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!
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Speed loading is not a new idea.
Sort of a miniature forerunner of the Blakeslee box for the Spencer;
http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_blakeslee.html
cheers
eon
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Not quite, the Blakeslee is a box containing tubes that are withdrawn from the box to feed the Spencer.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.
I hadn’t been aware of that one. It looks like something they’d arrest you for having in CA.
cheers
eon
Pre-antibiotic pocket pistol cartridges seem so anemic today.
Let’s be fair, nobody wants to get shot.
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.
Reloading the pistol with the elevator down (lever closed) would get one cartridge into the elevator, so the device lenght seems perfect to me.
Perhaps if the pistol failed you were supposed to use the magazine to beat your opponent to death.
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.