Author Matthews brings the black powder cartridge shooter valuable information on the basics, including cartridge care, lubes and moulds, powder charges, and developing and testing loads. (Reloading Historical Educational Firearms)
Table of Contents Chapter 1 A Few Basics 2 Lubrication and Lubricants 3 The Grease Cookie 4 Bullets and Bullet Moulds 5 Casting the Bullet 6 Care of the Cartridge Case - Before and After 7 The Powder Charge - Black, Pyrodex or Duplex 8 Loading the Black Powder Rifle Cartridge 9 Developing and Testing the Load 10 The "Tragedy" of it All 11 What It's All About
I was born November 4,1925, the fourth of seven living children. On April 1, 1925, my parents purchased the old Harvey Mallory farm and blacksmith shop, and it was here and in the surrounding area known as Sheshequin, Pennsylvania that I grew up and still reside with my wife of 63 years, Betty.
I graduated from Ulster High School in June 1943, and on the ninth of that month at the age of 17, started active duty in the Regular Navy. On October 2,1943 I reported aboard the U.S.S. Appalachian,an Amphibious Group Command Ship that took me to the Pacific and invasions of the Marshall Islands, Guam, Leyte, and Luzon. I participated in the occupation of the Japanese Empire and the first two atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946. I left the U.S.S. Appalachian on September 10,1946, and was honorably discharged as a Coxswain on October 31,1946.
I married my high school sweetheart, Betty Hotchkiss, on May 11,1946. After discharge from the Navy and a short stint at college in California, I returned to Sheshequin to get a job with Ingersoll-Rand Company, where I worked as a machine operator for seven years, before being transferred to the Technical Publications Department. Here I served as a technical writer and eventually as manager of technical publications.
During my spare time, I worked at writing articles about guns and hunting, two or three novels and embarked on a 3-year Famous Writer's Course. I wrote several articles for Gun Digest and other gun publications, as well as a series of fiction hunting stories for both Shooting Times and the Pennsylvania Game News. I still write for the Game News.
Since retirement in 1982, I have written several small books relative to rifle shooting published by Wolfe Publishing Company, and one published by Exchange Publishers, Inc. In 1992 at age 66, I became involved in black powder cartridge silhouette competition where I participated in 188 matches,setting four new national records and becoming a co-holder on two other national records. Now,at age 83, I still manage to get to the shooting range once or twice a week, weather permitting.
During the early years of my marriage, my wife Betty and I had four children. I always found time to write, with my first article published in the January,1949 issue of Field & Stream. Other articles, short stories and books have followed, and they are still coming!
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 starsA must for new shooters., January 29, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Loading the Black Powder Rifle Cartridge (Paperback)
Book is well organized and provides a good summary of one man's experience. It is not however, the last word on all aspects of loading black powder cartridges. A beginning black powder loader will find helpful information on all aspects of loading black powder cartridges. The book leans heavily towards .45 caliber but the information is equally applicable to .38, .40, or .50 cals. The book recommends many specific products and provides addresses from which the reader can order. Altogether, a valuable reference that even experienced shooters will find enjoyable.
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This review is from: Loading the Black Powder Rifle Cartridge (Paperback)
I bought a few of Mr. Matthews books while doing some personal research on Blackpowder cartridge shooting and found this book to be one of his better books.
While I don't think it is detailed enough to guide the total novice through the many processes involved in loading a cartridge (Matthews doesn't claim that it is either)you do get a lot of information. I found it interesting that Mr. Matthews believes that modern blackpowder isn't as good as the old time stuff was sometimes known to be.
It doesn't do much brand this or brand that but gives a sort of autobiographical account of the author's years of experiences and things that have worked for him. As examples, you'll get whole chapters on casting the bullet, the powder charge, lubricating the bullet, loading the cartidge.
I think it might just be enough to give a novice an idea of whether or not this is something they want to get into. For the person who really does want into the field I'd think you might want more details on equipment but it is still a worthwhile book to own.
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This review is from: Loading the Black Powder Rifle Cartridge (Paperback)
Like other Paul Matthews books this is a b&w 6"x9" paperback. It comprises of 122 pages with 22 illustrations, mostly amateur photographs. The book is obviously intended as a budget publication, but even so it uses better paper and what feels like a more durable paper back (cover) than Mr. Matthews' book - The Paper Jacket.
The book covers the basics such as lubrication, grease cookies, bullets, moulds, casting, case care, the powder charge for BP, Pyrodex and duplex loads), as well as the actual cartridge assembly and load testing in sufficient detail to get one started without having to go through the entire learning curve by trial and error. Upon putting the book down I knew that with it in one hand I would find my way loading the .577/450 Martini that prompted its acquisition. I did however have a feeling that I would have liked more on accuracy development, but only then I realized that Mr Matthews' follow-up book: More How-To's for the Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Shooter, provided exactly that.
This is an unpretentious book. It provides everything you will need to get started and then some. Its format and price indicates that its objective had been to serve as a beginners guide to newcomers to black powder shooting. It fulfills that objective and the reason I bought it for, but it is not the be-all and end-all regarding the topic. I learnt considerably more than expected and I am happy to recommend it to black powder beginners like myself.
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