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When I mess with them, I'm still making cartridges using nitrated paper wrapped around a wood former, but there is a commercial system with good instructions and video here: https://cartridgekits.com/

Typically, you don't need to break the paper before inserting in the cylinder: compression of the cartridge when seating the ball will split the cartridge, or the flash from the cap will burn through. I've not noticed any loss of consistency when using them, though they do tend to be a bit less accurate than match loads loaded as mixed components. I only make them with conicals (vs. round balls), and I'm sure this is a factor in accuracy.

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I’ve made guncotton before which is, I’m guessing, a similar process to making nitrided paper with high cotton content paper.
Guncotton is fun for sure - still haven’t tried it in a cartridge yet though.

One little thing I ran into the other day is the effect the guncotton interacts with steel.
I had a plastic bag with some guncotton in it - open to keep it dry - sitting on top of some bullet molds (happened to be where I set it) and all of my molds within a few inches of the bag developed a fine dusty coat of rust!
I believe it is the residual sulphuric acid in the cotton aerating and settling around the proximity of the bag.
A similar thing happened when I put a plastic jug of hydrochloric acid in my cabinet and a bunch of my steel tools rusted in the cabinet. That was a half full gallon of acid for the pool with a tight cap.

The molds cleaned up easily enough fortunately.
It did make me think that there could be an alternate method of browning barrels using a sealed acidic environment though.

Now, back to your regular scheduled program. Which I totally dig. Love Josey Wales!

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He who lives in the past is doomed to enjoy it.

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