Grease cartridges, to make.
“A represents a piece of common cartridge paper; B a roller of boxwood, or any hard wood, turned to the size to admit the paper A being rolled once round it, and then fitting into the chamber C; C a chamber turned out of a solid piece of wood, the chamber to be the exact size of bore of gun the cartridges are intended for. To make the cartridges, cut a piece of paper in the shape of the drawing A, cutting the top to the width requisite, to allow the paper at top to overlap nearly a quarter of an inch; then gum the edge of the paper to about the eighth of an inch, as marked by the dotted line on the drawing A. Place the roller B on to the paper at D, and roll up firmly; wind round it a little thread, to keep the paper from slipping. In a few minutes it will be dry. You can then push the roller out of the case, and proceed in the same way till you have enough cases.
Secondly, take the roller and return it to the case, excepting that you leave the roller exposed at the top, say for 16-gauge about ⅜in.; place the case and roller in the chamber, bottom upwards, then take some fine strong twine and place round as in drawing No. 1. When drawn tight, tie firmly, and it will appear as in No. 2: then reverse the roller and case, bringing the tied end down to bottom of chamber, press down hard to flatten the bottom of case, draw out the roller, pour into the case some melted tallow of about the consistency of cream, and then put in your charge of shot, having sufficient quantity of tallow to just cover the shot. Put by until cool; when set firm, place on the top of the tallow a leather wad (the size for 16-gauge cartridge will be 18-gauge). Any leather not too thick will do, and you can cut the wads out with a punch. Turn down the case neatly over the leather wad, and make fast with sealing-wax. When loading place the tied end of cartridge next to the powder. These directions are for both muzzle and breech-loaders, the only difference being in the roller, which for muzzle-loaders must be made 1⁄16in. smaller at the bottom end, as marked by the dots in drawing B. After a little practice the cartridges do not take long to make.”
Makeshift cartridges.
Wherever the means of transport will permit, take plenty of Ely’s wire cartridges, but when they cannot be obtained, a makeshift form, well adapted for general use, may be made as follows:—Prepare a stick, about 18in. long, by rounding it carefully and making it fit the bore of your gun loosely. Round this take two or three turns of oiled silk, such as chemists sell. Then draw off the end of the stick tube enough to hold the charge of shot and admit of two ties being made round it. Now, with a piece of fine twine, put on the first tie close to the stick; then put in your charge of shot, and when it is shaken into place, put the other tie on the outer end, just as sausage skins are secured. The cartridge is now complete, and can be cut off next the stick, when you proceed as before until all the tube has been used. We manufactured a great number of these in Tartary, and found them hard-hitting and durable. We usually carried a waistcoat pocket full of them, and rammed one down on each charge of powder without any wad between the cartridge and powder, but always placed one over the cartridge, in order to prevent it from rising in the barrel. Cartridges of this description kill considerably farther than a loose charge, and are exceedingly handy when shooting from the horse’s back. We, with 1oz. of No. 4, killed in this way, near Phoros Pass, an eagle, which we gave Captain Blackiston, R.A., who, we believe, deposited it in the Royal Artillery Institution at Woolwich. The fingers of old kid gloves should always be kept, as they serve as excellent covers both for shot and ball. Shot will require one tie to keep it in; balls will remain in without fastening. A little grease or oil should be smeared over them when first made.
Hints on firearms.
On many occasions we have been obliged to fire shot from a rifle, for the purpose of obtaining birds, when the smooth-bores were not at hand. Either the oiled silk or glove-finger cartridge is very far superior to a loose charge. In loading ordinary guns with loose shot, it sometimes happens that a few grains get dropped into the loaded barrel between the ramrod head and the barrel. When this happens, invert the gun, pass the rod upwards, and the shot will fall out, when the rod can be withdrawn. The ramrod will also at times get firmly fixed in a foul barrel, and defy every ordinary effort to get it out. A little water, spirit, or any other fluid poured down the barrel almost instantly releases it. Should a gun or rifle miss fire, or be exposed for any time to damp, cut a small peg of dry, soft wood, hammer it well down into the nipple, cut it off flush, put on a new cap, and pull the trigger, when the weapon is almost certain to go off. We first saw this plan in use among the Sardinian Bersigliari, and have since found it answer perfectly.