Editing Cartridge (firearms) (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2014}}
[[File:US paper to centerfire rounds.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|US Cartridges 1860–1875<br />
('''1''') Colt Army 1860 .44 paper cartridge, [[American Civil War]]<br />
('''2''') Colt Thuer-Conversion .44 revolver cartridge, patented in 1868<br />
('''3''') .44 Henry rim fire cartridge flat<br />
('''4''') .44 Henry rim fire cartridge pointed<br />
('''5''') Frankford Arsenal .45 Colt cartridge, Benét ignition<br />
('''6''') Frankford Arsenal .45 Colt-Schofield cartridge, Benét ignition]]
[[File:Festungsmuseum Reuenthal Sonderausstellung Zuleger britische Patronen.JPG|thumb|right|Historic British cartridges]]
[[Paper cartridge]]s have been in use for centuries, with a number of sources dating their usage as far back as the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Historians note their use by soldiers of [[Christian I, Elector of Saxony]] and [[Christian II, Elector of Saxony|his son]] in the late 16th century,<ref name="greener" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art|last1=Nickel|first1=Helmut|last2=Pyhrr|first2=Stuart W.|last3=Tarassuk|first3=Leonid|page=174|year=2013|publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300199413}}</ref> while the [[Dresden Armoury]]<!-- Patronenstocke --> has evidence dating their use to 1591.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Rudolph J. Nunnemacher Collection of Projectile Arms |last1=Metschl|first1=John|journal=Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee|volume=9|year=1928|page=60}}</ref><ref name="greener" /> Capo Bianco wrote in 1597 that paper cartridges had long been in use by Neapolitan soldiers. Their use became widespread by the 17th century.<ref name=greener>{{Citation |title=The Gun and Its Development |chapter=Ammunition and Accessories.–Cartridges |first=William Wellington |last=Greener |year=1907 |publisher=Cassell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HMCAAAAYAAJ |pages=570, 589 |access-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322023527/http://books.google.com/books?id=3HMCAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=22 March 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1586 round consisted of a charge of [[gunpowder|powder]] and a bullet in a paper cartridge. Thick paper is still known as "[[cartridge paper]]" from its use in these cartridges.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', article on "cartridge" (subsection: "cartridge-paper").</ref> Another source states the cartridge appeared in 1590.<ref name="ArmyTM">{{Citation |last=U.S. Army |title=Military Explosives |publisher=Department of the Army |series=Technical Manual |id=TM 9-1300-214 |date=September 1984}}, p. 2-3<!--hypenated pagenumber-->, stating "1590. Cartridges with ball and power combined were introduced for small arms."</ref> King [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden]] had his troops use cartridges in the 1600s.<ref>{{Harvnb|U.S. Army|1984|pp=2–3}} indicates the period 1611–1632 and states the improved cartridge increased the rate of fire for the [[Thirty Years' War]].</ref> The paper formed a cylinder with twisted ends; the ball was at one end, and the measured powder filled the rest.<ref>{{Citation |last=Sharpe |first=Philip B. |year=1938 |title=The Rifle in America |chapter=The Development of the Cartridge |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow }}, pp. 29–30.</ref>

This cartridge was used with [[muzzle-loading]] military firearms, probably more often than for sporting shooting, the base of the cartridge being ripped or bitten off by the soldier, the powder poured into the barrel, and the paper and bullet rammed down the barrel.<ref>{{harvnb|Greener|1907|p=570}}</ref> In the US Civil War era cartridge, the paper was supposed to be discarded, but soldiers often used it as a wad.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharpe|1938|p=30}}</ref> To ignite the charge an additional step was required where a finer-grained powder called priming powder was poured into the pan of the gun to be ignited by the firing mechanism.

The evolving nature of warfare required a firearm that could load and fire more rapidly, resulting in the flintlock musket (and later the Baker rifle), in which the pan was covered by furrowed steel. This was struck by the flint and fired the gun. In the course of loading, a pinch of powder from the cartridge would be placed into the pan as priming, before the rest of the cartridge was rammed down the barrel, providing charge and wadding.<ref>{{cite book|title=Edgehill: The Battle Reinterpreted|last1=Scott|first1=Christopher L.|last2=Turton|first2=Alan|last3=Gruber von Arni|first3=Eric|pages=9–12|year=2004|isbn=978-1844152544|publisher=Pen and Sword}}</ref>

Later developments rendered this method of priming unnecessary, as, in loading, a portion of the charge of powder passed from the barrel through the vent into the pan, where it was held by the cover and hammer. {{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

The next important advance in the method of ignition was the introduction of the copper [[percussion cap]]. This was only generally applied to the British military musket (the [[Brown Bess]]) in 1842, a quarter of a century after the invention of percussion powder and after an elaborate government test at Woolwich in 1834. The invention that made the percussion cap possible was patented by the Rev. [[Alexander John Forsyth|A. J. Forsyth]] in 1807 and consisted of priming with a fulminating powder made of [[potassium chlorate]], sulfur, and charcoal, which ignited by concussion. This invention was gradually developed, and used, first in a steel cap, and then in a copper cap, by various gunmakers and private individuals before coming into general military use nearly thirty years later.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

The alteration of the military flint-lock to the percussion [[musket]] was easily accomplished by replacing the powder pan with a perforated nipple and by replacing the cock or hammer that held the flint with a smaller hammer that had a hollow to fit on the nipple when released by the trigger. The shooter placed a percussion cap (now made of three parts of [[potassium chlorate]], two of [[mercury fulminate|fulminate of mercury]] and powdered glass) on the nipple. The detonating cap thus invented and adopted brought about the invention of the modern cartridge case, and rendered possible the general adoption of the [[Breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] principle for all varieties of rifles, shotguns, and [[pistol]]s. This greatly streamlined the reloading procedure and paved the way for semi- and full-automatic firearms.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

However, this big leap forward came at a price: it introduced an extra component into each round—the cartridge case—which had to be removed before the gun could be reloaded. While a flintlock, for example, is immediately ready to reload once it has been fired, adopting brass cartridge cases brought in the problems of extraction and ejection. The mechanism of a modern gun must not only load and fire the piece but also provide a method of removing the spent case, which might require just as many added moving parts. Many [[Firearm malfunction|malfunctions]] occur during this process, either through a failure to extract a case properly from the chamber or by allowing the extracted case to jam the action. Nineteenth-century inventors were reluctant to accept this added complication and experimented with a variety of [[caseless]] or self-consuming cartridges before finally accepting that the advantages of brass cases far outweighed this one drawback.<ref>Winant, Lewis (1959). Early Percussion Firearms. Great Britain: Herbert Jenkins Ltd. pp. 145–146. {{ISBN|0-600-33015-X}}</ref>

===Integrated cartridges===
[[File:Chassepot paper cartridge.jpg|thumb|[[Chassepot]] paper cartridge (1866)]]
The first integrated cartridge was developed in Paris in 1808 by the Swiss gunsmith [[Jean Samuel Pauly]] in association with French gunsmith [[François Prélat]]. Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges:<ref name="Smyth">[https://books.google.com/books?id=dHbHS5GhCN4C&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA24 "Chemical Analysis of Firearms, Ammunition, and Gunshot Residue"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425212326/https://books.google.com/books?id=dHbHS5GhCN4C&pg=PA24&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly |date=25 April 2016 }} by James Smyth Wallace p. 24.</ref> the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated [[mercury fulminate]] primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing.<ref name="sil.si.edu">http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0011.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119200042/http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0011.pdf |date=19 November 2015 }}.</ref><ref name="Pauly">[https://books.google.com/books?id=izGOfMdSm2IC&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA94 ''Firearms''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521112943/https://books.google.com/books?id=izGOfMdSm2IC&pg=PA94&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly |date=21 May 2016 }} by Roger Pauly p. 94.</ref> The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated centerfire [[breech-loading]] gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GmQVan-M3ykC&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA121 A History of Firearms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507003545/https://books.google.com/books?id=GmQVan-M3ykC&pg=PA121&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&lr= |date=7 May 2016 }} by W. Y. Carman p. 121.</ref> Pauly made an improved version, protected by a patent, on 29 September 1812.<ref name="Smyth"/>

Probably no invention connected with firearms has wrought such changes in the principle of gun construction as those effected by the "expansive cartridge case". This invention has completely revolutionized the art of gun making, has been successfully applied to all descriptions of firearms and has produced a new and important industry: that of cartridge manufacture. Its essential feature is preventing gas from escaping the breech when the gun is fired, by means of an expansive cartridge case containing its own means of ignition. Previous to this invention shotguns and sporting rifles were loaded by means of [[powder flask]]s and shot bags or flasks, bullets, wads, and copper caps, all carried separately. One of the earliest efficient modern cartridge cases was the [[pinfire cartridge]], developed by French gunsmith [[Casimir Lefaucheux]] in 1836.<ref name="Pistols">Kinard, Jeff (2004) ''Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact'', ABC-CLIO, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVnuHX_6bG0C&dq=Houllier+cartridge&pg=PA109 p. 109] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528211811/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVnuHX_6bG0C&pg=PA109&dq=Houllier+cartridge#PPA109,M1 |date=28 May 2016 }}</ref> It consisted of a thin weak shell made of brass and paper that expanded from the force of the explosion. This fit perfectly in the barrel and thus formed an efficient gas check. A small percussion cap was placed in the middle of the base of the cartridge and was ignited by means of a brass pin projecting from the side and struck by the hammer. This pin also afforded the means of extracting the cartridge case. This cartridge was introduced in England by Lang, of Cockspur Street, London, about 1845.

In the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865) a breech-loading rifle, the [[Sharps rifle|Sharps]], was introduced and produced in large numbers. It could be loaded with either a ball or a [[paper cartridge]]. After that war, many were converted to the use of metal cartridges. The development by [[Smith & Wesson]] (among many others) of revolver handguns that used metal cartridges helped establish cartridge firearms as the standard in the United States by the late 1860s and early 1870s, although many continue to use percussion revolvers well after that.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cabelas.com/category/Pistols-Revolvers/104503680.uts |title=Cabela's still sells black powder pistols; remain in use for hunting |access-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322111737/http://www.cabelas.com/category/Pistols-Revolvers/104503680.uts |archive-date=22 March 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Modern metallic cartridges===
[[File:Snider-Martini-Enfield Cartridges.JPG|thumb|(From Left to Right): A [[.577 Snider]] cartridge (1867), a [[.577/450 Martini-Henry]] cartridge (1871), a later drawn brass .577/450 [[Martini-Henry]] cartridge, and a [[.303 British]] Mk VII SAA Ball cartridge.]]
[[File:Fusil Gras M80 1874 metallic cartridge.jpg|thumb|French Army [[Fusil Gras mle 1874]] metallic cartridge.]]
[[File:8mm Lebel Tarbes-01.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|The [[8 mm Lebel]] ammunition, developed in 1886, was the first [[smokeless powder|smokeless gunpowder]] cartridge to be created and adopted by any country.]]

Most of the early all-metallic cartridges were of the [[pinfire]] and [[rimfire ammunition|rimfire]] types.

The first centerfire metallic cartridge was invented by [[Jean Samuel Pauly]] in the first decades of the 19th century. However, although it was the first cartridge to use a form of [[obturation]], a feature integral to a successful breech-loading cartridge, Pauly died before it was converted to percussion cap ignition.

Frenchman [[Louis-Nicolas Flobert]] invented the first [[rimfire ammunition|rimfire metallic cartridge]] in 1845. His cartridge consisted of a percussion cap with a bullet attached to the top.<ref>[http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/history_of_firearms.html "History of firearms"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222090129/http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/history_of_firearms.html |date=22 December 2015 }} (fireadvantages.com)</ref><ref>[http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/how_guns_work.html "How guns work"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222103328/http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/how_guns_work.html |date=22 December 2015 }} (fireadvantages.com)</ref> Flobert then made what he called "[[gallery gun|parlor guns]]" for this cartridge, as these rifles and pistols were designed to be shot in indoor shooting parlors in large homes.<ref>{{cite book|title =Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values|page=775|first= Norm |last=Flayderman |edition= 9|publisher =F+W Media, Inc|year= 2007 |location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn =978-0-89689-455-6 }}</ref><ref name="BarnesBodinson2009">{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Frank C.|author-link=Frank Barnes (gunsmith)|last2=Bodinson|first2=Holt|title=Cartridges of the World: A Complete and Illustrated Reference for Over 1500 Cartridges|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_-kUkNXTNwC&pg=PA441|access-date=25 January 2012|year=2009|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-89689-936-0|page=441|chapter=Amrerican Rimfire Cartridges}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> These [[6mm Flobert]] cartridges do not contain any powder. The only [[propellant]] substance contained in the cartridge is the percussion cap.<ref>[http://www.arquebusiers.be/section-tir.htm Shooting section (''la section de tir'')] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110001815/http://www.arquebusiers.be/section-tir.htm |date=10 November 2013 }} of the official website (in French) of a modern indoor shooting association in Belgium, ''Les Arquebusier de Visé''.</ref> In English-speaking countries, the 6mm Flobert cartridge corresponds to [[.22 BB Cap]] and [[.22 CB Cap]] ammunition. These cartridges have a relatively low muzzle velocity of around 700&nbsp;ft/s (210&nbsp;m/s).

French gunsmith [[Benjamin Houllier]] improved the Lefaucheux pinfire cardboard cartridge and patented in Paris in 1846, the first fully metallic pinfire cartridge containing powder in a metallic cartridge.<ref name="Pistols"/><ref>''[http://trabuc.perso.sfr.fr/mapage/les-lefaucheux.pdf Les Lefaucheux] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008064628/http://trabuc.perso.sfr.fr/mapage/les-lefaucheux.pdf |date=8 October 2013 }}'', by Maître Simili, Spring 1990 (in French)</ref> He also included in his patent claims rim and centerfire primed cartridges using brass or copper casings.<ref name="sil.si.edu"/> Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20gb.htm |title=An example of a Benjamin Houllier gun manufactured in association with the gunsmith Blanchard |publisher=Littlegun.info |access-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823172928/http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20gb.htm |archive-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20et%20ch%20robert%20gb.htm |title=An example of a Benjamin Houllier gun manufactured in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard and Charles Robert |publisher=Littlegun.info |access-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823161754/http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20et%20ch%20robert%20gb.htm |archive-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the United States, in 1857, the Flobert cartridge inspired the [[.22 Short]], specially conceived for the first American revolver using rimfire cartridges, the [[Smith & Wesson Model 1]]. A year before, in 1856, the [[LeMat revolver]] was the first American breech-loading firearm, but it used pinfire cartridges, not rimfire. Formerly, an employee of the [[Colt's Manufacturing Company|Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company]], [[Rollin White]], had been the first in America to conceive the idea of having the revolver cylinder bored through to accept metallic cartridges ([[wikt:circa|circa]] 1852), with the first in the world to use bored-through cylinders probably having been Lefaucheux in 1845, who invented a pepperbox-revolver loaded from the rear using bored-through cylinders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DjWpnQEACAAJ&q=Early+Percussion+Firearms|title=Early Percussion Firearms|publisher=Spring Books|date=25 October 2015|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310102435/https://books.google.com/books?id=DjWpnQEACAAJ&q=Early+Percussion+Firearms|url-status=live}}</ref> Another possible claimant for the bored-through cylinder is a Frenchman by the name of Perrin, who allegedly produced in 1839 a pepperbox revolver with a bored-through cylinder to order. Other possible claimants include Devisme of France in 1834 or 1842 who claimed to have produced a breech-loading revolver in that period though his claim was later judged as lacking in evidence by French courts and Hertog & Devos and Malherbe & Rissack of Belgium who both filed patents for breech-loading revolvers in 1853.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SzEwAQAAMAAJ&q=Perrin+1839+Arme&pg=PA186|title=Annales de la propriété industrielle, artistique et littéraire|date=10 April 1863|publisher=Au bureau des Annales|via=Google Books|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310102427/https://books.google.com/books?id=SzEwAQAAMAAJ&q=Perrin+1839+Arme&pg=PA186#v=snippet&q=Perrin%201839%20Arme&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> However, [[Samuel Colt]] refused this innovation. White left Colt, went to Smith & Wesson to rent a license for his patent, and this is how the S&W Model 1 saw the light of day in 1857. The patent didn't definitely expire until 1870, allowing Smith & Wesson competitors to design and commercialize their own revolving breech-loaders using metallic cartridges. Famous models of that time are the Colt [[Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top|Open Top]] (1871–1872) and [[Colt Single Action Army|Single Action Army "Peacemaker"]] (1873). But in rifles, the [[lever-action]] mechanism patents were not obstructed by Rollin White's [[patent infringement]] because White only held a patent concerning drilled cylinders and revolving mechanisms. Thus, larger caliber rimfire cartridges were soon introduced after 1857, when the Smith & Wesson .22 Short ammunition was introduced for the first time. Some of these rifle cartridges were used in the American Civil War, including the [[.44 Henry]] and [[56-56 Spencer]] (both in 1860). However, the large rimfire cartridges were soon replaced by [[centerfire]] cartridges, which could safely handle higher pressures.<ref>[[Cartridges of the World]], various editions and articles.</ref><ref name="Williamson">{{citation|first=Harold F. |last=Williamson |title=Winchester: The Gun that Won the West |date=1952 |publisher=A. S. Barnes |isbn=978-0498083150 <!--1961 is second printing not second edition --> |page=66 |quote=The rimfire cartridge, which was used so successfully in the Henry and the Model 66, was limited to relatively weak loads of powder and comparatively lightweight bullets.  These limitations, which still apply, came from the construction of the rimfire cartridge and from the action of the priming mixture.  Rimfire cartridges must be made of thin metal or the firing pin cannot indent the head and explode the primer.  This thin-walled cartridge case limits the pressure developed by the powder charge and consequently the weight of the bullet.  If too much powder is used, there is a danger that the cartridge case will burst at the folded rim when it is fired, and that the primer flash, passing laterally across the rear of the powder charge, will not ignite a large load sufficiently to consume all of the powder before the bullet leaves the cartridge case. These limitations were overcome with the development of the centerfire cartridge....}}</ref>

In 1867, the British war office adopted the [[Eley Brothers|Eley]]–[[Edward Mounier Boxer|Boxer]] metallic centerfire cartridge case in the [[Pattern 1853 Enfield]] rifles, which were converted to [[Snider-Enfield]] breech-loaders on the Snider principle. This consisted of a block opening on a hinge, thus forming a false breech against which the cartridge rested. The priming cap was in the base of the cartridge and was discharged by a [[Firing pin#Firing pin vs. striker|striker]] passing through the breech block. Other European powers adopted breech-loading military rifles from 1866 to 1868, with paper instead of metallic cartridge cases. The original Eley-Boxer cartridge case was made of thin-coiled brass—occasionally these cartridges could break apart and jam the breech with the unwound remains of the case upon firing. Later the solid-drawn, centerfire cartridge case, made of one entire solid piece of tough hard metal, an alloy of copper, with a solid head of thicker metal, has been generally substituted.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Centerfire cartridges with solid-drawn metallic cases containing their own means of ignition are almost universally used in all modern varieties of military and sporting rifles and pistols.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Around 1870, machined tolerances had improved to the point that the cartridge case was no longer necessary to seal a firing chamber. Precision-faced bolts would seal as well, and could be economically manufactured.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} However, normal wear and tear proved this system to be generally infeasible.

=== Factory vs. handloading ===
{{main|Handloading}}
{{see also|Wildcat cartridge}}