43 Spanish brass

[toot]

what do you guys use to make them out of? and how do you do it? can you use 8 M/M LEBEL, 45/70's or 348 WIN. and do you guys use smokeless powder loads? i want to use smokeless powder. thanks in advance.

[TNsailorman]

Bertram is still making the .43 Spanish cases the last time I checked. I just loaded 64 cases today. I bought mine from RCBS (Huntington Specialties) several years ago. I think they run around $3.00 or more apiece these days.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I bought mine from Track of the Wolf for $3+ per case. Just bought 10 cases to try it out. I was going to buy a mold, but everyone was sold out at the time-- I think some now have it back in stock -- so I bought a box of 50 cast/lubed from Midway. I got a load suggestion from TNsailorman
(above) who suggested Trail Boss powder. Thanks again, TN.

[salpal48]

If you have an original RB in 43 spanish Track of the wolf Cases are just about Of the original with The rounded Rim. Bertram has a Flat rim and sometime is to short to ignite The primer
I have 5 RB's only 2 bertram would work. all 5 took the Track cases

[toot]

I know that they can be purchased at several out lets, BUFFALO ARMS- T-O-T-WOLF, to name a few. I don't want to spend $3.00 a pop.I want to re purpose them from existing brass, it can be done, the re loaders did it in the old days and do it today. I thought asking on the site-Case Forming/Re-forming would help me with my question? thank's.

[Bent Ramrod]

They can be formed from .348 Win brass by turning the base down ahead of the rim, reforming the case body in a .43 Spanish FLS die, annealing the case mouth and expanding or fireforming. And maybe trimming to length and very likely neckturning or inside reaming.

I never did this myself; bought Bertram and a few HDS Basic cases instead, but Buffalo Arms used to do these operations to make .44-77 Rem&Sharps cases, which are nearly the same thing.

There is “light case forming,” i.e., necking up or down and/or foreforming; “heavy case forming,” i.e., setting back shoulders, cutting off body sections, inside/outside neck turning, etc.; and what the late Bill Ballard called “violent case forming,” i.e., making shells from barely suitable brass (.223 to .25-20 Single Shot, in the instance he described) as the only way to get an old gun shooting again. Making .43 Spanish shells certainly falls into the third category. You will be accomplishing something, and developing an important skill, but you may wind up wondering how those $3-a-pop outfits sell their stuff so cheaply.

Turning bases is best done on a lathe, as the depth of cut is easier to reproduce. You will need to section a shell to make sure you haven’t cut too thin. You may need a hydraulic setup to form the case body, and neck reaming or turning might be necessary to fit the boolits and chamber the rounds. George Nonte’s book Cartridge Conversions describes the operations.

I think Starline now makes .348 cases. I see fired cases at gun shows infrequently.

[toot]

WOW!! Bent Ramrod, thank you, you just made $3.00 a pop the best way to go!. i didn't realize that all of those operations were involved in making them. this is what I asked for and I got the information. thank you guys for explaining how difficult it would be to make just one. I think that I will buy 10 of them for $30.00+ship. from T-O-T-WOLF, and go from there. I got CH-DIES and they were pushing over $130.00. again thank's guy's.

[salpal48]

I read this all the Time you can make it This way Or that. . If Forming is your thing then Buy all the equipment and go to Town.
I bought 50 cases @ Tracks . for $3.39 ea. All load and shoot well.
most people will waste there time because they time is worthless.

[toot]

don't ask-don't know?? that is what is great about this site!

[brstevns]

Check out the post title What can .43 Spanish be made from?
Tells how to form brass from magnum type brass.

[cwtebay]

I have tried several of the routes to make the brass - all successful but each had its own challenges. Question - who has used Trail Boss (or any other smokeless powder for that matter)? I love the idea of black powder - but wow that's a lot of time!

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I have tried several of the routes to make the brass - all successful but each had its own challenges. Question - who has used Trail Boss (or any other smokeless powder for that matter)? I love the idea of black powder - but wow that's a lot of time!

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Read post #3. I haven't tried it yet, because I'm still working on the rifle making a new fore stock, but will be doing so in a couple of weeks. I'm also going to try Pyrodex Cartridge.

[brstevns]

I read this all the Time you can make it This way Or that. . If Forming is your thing then Buy all the equipment and go to Town.
I bought 50 cases @ Tracks . for $3.39 ea. All load and shoot well.
most people will waste there time because they time is worthless.
It is not a waste of their time if it is a part of reloading they enjoy because of the challenge.

[15meter]

It is not a waste of their time if it is a part of reloading they enjoy because of the challenge.

My sentiments exactly.

Building a skill is not a waste of time, knowing how to make things like 375 flanged Nitro Express 2 1/2" when NO ONE has any is kind of nice. Especially when I made them, there were none to be found at any price. Make a cool rifle shoot again or have a wall hanger? Yup, my time is worthless:wink:

I picked up a nice 221 Fireball at the worst of the ammo shortage, it took years for me to find brass. Wasted more of my time.[smilie=1:

I've wasted my worthless time more times than I can count.

[brstevns]

My sentiments exactly.

Building a skill is not a waste of time, knowing how to make things like 375 flanged Nitro Express 2 1/2" when NO ONE has any is kind of nice. Especially when I made them, there were none to be found at any price. Make a cool rifle shoot again or have a wall hanger? Yup, my time is worthless:wink:

I picked up a nice 221 Fireball at the worst of the ammo shortage, it took years for me to find brass. Wasted more of my time.[smilie=1:

I've wasted my worthless time more times than I can count.

We must be one of a dying breed.

[Drm50]

I made them out of 348 Win. If you have the equippment it's not that hard. I bought dies and a Rapine mold and made up 60 cases. I loaded them at least 5 times and they went with the rifle when I sold it. I gave my South Bend lathe to my brother he needed it for his work rebuilding pumps. I have been looking for a bench top lathe to turn brass and small parts for some time. A lathe is a must to make a lot of obsolete brass. My last project was to thin the rims of 38super for use in a Bergman 9mm.

[brstevns]

I made them out of 348 Win. If you have the equippment it's not that hard. I bought dies and a Rapine mold and made up 60 cases. I loaded them at least 5 times and they went with the rifle when I sold it. I gave my South Bend lathe to my brother he needed it for his work rebuilding pumps. I have been looking for a bench top lathe to turn brass and small parts for some time. A lathe is a must to make a lot of obsolete brass. My last project was to thin the rims of 38super for use in a Bergman 9mm.

Don't have a lathe wish I did.

[TNsailorman]

Yeah, I could do a lot of things if I had the money to buy a lath. Pity. james

[15meter]

Don't have a lathe wish I did.

Watch craigslist/estate/garage sales, they pop up occasionally for cheap money. I lucked into mine, a South Bend 9x24 with 3 jaw, 4 jaw and a full set of collets plus some tooling and all the thread gears for $300 about 4 years ago in real nice shape. The guy had just paid to have it gone through and repainted when a storm came through and blew his old farm barn down that he had his work shop in. He let it go cheap instead of letting it be ruined sitting out in the weather, it was going to take him a while to get a new building put up.

Look not only for the old standards, South Bend, Atlas, ect. look for Craftsman, a lot of those back in the day were just private labeled good stuff. Also watch for jewelers lathes, I have not used one but I suspect they are more than heavy enough to do most brass reforming type of turning. Unimat is one I've seen.
Some are too small, just have to keep hunting, kind of like reforming brass, the hunt is have the fun/challenge.

[edp2k]

Check out the post title What can .43 Spanish be made from?
Tells how to form brass from magnum type brass.

This :)
As I recall, any type of belted magnum brass can be used,
which is frequently found for free laying on the ground at ranges because many guys with 300 win mag/7mm rem mag/etc.
don't reload at all or don't reload that caliber since they only use a dozen per hunting season.

As I recall, use a lathe or drill-press+file to remove the belt, shorten, re-size with 43 span die, final trim, and use an appropriate sized O-ring
in the extractor groove as a "rim". See the thread for details. Some time will save you $.

Or get your wallet out and start with 348 win. starline has 250 (min quantity) for $429 ($1.72 each).
And you still have to re-work them.

[Beerd]

Bertram is still making the .43 Spanish cases the last time I checked. I just loaded 64 cases today. I bought mine from RCBS (Huntington Specialties) several years ago. I think they run around $3.00 or more apiece these days.

$3.40 a pop (plus shipping) from Graf's

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/867?
..