I'll have to be honest and admit that I stole most of my loading info for the Chassepot off of the internet. But I will try to put together some video of how I do it.
Before you begin you will need to make a rubber obdurator to seal the breach. Here in the U.S. the best you can do is use ¾ inch flat washers. These will be too big at first and I use six or seven and after mounting them on a piece of steel rod ground them down on a belt sander while spinning. Don't overdue it and try to get them down to about 18mm. You'll need to go slowly and stop every once and a while place the washers on the removable bolt head and see if the bolt closes. A tight fit will cause the bolt to stick but will definitely no leak.
The best websites for the Chassepot are all European and most are not in English. This is no problem since you can have Google simply translate the entire webpage simply by pasting the URL onto their translator site.
The best website so far for making cartridges is in French and found here:
http://jp.sedent.free.fr/UNE%20CARTOUCHE%20IGNIFUGEE%20POUR%20LE%20FUSIL%20CHASSEPOT.htm>http://jp.sedent.free.fr/UNE%20CARTOUCHE%20IGNIFUGEE%20POUR%20LE%20FUSIL%20CHASSEPOT.htm
The Google translation to English is here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fjp.sedent.free.fr%2FUNE%2520CARTOUCHE%2520IGNIFUGEE%2520POUR%2520LE%2520FUSIL%2520CHASSEPOT.htm>http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fjp.sedent.free.fr%2FUNE%2520CARTOUCHE%2520IGNIFUGEE%2520POUR%2520LE%2520FUSIL%2520CHASSEPOT.htm
If you follow these instructions you can make cartridges. My set up is a lot less elaborate using mostly scissors, dowels and glue and most importantly of all a section of jointed shotgun rod.
There is a German Club in Sommerda (the hometown of Nicholas von Dreyse the inventor of the needle rifle) that has matches each year but better yet has a good website with loading info for Chassepots and Dreyse needle guns.
Their loading info can be found here:
http://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de/technik.html>http://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de/technik.html
Better yet the Google translation from German to English is here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhttp://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de%2Ftechnik.html>http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhttp://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de%2Ftechnik.html>http://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de%2Ftechnik.html>http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhttp://www.schmids-zuendnadelseite.de%2Ftechnik.html
One good thing about Google translator is that if you click any links they too will be translated.
A really good discussion of recreating the original French cartridges complete with the correct bullet and silk covering can be found here in English (registration required)
http:/s.gunboards.com/showthread.php?8169-Model-1866-Chassepot-Can-I-fire-it
Of course if you just want to order unloaded paper cartridges complete with the correct bullet you can always order them from
http://www.rh-custom.se/category.php?id_category=32>http://www.rh-custom.se/category.php?idcategory=32
His prices are good and I would have simply ordered his premade cartridges but the shipping from Sweden is too costly. (You might also want to take a look at his Glock “accessories”)
For general information about the Chassepot another good website (again in French) is
http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/fusil%20d%27infanterie%20Mle%201866.html>http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/fusil%20d%27infanterie%20Mle%201866.html
The Google translation is here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Farmesfrancaises.free.fr%2Ffusil%2520d%2527infanterie%2520Mle%25201866.html>http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Farmesfrancaises.free.fr%2Ffusil%2520d%2527infanterie%2520Mle%25201866.html
Take a look at the first photo on this website of the rear sight with the leaf folded forward exposing the short rage (150m) sight notch. Had I not seen this there I would have never found out the rifle has a short range notch hidden .
Anyway there is is. I will try and throw together some video of my technique, But most of what I have is borrowed. One thing I would warn you about is the amount of time needed to make up cartridges. Even after getting over the learning curve and dividing up the procedure so that you will only do one step at a time, my last batch of about 50 cartridges took about five hours altogether.