Paper Patching: A Pictorial Guide

D. & J. Fraser of Edinburgh introduced their falling block match rifle in 1881. The rifle was tried by several Scottish riflemen in the selection shoots for the Scottish Eight to compete for the Elcho Shield. The rifle gained popularity and six of the Scottish Eight eventually competed using the Fraser rifle that year. Management of the breech loading match rifle was still new to some at the time, the muzzle loader long being favoured despite the success of the American Teams using breech loaders in long range international competition since 1874. The perils of hand loading were still being discovered.

The term ‘Cartridge’ in the context of the muzzle loading era did not always mean ‘a complete round with powder’. In shotgun terms, it meant a package containing the shot charge and possibly the wadding which could be loaded intact onto the powder charge already in the barrel.

Overlooked, unknown or forgotten is the work of Johann Georg Leutmann (1667-1736), who in 1733 described the use of elongated balls, with a conical cavity at the base. Leutmann’s egg-shaped ball predates that suggested by Robins in 1747, and the much later adoption in the 19th century of what today is often referred to as the Minié principle.