Sunday, November 20, 2016

That One Rifle Cartridge

We were sitting around the club yesterday, discussing Old West stuff.  The visual idea of the single rifle cartridge in a revolver belt came into discussion.  We've all seen it.


I had read somewhere, years ago, that the single rifle carrtidge in a revolver belt was a counting device.  When the pistolero felt behind him for extra ammo, he knew that he had a particular number of cartridges left in the belt.  Probably six, or one full reload.

One of the fellows, Sinister Sal, said that he'd like a rifle cartridge to put in his belt, so I volunteered to make some.  


Those are dummy rounds, but just exactly what I used to shoot in my Sharps rifle.  .45-70, with the big Lee 459-500-3R bullet.  With a case full of Ffg, a grease wad, and a calm day, that load would group just under an inch at 100 yards when I did my part.  These, of course, are dummy's with no primer nor propellant.  They should do just fine as cowboy props.

2 comments:

Eaton Rapids Joe said...

Those are pretty.

Good thing you crimped them heavy....those wax bullet kick like bejazzus.

Anonymous said...

In some of the old western movies I have noticed one round upside down in the belt. I finally figured it out to be a counting. I have since adopted the same.