The next step in our reproduction cartouche (cartridge) making is the necessary implements to shape them! The instructions that we are following, which were issued in 1777 to the officers in charge of ammunition manufacturing, state that you need:
– a “wooden mandrel, 7 inches long and 6 lines 9 points in diameter; these must be perfectly cylindrical and made of hard, dry wood. One end must be rounded, and the other hollowed out to receive one-third of the bullet.” Historical Military Accoutrement Reproductions has very kindly provided us these lovely mandrels in Elm.
– “a small hole made in the thickness of the table on which the paper is being worked”. HMAR has also provided us this “hole”, or “dent” in other versions.
– a “copper measure, in the shape of a truncated cone, open at the top; when full, it must contain one-fortieth of 489 grams of powder.” Ours unfortunately is not this exact size/shape, although this is something we are working on aquiring.
And lastly…the cartridge paper itself! The instructions explain how to chop down a larger piece of paper (13 inches x 16 inches) to the appropriate size; we are confined to A4, but can still produce a template of the exact dimensions needed. Our paper is a type of newsprint, in a rough approximation of what cartridge paper historically was, and according to the instructions’ emphasis on a paper which is “substantial but not too thick”.
Le Régiment Gatinois 