There have been 9 basic types of cartridges developed throughout the history of firearms. The illustrations below are but a few examples of each type.

Paper Cartridges

Sharps 90 Bore Paper

The 90 Bore (.36 cal.) cartridges were used in the Sharps slanting breech sporting rifles. The slanting breech rifle was patented by Christian Sharps in 1848. Sharps patent disc priming magazine is to be found on the early issues of this rifle. Later the Lawrence patent priming magazine replaced the earlier Sharps method.

58 Buckshot

Used in the 1855 Musket of .58 caliber, these buckshot cartridges must have been the granddaddy of the present day riot gun charge. This caliber was also made in the "buck & ball" load - one large ball and three buckshot.
(See Below)

69 Buck and Ball

The cross section view shows how the three buckshots were placed on top of the large ball within the paper case.

Combustible Cartridges

44 Bartholow Waterproof

On May 21, 1861, R. Bartholow secured a patent for a waterproof combustible cartridge which was described as follows in Patent No. 32,345... "Nitrate of potassa, charcoal, sulphur and chlorate of potassa mixed with shellac, pressed into form of cartridge, and coated with collodion." Cartridges for the Army were packaged in containers labeled "for Army Holster Pistol." Those for Navy use were labeled "Navy Pistol Size."

44 Colt Skin

While the cleaned and chemically treated pig intestines were still wet they were stretched over forms of the same shape as the cartridge case. After the skin cases were dry and the powder and bullet had been put in place the outside of the case was given a coating of gutta-percha varnish. For the lubrication in the grooves around the bullet the following was used:...three parts best tallow, two parts wax (vegetable preferred), and one part native gutta-percha, melted together in the order named; and the scum removed while near the boiling point. This cartridge Patent No. 33,611 was patented on October 29, 1861, Wm. Mont. Storm.

52 Sharps Linen

This is one of the most famous of all of the combustible types. It was used in the Sharps Sporting and Military Arms before and during the Civil War. Every student of arms history is familiar with the Sharps "Beecher's Bibles". These were the rifles sent into Kansas in 1857 in boxes labeled "Beecher's Bibles". When John Brown was captured at Harpers Ferry in 1859, 102 Sharps carbines were taken from him. True it is that the .52 Sharps linen is one of the cartridges which not only saw history in the making, but helped make it. There were 16,306,508 Sharps cartridges purchased by the government during the Civil War. These cartridges were listed as late as 1897 in the Hartley & Graham catalog.

Separate-Primed Cartridges

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35 Maynard Percussion

Used in the Maynard sporting rifles, these first cartridges were among the first reloadable brass cartridges. This was a metal shell with the rear aperture closed by waxed paper.

45 Whitworth Tube

Made in England under English Patent No. 1,959 of 1859. The Whitworth tube cartridge was used in the Whitworth rifle. These rifles and cartridges, purchased in England, were smuggled into the South on blockade runners during the Civil War, Used primarily by Confederate snipers, they are said to have given a good account of themselves. A very few of them were equipped with a spiral hexagonal type bullet rather than a cylindrical. These were cast then swaged to the shape of the bore.

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54 Burnside

The Burnside cartridge is one of the earliest American brass cases. It was used extensively in the Burnside B.L. Carbine during the Civil War and later up until the time of the Custer massacre. On March 25, 1856, Ambrose E. Burnside secured PAtent No. 14,491) on a metallic tapering case with a perforation in the base by means of which the powder could be ignited from the fire of a percussion cap. George P. Foster, on April 10, 1860, secured a patent (No. 27,791) for a grease chamber around the bullet of the Burnside cartridge. It is this later cartridge which is quite common today, and of which the Ordnance Department purchased the large quantity of 21,819,200 during the Civil War.

50 Smith Rubber Case

Gilbert Smith of Buttermilk Falls, N.Y., on June 30, 1857, secured a patent (No. 17,702) for a cartridge case..."or at least the cylindrical portion thereof, of some impermeable and elastic substance, such as India rubber or gutta-percha...so that it may be expanded laterally by the force of the explosion of the charges, and will contract itself after the explosion by its own inherent property." This black rubber cartridge is very seldom encountered nowadays and is a choice collector's item.

Self-Contained Cartridges

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31 Volcanic

Volcanic arms using a self-contained cartridge mark a definite period in arms and ammunition development. Not only were they the daddy of the Henry rifle, the grand-daddy of the famous Winchester lever-action rifle...but it was they who signaled the end of the percussion era.

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38 Needle Fire

These interesting cartridges were first written up in "The Gun Report" of April, 1942. They were brought back from Europe, where they had been discovered in their original box by an American collector.

Patent Ignition Cartridges

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32 Teat Fire

Another of the ingenious cartridges developed to get around the Smith & Wesson patent. this one was patented Jan. 5th, 1864 (No. 40,183), by D. Williamson. It was advertised in the May 21, 1864 issue of the Army and Navy Journal. As will be observed in the sketches they were supplied in two styles, one with a round teat and one having a flat teat.

42 Cup Fire

The case of these cartridges reached the full length of the chambers in the cylinder. The hammer tip struck the inside concave portion of the base, in which the fulminate was contained, to detonate the powder charge.

44 Crispin

One if the very scarce items in the Crispin family of cartridges - and one which is found in only a very few collections.

44 Allen Lip Fire

This is the largest size Allen Lip Fire cartridge...the other two being 25 and 32 caliber sizes. It was used in the large Allen & Wheelock six-shot revolver. The cross-section view illustrates the position of the fulminate in the "lip".

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12mm Pin Fire

Illustrated with this cartridge is a cross-section view. It will describe better than words the operation of a pin fire. A blow from the hammer drives the pin against the fulminate in the percussion cap, thus detonating it and in turn igniting the powder charge.

58 Gallager & Gladding Inside Pin Fire

Rarest of the rare is this inside pin fire patented July 12, 1859 (No. 24,730) by Gallager & Gladding. The patent provided for "(Breech Loader) Case of paper or wood, or metallic shell, or wood or paper banded with metal. Pin fire.

Rim Fire Cartridges

44 Henry Flat

Comes now one of the historical cartridges. It was F. Tyler Henry in the late 1850's who was the first to recognize the possibilities of developing the then new rimfire type of cartridges to larger calibers. From 1860 to 1866 ten thousand 12-shot repeating Henry rifles were manufactured.

58 Gatling Gun

Dr. Richard Gatling of Chicago in 1862 secured a patent on what is possibly the first machine gun-insofar as the cartridges were fed into the chambers, detonated and extracted by actual machinery operation. In 1866 The gun was altered to take a rimfire cartridge. These guns were manufactured by Colt up until around 1910.

Shot Shells

9mm Rim Fire Shotshell

Used in the Winchester Model 36 bolt action shotgun. Foreign and domestic manufacturers used many colors in the manufacture of these cartridges...red, green, tan, etc.

16 Gauge Pin Fire

Pin Fire shot shells were made in a wide variety of calibers and colored paper cases.