my first...1853 enfield  i was reading about  civil war guns did a search and saw pederasoli has a new one..so i bought one from Cabelas
ripped open the box when i got it wow they did a nice job on it..cartouches on the stock and all..but it dident look compleat sooo i bought a
bayonet, nipple protector and  leather sling from Blockade runner..now it looks better.. next i want to give the pritchet balls a try.  i found a
company in montanna that makes the mold for it but that's about it.. any of you guys herd of or have expirence with the pritchet balls.
i found this great vid on the pritchet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDiyhotvJg&feature=youtu.be

Not sure I like the smooth sides on his design?  Minies need lube grooves, IMO!!!

yha the pritchet was a an early design that came from the britts and the north and south got a lot of this amo early in the civil war
before the mine ball came along.. I though it would be an interesting subject to give a try

The Pritchett is plenty good IF it's loaded as a paper patch, which the English cartridge design did. If you mean Brooks moulds, they make a great mould. That's who made my Pritchett mould. I've been very happy with it. But, unless you're just stuck on the Pritchett from the standpoint of period correct, there are plenty of less maddening possibilities, that, while less authentic, will allow you to more readily keep from ripping your hair out.

See, first it starts with a Pritchett bullet, which should be paper patched, because it's smooth sided, and it's undersized. By how much, though? .550? .562? Somewhere in between? Ah, but the bore can be measured, no problem. So you decide on a diameter, commission the mould, cast some when it arrives, and paper patch a few with decent results using typing paper or your wife's good stationary. So far so good.  But then you decide to look into how Britain made their cartridges, thinking "They knew what they were doing, and it would be convenient, accurate and relatively easy to do myself!" after seeing a pixelated diagram of one on the internet, usually AFTER paying too much attention to some reenactor who pulls out a bit of paper with some powder contained in it who says "it's just like the real thing, except there'd be a bullet here", and you didn't know that not only is he wrong, but he's given a bad description of the US cartridge, which is completely different! So after spending 80 years or so trying to locate a decent set of patterns for British Enfield cartridges (and learning there were several types) with actual, USEFUL dimensions, and then bribing your machinist friends, you'll set out to finally make your first correct cartridge for your Pritchett bullet. THEN you have to find just the right paper! Because one of the 3 or 4 (depending on which variant you choose to make) pieces of paper is of critical properties. Which, of course, is never the cheap paper, no no. No, THAT paper is only sold at art stores staffed by granola eating sandal wearing pompous douchebags with lots of piercings and ear lobes you could store a beer can in. And then you still have to figure out what the crack smoking chief of British ordnance had in mind when he came up with the cartridge design, and how all the pieces fit together!! HAHA! That's fun! Because there are 3 different primary designs, see, and they damned sure aren't intuitive. And just because the inner wrapper was oriented THIS way in the 1855 type doesn't mean it wasn't completely backwards in 1859! HAHAHA! Fun! Yes! But wait! There's more! Don't forget there are shallow or deep base skirts, AND the deep base style had a boxwood or clay plug to aid expansion! Are you awesome with a lathe and have a source of boxwood dowel and lots of time on your hands? Or can you calculate the shrinkage for wet versus dry clay to do them that way? Or do you want to go modern and use Bondo and drill some cone-shaped holes in some 1/4" aluminum stock? Or do you just wanna say "Fuck it" on the plug, figuring the thing will expand plenty well without a plug at all?

OH! And don't forget lube! There were different types of lube used....


You know those guys you see down town who wear heavy coats in summer, talk to themselves, and yell at passers by about conspiracies involving space pancakes, and collect bits of string? Somewhere in their life, they decided to buy a Pritchett mould. I guarantee it.

Now, if you can retain your sanity, the Pritchett does have a lot to recommend it, and mine shoot better than any other minie I've tried out of my Enfields. To the point that I'm debating getting into bullet swaging to really make a proper go of it. I may yet do that some day, but who knows. Another point to consider is, despite the authenticity of the paper patched Pritchett bullet, if you decide to go shoot with the N-SSA, they won't allow them. Plastic speed load tubes are apparently good to go by N-SSA, but correct Enfield cartridges, I'm told, are not. I've no idea why, or if that matters to you, though. And in all seriousness, cartridges or no, a Pritchett bullet must be paper patched, as that's what holds the lube. A minie, ANY style minie, must be lubed. Without it, you won't get optimal accuracy, and MAY get torn skirts, which can be dicey.


Cpt. Redleg

yes there is a lot of info on making these cartridges.. first I bought the book "handbook for hythe and wow there is some different ways to make the paper tubes. I saw the drawings on the wooden dowls they used so I went and got one at the hobby store and none of em were round so I decided to make mine out of brass tube. I turned the ends on my lathe and soldered them on. it turned out good. although I haven't had time to try it out

Awesome post...

The Enfield rifle was found by both the ANV and the AoT to be the most accurate of the muzzle loader minie guns.  Most guns shot the same out to 500 yards.  Firing the Pritchett, the Enfield could go 900 yards.