Bartholow waterproof cartridges

I just learned about these a few minutes ago. Had not heard of them before, but it looks interesting. Mixing the powder with nitrocellulose glue and forming a pellet in a mold. Then glue that to the back of a bullet, wrap the junction with a bit of silk fabric, and paint the whole thing with a thin glue mixture again. Apparently it works, and you can even soak the cartridges in water and they still work. I don't want to go through so much effort for revolver ammunition but this should also work in the Sharps rifle, and probably could be used to make pellets of powder for anyone who likes those for use in a muzzleloader. I'm going to have to play with this and see what it does. He did use 4% by weight of thin glue (4:1 glue/acetone) in the actual powder charge. 3 Rivers Archery sells nitrocellulose glue.

Interesting, did you see them on Bret’s channel Paper Cartridges?

I am confused by your math. Not understanding how 4% by weight of glue relates to (4:1 glue/acetone).
4% would seem to be 1:25. Is that 4% glue, 96% powder?
Does 4:1 glue/acetone mean 4 parts glue, 1 part acetone?

Also wondering if Teflon would work for the mold as not many things will stick to it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kootne

I am confused by your math. Not understanding how 4% by weight of glue relates to (4:1 glue/acetone).
4% would seem to be 1:25. Is that 4% glue, 96% powder?
Does 4:1 glue/acetone mean 4 parts glue, 1 part acetone?

Also wondering if Teflon would work for the mold as not many things will stick to it.

---

Sorry, it was bedtime when I wrote that. It's in parts. He figured out that the original glue was 2 parts acetone and one part glue. So he made up some with double the acetone to thin it out.

Then the powder was done in weight. 20 grains of powder and .8 grains of glue.

The channel is Crossen Cartridge, here is a link to the video and he has more where it shows him shooting them.
https://youtu.be/6Z6HYNZCNUY?si=kN-idoVP98RwadFT

I was toying with this idea for Sharps rifles. Asking myself why I couldn't Duco black powder in a cylindrical mold and glue it to the base of a ringtail.

If you just want waterproofing plastic vials work great. This method looks tedious. Maybe only worth if if you're looking for historical accuracy. Pyrodex does make premade pellets for handguns and rifles, so that would save you some steps.

Now my inquiring mind wants to know if these solid pellets can be shaved with a file and the "tinder" used to prime a flinter? That would be a game changer for me.

One needn't send off for nitrocellulose glue. I make it by pouring a bit of acetone in a small glass jar and adding whatever odds-and-ends smokeless powder I may have a container of. I use it to glue up paper cartridges for C&B revolvers. Use acetone to make it thin as you need it, or add powder to thicken. Piece of cake.

Isn't duco cement a nitrocellulose glue?

It is.

And yes, dissolving smokeless powder in acetone will get you to the same place.

I haven't messed with this yet but it sounds interesting and I will once time allows. If nothing else than to see what happens. I did notice in some of his shooting videos you could see something flying down range leaving a smoke trail so I wonder how complete a burn he is getting. The chronograph numbers would be interesting to see.

I find this interesting for making black powder pellets. I think it would work very well. Has anyone tried it? I would use 2F and add as little glue made with smokeless gunpowder as possible, to make the pellets very porous and facilitate the spread of the flame.

I just got the kit for the Hazards Waterproof cartridges. Similar process but he uses Dextrin as the binder before casting the pellet. It’s glued to the bullet and then painted with the thinned nitrocellulose glue. It may be some time before I get to this project but I’m intrigued…

Ahahh!
I was reading once of the Finnish partisans loading spent 7.62x52r? Cases with a little a "amipovour" or recovered pistol powder with a drop of some "solution" to dissolve the powder on top and form a seal after a few days. They were then loaded with a round ball to harvest small game quietly.
Or a bullet for bigger 2 legged pursuits.

Maybe this is what they were doing.

I was reading this post yesterday while at an event. Now on the drive home I just passed Bartholow road.
Just south of Westminster MD.
Just an interesting coincidence I never heard of the word before and now I see a road named that.

Hhhhhhhmmm, project number 537.