Loading Tool for a .31 Caliber Volcanic Repeater

One thing I have not really though about before is how best to carry extra cartridges for a Volcanic repeater. They are self-contained, but still rather fragile compared to today’s ammunition (and they were originally packaged in metal boxes). Well, at least one person clearly did put some thought into this, and made themselves this 30-round cartridge carrier and loading tool. It uses six pewter tubes soldered together, with a sliding lid that allows each tube to be opened in sequence. This would make for a very quick reloading of a Volcanic, by simply pouring the contents of a tube directly into the magazine of the pistol. Neat!

11 Comments

    • I had thought of that too. That little cartridge box would fit quite nicely in a vest pocket or inside a coat pocket.

    • Not quite, the Blakeslee is a box containing tubes that are withdrawn from the box to feed the Spencer. This self contained little device is more like the Marble Arms Catch 22.

  1. Backup gun match. Just need a one day insurance rider on the borrowed gun and a Brinks truck to deliver the gun and ammo to the match site.

  2. Reloading the pistol with the elevator down (lever closed) would get one cartridge into the elevator, so the device lenght seems perfect to me.

  3. I thought the ‘volcanic’ cartridge relied on the fulminate of mercury as both primer and propellant. Hard to see how you could partition that tiny space and get black powder into it and in front of the primer.

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