I know some of you here are involved with historical reenacting so please feel free to correct me and/or add your comments. When loading a musket, members of the militia had a paper cartage consisting of the ball, powder with the paper acted as wading. To load the musket the individual would tear open the cartridge with their front teeth, prime the pan, pour the powder down the barrel, then add the ball with the paper wadding and ram everything down. Pete