
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~045r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loading an arquebus with a hail shot 

One needs to make a wooden pipe as long as the width of 4
or 5 fingers, which should be hollowed precisely according
to the mouth of your barrel, of the form represented in D A.
Then, having cut strong paper, of the as of large printed
books, in the form of D, as wide as you want to make your
cartridge long, wrap the paper
around the baton B & at the end, where the point F will be,
fold all around the said paper, & your cartridge will be
formed. But, in order to make the bottom more uniform, put it into
pipe A, then put in the baton B and, through the other
end of the pipe, which is marked G, put the baton C
&beat so as to tamp & press the folded tip of your cartridge,
then take it out, & load it. Put three or 4
drageons or
tears into it. Then, with a
cutting-punch, marked E, which should be of the same caliber as
your arquebus or pistol, punch round pieces on cardboard or
felt or waxed cloth, and put this round piece into your
cartridge, and push it onto the drageons with the
baton B. Next, more drageons, 3 or 4, then a round
piece. And do thus until the cartridge is full, then put it into your
arquebus. If you want your hail shot to scatter sooner, make the round
pieces out of paper. If you want it to reach farther without
scattering, make the piece out of cardboard. If you want even
farther, make the round piece out of waxed cloth, or else of
leather or felt, & a piece of waxed cloth on
the top. And if you make the cartridge itself of waxed cloth or
waxed paper, it will reach one hundred paces & will
make for great piercing, & the hail shot, barely scattering, will
make an opening. But if you make your cartridge with waxed cloth
or a material stronger than paper, you ought not to make it so
long from the square coming to the point as in D, because it is enough
that it makes two turns. # In this manner, the hail
shot barely scatters & makes for great piercing against a door, body
of a cuirass, and others.

# as D H



