Civil War Starr Carbine

[vettime82]

Does anyone know where I can obtain ammunition you can fire in a Starr carbine?

[Blair]

vettime82,

Check with the North-South Skirmish Association (n-ssa.org). they should be able to help you with the info you need.
Please keep in mind, there are two models of Starr firearms. Early were percussion and late were rim fire.
I hope this helps?
My best,
Blair

[Dave Fox]

    If you want to shoot a Starr, BEST have it checked over by a competent person. Then seek-out an experienced breech-loading black powder paper cartridge shooter, presuming it's paper cartridge. Should your Starr be chambered for Spencer brass cartridges, Dixie Gun Works sells (or sold) cartridges using .22 blanks as primers. Presuming it's percussion, you can get away with a minimum: you'll need FFg black powder, musket-size percussion caps, and bullets. The bullets Starr likes are those intended for the Burnside carbine, sold by S&S Firearms. Simplest way to fire just a few shots are: grease the bullet with, say, a little Crisco, insert it into the carbine's chamber, point the muzzle down, fill the chamber with powder, close the chamber, put the percussion cap on the nipple, aim and fire. This will be a maximum charge, but the Starr has a strong action.
    You would really benefit from overlapping with an experienced shooter of such weapons. As recommended above, get on the North-South Skirmish Association forum, start a thread. Likely you'll find someone near you who can help. I shoot a percussion Starr, live in western North Carolina, and have buddies who do likewise. The Starr incurred a bad reputation during the Civil War because undersize Sharps ammunition was issued for it. With the right ammo, the Starr...uh...shines.

[mgmradio]

If your Starr is still percussion, you have at least one option.
The original Starr cartridge was linen and the bullet was a 1ring bullet. No one makes the original style bullets, so I had a friend make me a mound for them they shoot real well. I have finally found a small supply of the correct linen to make the cartridges and have fired a number of them with great results, though I'm now waiting for some range time with less than 20mph wind to see how the accuracy is at 100-300m.
The linen for the cartridges hasn't been made for 60+ years now so is hard to source. The closest that they make now is more than twice as thick and less than half the tread count.
The only real option you have is to find a ringtail sharps bullet that is of large enough base ring diameter, 0.555-0.560". I have a mould that throws in this range and will check the manufacturer later. I have used this bullet along with Carlie's tubes and the combination works very well.

[Sedalia Dave]

Contact the folks at Accurate Molds they make several designs in the .550 to .560 range that should work.  Even if you don't see exactly what you are looking for call them. Because their moulds are CNC cut making changes to the basic design is easy for them to do.

Look on pg 24 of their online catalog.