McCarthy: false muzzle and paper patch

[Marius Hancu]

Hello:

~~~
[Boy journeying across Texas, now in an irregular military company.]

Those first days they saw no game, no birds save buzzards. They saw in
the distance herds of sheep or goats moving along the skyline in scarves
of dust and they ate the meat of wild asses shot on the plain. The
sergeant carried in his saddle scabbard a heavy Wesson rifle that used a
false muzzle and paper patch and fired a coneshaped ball. With it he
killed the little wild pigs of the desert and later when they began to
see herds of antelope he would halt in the dusk with the sun off the
land and screwing a bipod into the threaded boss on the underside of
the barrel would kill these animals where they stood grazing at
distances of half a mile.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
~~~

"false muzzle and paper patch": could someone educate me on the meaning
of this?

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

[an...@alum.wpi.edi]

Yeah. The rifle was muzzle-loading, that is, you stuffed the powder,
wadding, and the bullet into the far end of the barrel. For this
high-accuracy rifle, the bullet was carefully seated initially in a
piece which attached to the actual barrel which was removed before
firing. This false muzzle was slightly tapered, which made loading
easier, but which would make the barrel less accurate. (An ordinary
barrel had to have this slight easing at the muzzle.)

Paper patch...well, I was told not to talk about ladies or religion in
polite company, and paper patching is a religion in some quarters.

It was done to minimize lead fouling without deforming the bullet
unduly, is the short answer. You can get as long an answer as you
like, and well beyond that, elsewhere.

ANMcC

[Marius Hancu]

Great introduction:-)

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

[Iain Archer]

wrote on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 at 16:14:48 GMT

This seems to be the most detailed and complete of the first three
accounts I found by googling on the question phrase:
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/1860TargetRifle.asp
--
Iain Archer