Cap and ball revolver loading station

[ovenpaa]

I am going to have a bash at making myself a loading station for the R&S we have here. I have some lengths of Ash plank which would do the job so I was thinking along the lines of this image.

It should be self explanatory however for the sake of clarity, the revolver is supported by the upright with the grip towards the front, the small pocket in the front is to keep the balls handy and stop them rolling off the bench and at the rear are 5 rows of 5 bored holes to hold the phials of powder. Overall dimensions are reasonably compact at 270,0mm long by 120,0mm wide by around 120,0mm high or 10.5" by 5" by 5" ish so it should fit in my range bag with ease.

Any suggestions for improvements or modifications before I blow the spiders out of my wood plane?

[saddler]

Load complete paper cartridge cases; containing the powder & ball.
Less mess on the range & no empty plastic cases, etc.

[ovenpaa]

I am considering it, however I would like to try conical bullets (If I can find some) if I went down that route.

[River]

Load complete paper cartridge cases; containing the powder & ball.
Less mess on the range & no empty plastic cases, etc.

I read somthing about this recently and they were saying if the paper was not right it would cause problems and missfires, what type of paper would you recommend, and how yould you seal the ends - just bought myself a Black Powder revolver, which I have not had chance to shoot yet, so very interested in this.

[ovenpaa]

I have read a couple of articles where cigarette papers are used and this chap uses tissue for the base:



He also makes some reproduction combustible envelope cartridge boxes which look good at 5 Euros each, postage is 12 Euros for up to 30 kgs so if you fancy going halves on a few?......

[saddler]

Just cigarette papers....

Rest the ball on the wnd of a correctly sized dowel.
Wrap the paper on the dowel so it passes the ball.
Twist the end closed.
Remove the dowel. ...add the powder. ...twist the powder end closed.
To use: snap twist the powder end, pour the powder into the cylinder...then ram in the paper & ball complete.
Never had any misfire doing it this way & no need to treat the paper.

Same concept for rifle cartridges.

The original paper cartridge was carried loose in a special ammunition pouch, ready to load...with a couple of paper packs kept to hand for topping up the pouch.

[qws]

The only suggestion I would make is to have the upright part hinged, so it folds for easier carriage between home and range and will take less space in the range bag.

[ovenpaa]

Hinged does means it can potentially wobble around however I could put dowels on the underside of the upright so it pushes into place in the base rebate.