These cartridges are straight out of the 1860 US Ordnance Manual, and saw service by the tens of millions during the American Civil War. They contain a 3-ring Burton “minie” bullet cast on a custom mold, dip-lubed in a mix of beeswax and tallow and a powder cylinder, and are ready to be filled with powder and folded. They contain NO POWDER, and you will need to fill them with a charge of your choosing. I generally use 55-60gr of 1Fg or 1.5Fg Black Powder for my “58 Caliber” rifled-muskets, but the powder cylinder in the cartridge body will hold up to about 70gr.

The Burton “Minie” used in these cartridges is designed to be a close representation of the Harpers Ferry gang-mold bullets, and the dimensions given in “US Small Arms 1856”. They are .5745″ in diameter, 1.250″ in length and weigh 500gr cast in dead-pure lead.

You can also mix in some Williams Type III “Cleaner” cartridges! NOTE: Williams cartridges will only be available with arsenal labels dated appropriately for their issue, or with plain arsenal wrappers. CS Arsenals never produced Williams bullets, and my Type III Williams bullets entered service in 1863, so the earlier labels aren’t correct to accompany them.

The plain wrapper is to accommodate the broadest US usage, as after 1862 most arsenals skipped labeling the individual packets and only labeled the 1000 round shipping crates. It ain’t pretty, but sometimes historical accuracy isn’t.