BR16156 British 43rd Regiment of Foot, Standing Handling Cartridge, 1780

This soldier is reaching behind his back to open the flap of his cartridge box. One cartridge is removed. The typical Brown Bess cartridge consisted of a paper tube, tied off in three places to form two compartments. The first compartment contained the .69 caliber round ball. The second compartment contained the charge of powder. The British Military load for the Brown Bess was 125g of powder with an extra 40 grains for the pan for a total of 165g per cartridge. The thick, sturdy paper was loaded with the bullet keeping it centered in the bore. Each shot left progressively more fouling in the barrel from the black powder, which made every subsequent shot harder to load.

Scale 1/30.