Safety Cartridge Seater

[Cpt Ed]

Safety Cartridge Seater.

In 2003 I noticed an article in a Black Powder Cartridge magazine on a Safety Cartridge Seater. I purchased the Safety Cartridge Seater for my Shiloh Sharps from the maker Scott with an email address of Longrider@msn. This email address is no longer in service. The shaft of my Cartridge Seater is marked DSR 2003.

 Does any one know if Scott is still making the Seater and how I might contact him.

Thanks.
Cpt Ed

[ShortStake]

Cpt Ed,

Safety Cartridge Inserter:

Scott Ross
P.O. Box 263
Chester, MT 59522
(406) 759-5348

From the Land of Enchantment,


Shortstake

[Cpt Ed]

ShortStake:

Many thanks for the contact information.
 
From the Land of Sunshine and Hurricanes.

Cpt Ed.

[Will Bison]

OK, dumb question, what in blazes does it do that I can't do with my finger?

Bill

[ShortStake]

Will Bison,

Good question from a non-user of the Safety Cartridge Seater..

Sharps Model 1874 rifles do not have a whole lot of camming power.  Conseqently a loaded round with cartridge overall length (COL)  that incorporates the logic of causing the bullet to engage the rifle will be a difficult chambering.  Especially so with just finger pressure.  Ditto for the Remington Rolling Block rifles.  Winchester/Browning 1885 Model single shot rifles do have slightly more camming power upon closing then the Sharps 1874 or Remington Rollers, but are still difficult to close when a loaded round incorporates a COL that has the bullet engaging the rifling.  This is where the Safety Cartridge Seater comes into play.

My personal handloads in calibers .40-65 and .45-70, utilized in BPCR silhouette are constructed with the logic that bullets should fully engage the rifling.  Once a loaded round is fully chambered and then extracted it is obvious the bullets are centered into the rifling via the marks left from same.  Some persons who do not resize the brass and chamber loaded rounds with the bullet engaging the lands may well leave a bullet in front of the chamber if the loaded round is extracted.  Believe in the old days this was called "breech seating".

Not everyone loads BPCR handloads with COL that cause the cast bullet to engage the rifling.  Those who do NOT load cast bullets to a COL that causes engagement of the bullet into the rifling most likely have no use for a Safety Cartridge Seater.

My personal experience has included instances of the Safety Cartridge Seater being used to chamber loaded rounds designed to fit one rifle and being used in another rifle due to a mechanical problem (alibi).  Utilization of the Safety Cartridge Seater DID cause the person to finish the match and consequently win the entered BPCR Silhouette classfication with a borrowed firearm of the same caliber.

Most everyone has encountered a previously fired case that has been neck sized and reloaded and upon trying to chamber into the same rifle just doesn't want to fully seat.  Usually this is because the base of the cartridge for some reason has taken the mindset to swell slightly.  Happens to everyone now and then.  The Saftery Cartridge Seater would cause this otherwise cantankerous situation to be eliminated.  Those that full length size fired cases may never experience this malady.   

Scott Ross recongnized this situation developed the Safety Cartridge Seater for those who feel a need for same. 

[Rambunctious]

Well.  In the case of a cartridge that won't quite seat all the way, it could be that that bullet isn't seated as far in as the "rest of the pack" in that after it was seated air pressure forced it back out again.  After a day or two it will adhere to the case walls and will not move easily again.  Or, you didn't blow tube enough and fouling is keeping the bullet from seating all the way.  In either case, removing the cartridge may leave the bullet firmly seated into the lands (or fouling) and you may end up with powder spilled into the chamber.  That ain't good in the middle of a relay!  In this scenario, the Safety Cartridge Seater or a seater of your own design, may just save the day.  I always keep the one I made in my back pocket just in case and I've had to use it a time or two.

[Cottonwood]

Capt Ed

I happen to be a personal friend of Scott aka Longrider.  I will forward your request directly to him in another e-mail that I have for him as well as phone him tonight.  His back log for these is about 6 weeks that I know of.

[Cpt Ed]

The Montanan.

Many thanks for your reply to my posting.

 Since I have been using my Safety Cartridge Seater on a regular basis, monthly, since purchasing it from Scott in 2003, another competitive BPCR shooter has asked me what it is all about, how to use it and where can he purchase one for his Shiloh Sharps Rifle.

I have sent him Scott’s contact information and he will be placing his order from his hometown in Baldwin, Michigan. Our shoots are down here in Lake County, Florida.

[Redhawk1]

I use a Safety Cartridge Seater also, they work great.   

The Montanan, thank for the info, I was looking for it myself. My buddy wants one also, I will give him the information you posted.

Rambunctious,
I doubt that powder will spill in the chamber, the powder is usually compressed and a wad is on top of the powder.

[Lead pot]

Here is a cartridge seater I made from a Deer antler, it works good.
most of the bullets I use are from a custom mould and the bore riding section of the bullet just fits the bore no more then .002 under bore.
and when the fouling starts to build up the seater does it's job. But it's seldom that I need to use it.

On the bottom is a bullet seating tool, don't get the two confused.
The bullet seating tool I use for breach seating the bullet.
That tool pushes just the bullet into the barrel just ahead of a case charged with powder , in the photo the case has a full load of Black powder with a lube wad under the wad that is held with lust a light roll so the wad does not fall out, and the case is just touching the bullet base with out a gap between the base of the bullet and the wad.
A lot of people get these two tools confused.

Breach seating a bullet really improves the accuracy of the PP or GG bullet.




Kurt

[Redhawk1]

Lead pot, I like that  Deer antler cartridge seater. 

[Rambunctious]

"Rambunctious,
I doubt that powder will spill in the chamber, the powder is usually compressed and a wad is on top of the powder."

You bet pulling a cartridge out of a chamber and leaving the bullet behind can lead you to spill powder in the chamber.  That's exactly what happened to me. 

My first mistake was in not blowtubing enough and when I went to seat the next round it stopped an eighth of an inch or so short of being fully seated.  I tried to thumb seat it to no avail, so I attempted to eject the round.  The bullet stayed behind and the suction of the bullet/lube combo turned the wad sideways and spilled a portion of the powder into the chamber.  I was done at that point. 

I made a safety cartridge seater out of wood and keep it handy now, although with proper blowtubing since then, I haven't had to use it.  The blowtubing softens the fouling and allows the bullet to seat into the lands properly.   

[John Boy]

Here's my thoughts for another use of the Cartridge Safety Seater - Breech Bullet Loading:  Drop the bullet into the chamber, then use the Seater with a stud inserted in an empty case to push the bullet in and engrave it.  Then drop in the loaded case, close the breech and fire at will.  Of course each empty case with the stud would have to be bullet specific for proper OAL