US Army loads for 50-70 Sharps carbine.

[Tubac]

I saw on a web site, the statement, that the army reduced the loads in the 50-70 carbines to 45 grains to lessen recoil. Can anybody verify this? If true, what was the air space in the cartridge filled with?
Thanks,
Tubac

[Delmonico]

I thought it was 55 grs, but I could be wrong, there is a shorter carbine round, I've seen them and held them in my hand.  I don't know if they reduced a full size round in 50-70, in the 45-70 they used 55 grs and card wads as filler.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I've heard similar stories, but I heard it about the 45-70s, not 50-70s.  They still made the more powerful rounds for the full size rifles at the same time.  I'm not 100% sure, but there weren't any fillers or air space; they used a coarser granulation that took up more room in the case, if I heard kee-reckly.

[Tubac]

I don't know about any short rounds, but I loaded 45 grains of FFG added cornmeal to  regular 50-70 brass.
Topped it with a .517 conical and they chambered and fired in my Sharps with no problem.
Thanks for your replies.

Tubac

[Hell-Er High Water]

Yes, there was a 50 U.S. Carbine round that was a shortened version of the 50-70 rifle cartridge.  According to Barnes' "Cartridges Of The World" it was loaded with a 400 grain bullet and 45-50 grains of Fg black powder.

I have an original, copper cased, inside primed. loaded round in my collection.  It has a case length of 1.330" and an overall length of 1.740".  I am not about to unload it to check the bullet weight and powder charge.

I load a reduced load for the 50-70 carbine that somewhat duplicates the the original carbine load.  I found that full power 50-70 loads from a lightweight carbine were a bit much after 20-30 rounds.  My load consists of the Rapine 512-350-T, 350 grain bullet, 3.1 CC of FFg black powder (about 45 grains) and a large tuft of pure cotton (not synthetic) to completly fill the case before the bullet is seated.  The compressed cotton holds the powder in place, leaving no air space and the pure cotton will burn completly to ash on firing where the synthetic type tends to melt and leave a deposit in the bore.  The bullets are cast from straight wheelweights and lubed with a good BP lube such as SPG and no wads or grease cookies are used.  These are loaded in Starline, Bell or Bertram cases.  This is a pleasant and accurate load when shot from a modified Remington Rolling Block carbine and an original Trapdoor 50-70 carbine.

HHW

[Fox Creek Kid]

Go to the following link & scroll down for the answer. 

http://www.oldammo.com/pictures.htm