Drams or Drachms?

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.

Brothers Edwin and Alfred Ludlow were Birmingham small arms ammunition manufacturers. Illustrated is an original pack of ten of their cartridges for the Enfield Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket, dated 1864. With their .568 diameter bullet they were probably intended for Rifle Volunteers engaged in target shooting competition. The service bullet at the time was .55 diameter.

The manufacture of percussion-caps. The first process in this light and delicate work is the stamping of sheet-copper into pieces of the required form to make the caps. For this purpose the copper is placed beneath the punch of the machine, and immediately it is put into action, small crosses of metal are seen to fall from it into a box in a continual stream, whilst the sheet itself is transposed by the punching process into a kind of trellis work.