale of 10…the barrel is 30 inches long..has six groove rifling with a land and groove of nearly equal width. The land-to-land diameter is .52 inches, and grove to grove equals .538, giving a rifling depth of .0085 inches.” All trials were fired from a bench with front and rear bags at 100 yards. Groups were measured from center to center of the two widest shots. Five-5 shot groups were fired, then the bore wiped with one wet and dry patch after every 25 rounds. The accuracy test results showed the Sharps’ smallest five shot group measured 3 ¼ inches, while the largest was 5 inches; with an overall average of “less than 6 inches”. ***
In his conclusion, William Mapoles wrote: “
I have always been a student of Berdan’s Sharpshooters, and I have read everything ever published about them. They “laid low” many chivalrous sons of the “Old South” with their diabolical New Model Sharps 1859 Sharps rifles and their improved linen cartridges-perhaps some of my own ancestors. I had always thought that this combination of rifle and ammunition would shoot fantastic, but imagine my dismay when I discovered that the accuracy was only average. Also the groups would have been even larger had I used unweighted bullets and powder charges, like the original cartridges (other than those made by SRMCO and Washington Arsenal-WES)”.
Back issues (Fall 2020) are available through Wolfe Publishing Company:
https://www.blackpowdercartridge.com/For those Sharpshooters interested in reading William Mapoles accuracy test with the venerable Model 1851 Sharps, the article is available online:
https://www.blackpowdercartridge.com/accuracy-test-part-ii*** Peter Schiffer’s accuracy test (
Civil War Carbines-Myth versus Reality) with a Sharps carbine (shooting paper cartridges) noted it was very accurate at 50 and 200 yards, but performed poorly at 100 yards. Unfortunately, Mapoles accuracy test was confined to the range Schiffer's found the Sharps performance subpar.
Bill Skillman
Michigan Companies
Berdan Sharpshooters Survivor Association
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