One of the latest trends in the Civil War hobby is the use
of original style paper cartridges to live fire rifles, rifled muskets, and
rifle-muskets in the “traditional” manner, and I must admit I have crossed the
river. After the recent Muskets and Memories Civil War weekend at Boscobel,
Wis., I find myself left with an empty wooden St. Louis Arsenal box that was
once full of 30 wrapped packets of 10 cartridges each, a work space littered
with snippets of paper and string, and a sore left elbow from rolling tubes. It
is all the fault of my grandson, Gabriel, and—bless him—my desire to show him a
different side of musket shooting.
The use of paper
cartridges for as been around for a time and a number of shooters have enjoyed
taking a step back in time to roll paper tubes, tie one end shut, then load a
Minie ball and powder before folding the tale. It takes a while longer produce
such cartridges then it does to type those words, however, and the practice has been limited to the few individuals
interested in trying to replicate the Civil War experience of live firing an
1861-65 style shoulder arm.
I must confess I have long been a member of the North-South
Skirmish Association, Inc., the organization which holds marksmanship
competitions for all sorts of Civil War firearms and artillery, first with the
old Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers and now the Union Guards, as well as a longtime
member of the American Civil War Shooters Association, a similar organization
based in the Midwest. The N-SSA is in
the process of developing a “traditional” match for five-member teams using
issue-style paper cartridges and firearms with original sight
configurations. The ACWSA actually put
the idea to a test in a recent demonstration at Boscobel, Wis.
Nineteen participants, a mix of about a dozen living
historians and a handful of ACWSA members, shot more than 240 paper cartridges
in two five minute relays. The first target was a 4x4 foot sheet of drywall at
100 yards and the second a mass of mounted clay pigeons on a backer at 50
yards. The first event was by volley fire and the second rapid fire. The
cartridges were issued in arsenal packs of 10 each from a replica wooden
arsenal box. The cartridges contained a Burton-style hollow-base bullet of the
type developed in the late 1850s along with an internal powder tube and 60
grains of Goex FFg black powder.
The living historians, with little live fire experience, seemed to be fascinated with the paper
cartridges and the live fire experience. They were quick to point out how much
they had learned about how potent the old rifle-muskets proved to be and how
the ramming of actual bullets slowed the loading procedure. The shooters
quickly adapted to the paper cartridges and some skirmishers with experience
said they found them just as fast as the plastic tubes used to quick loading.
The chawing of cartridges and furious loading was a sight to
see. As my comrade from the old Sixth
Wisconsin, Pvt. Johnny Dunn, likes to say, “Once you shoot paper you can never
go back.”
As for my grandson, who began his reenacting as a drummer
boy in the “Seeing the Elephant” in-the-round video for the Civil War Museum at Kenosha, Wis.,
and now plays “the devil’s tattoo” for Co. K, Second Wisconsin Volunteer
Infantry, the live fire of paper cartridges experience is a memory he will long cherish. The
same can be said for his grandfather and the others who participated or
watched.
A special thanks to the ACWSA for hosting and developing this event, and a
nod to my friend N-SSA Commander Phil Spaugy and others for encouragement and
help in making it a reality.
Now I am wondering how this traditional shooting of Civil
War style muskets is going to develop. I know one thing—it sure is a lot of
fun.
Videos of the traditional shooting can be seen at:
