Sharps Rifle "loose" loading....

[Sgt Major Barber]

Hey all.  Been awhile since I have been here.  Last weekend, was out sighting in hunting rifle and saw a guy with an Armi Sport 63 sharps carbine.  He was stickin' the bullet into the chamber and loading loose powder behind it with a measurer.  Said he had always done it that way with no problems. 

Is this a good idea...pros...cons?
Thanks
Two Dot Wrangler

If it works, sure would save makin' paper cartridges....

[Pettifogger]

Cap and ball revolvers, muzzle loaders, the Sharps and several other Civil War era rifles were designed to shoot with loose powder and ball.  The paper cartridges speed up the loading process, but paper certainly does nothing to seal the breach.

[Grogan]

Seeing as the '63 Sharps were designed to cut OFF the back of the Paper Cartridge upon closing the Breech, that's pretty much what you have, albeit with a paper envelope around the sides.

[Cuts Crooked]

The only pard I ever knew that had one of those, loaded it wif loose powder. Seemed ta werk purdy good fer him.

[Fingers McGee]

That's the way I loaded mine before I learned how to make paper cartridges.  Perfectly safe.

[Forty Rod]

If you shoot 'em a lot, with or without paper cartridges, you get a lot of stray powder down inside the working parts of the gun. 

I never heard of it being a problem but it's dirty and I suppose htere's a potential for it lighting off.  I always flushed it out of mine.

BTW, I wish I had it back.  It was a Garrett with a working disc priming system and was built like a fine watch...an incredibly big and rugged watch.