Not exactly 'trapdoor'..........

[Dan Shapiro]

Had a little time to kill the other night. Have always wanted to fill my .58 cal Union ammunition pouch with dummy rounds. Got some on-line instructions on how to roll the cartridge. Seems the young girls and women hired to do the job were expected to roll 800 cartridges in a 12 hour shift. Took me 3 hours to produce 30 cartridges. But then, instead of pouring in powder, I was stuffing them with 2 cotton balls.

[broom jockey]

Very good, Dan. I have the instructions, just never got around to doing it. What type of paper did you use?

[Dan Shapiro]

Found some thin brown wrapping paper at the local Dollar Store.

[5MadFarmers]

Seems the young girls and women hired to do the job were expected to roll 800 cartridges in a 12 hour shift.

They rolled wagons loaded with kegs of powder up to the production facility at Allegheny Arsenal. The kegs were rarely tight and leaked powder as they went. On September 17th of 1862 a spark ignited the leaked powder and in the ensuing explosion 78 of those young girls were killed - only 54 could be identified. Thus ended the career of John Symington, Colonel of Ordnance.

Nice work you've done there. Shall I assume next you'll start a line for .69 buck and ball?

[Michaelp]

There are pictures of girls making cartridges.
They had a lot of set ups that expedited things.
Black powder can be petty scary. Every now and then a fireworks factory vaporizes.
Static electricity is a big worry and they take special care for that.
I roll live cartridges sometimes, but not worth the hassle.
Dixie and others have cut paper available, but most any heavy paper will do.