Picked up one of those Pedersoli made Harpers Ferry flinters a while back, 58 caliber with a rifled bore. I would have preferred a somewhat larger caliber, but as things have turned out being a 58 will work out just fine. I already load paper cartridges for my 75 caliber Brown Bess musket so figured that I should be able to do pretty much the same thing for this pistol.
If it had been a smoothbore I would have made the cartridges in much the same manner as I do for the musket.... being a rifled bore though begs for a hollowbase conical bullet. I've always liked the traditional Lyman 575213-OS bullet. According to the Lyman specs it is supposed to cast up at around 460 grains, but using the softest lead I can find they still come out more like 500 grains.
Paper cartridges are rolled using 35gr FFFg (GOEX) and the grooves and base of the conical being filled with a somewhat stiff Beeswax/Lard/Olive Oil lube. In use, the tail of the paper cartridge is ripped off and the powder charge poured down the barrel. The conical is then squeezed out of the paper cartridge and run down the bore... the paper being discarded.
This particular load shoots pretty much right where the muzzle is pointed... a 6" paper plate is in definite jeopardy at 30 yards. Recoil is rather moderate for a big bore flint pistol.
