Antique Cartridge Works produces combustible, paper, and transitional-era cartridges for cap-and-ball revolver owners, black powder enthusiasts, and students of 19th-century arms. Materials and methods follow the historical record where it is clear and available — gut skin, tallow-beeswax lubricant, nitrated paper — with any departures from period practice noted honestly.
On Authenticity
The pre-metallic and transitional era of American small arms is one of the most consequential and least-reproduced chapters in ammunition history. The cartridges produced here are grounded in the documentary record — primary sources, period specifications, and surviving specimens — with the understanding that some original materials are no longer available and some original methods are not practically reproducible. Where we depart from period practice, we say so.
Read More →For the Shooter
These cartridges are produced for shooters who want ammunition that loads, handles, and performs the way the originals did — not a modern kit dressed in period clothing. If the details matter to you, they matter here. Components are also available for those who load their own.
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