43 Spanish Rolling Block?

Hello all,

my buddy picked up a rolling block on the cheap year ago and never shot it. He pulled it out the other day while sorting through the "someday" projects and we did a little research. According to some google results he has a 11mm Spanish aka 11.15x58r
we plan to slug the bore to make sure it's not the 11mm reformado.
Is anyone loading and casting for this? I seem midway has brass start fair price of $2 a pop and lee makes dies on the cheap (rcbs are almost $200??!? Seriously?!?)
The original plan was to rebore, sleeve or rechamber it. I don't think it's worth any of those considering the cost involved and the relatively low cost of a rolling block in something more popular like the 45/70.

Should he get the dies and a handful of brass for fun? Or sell this sucker off and be done with it?

Thanks!

I have a 43 Spanish roller.....one of my current favorites. Mine is an arsenal refurb, and as far as I could tell, unfired since when I acquired it. It was still packed thick in cosmoline, and the bore is mirror. It's a cool rifle, in a cool caliber. Yeah, startup costs are a bit high...but 20-40 pcs. of brass should last him a long time, and I use the lee dies, they work just fine. My personal opinion....gear up, load it, shoot it.

If it is in decent shape, especially the bore I would keep it as a shooter.

Regardless of which Spanish cartridge it uses, I see no reason not to shoot it. Although the .43 Spanish is much cheaper to get started with, either should be fun to shoot if the bore is good.

if the bore is .439 I have a mold . also have a set of dies for it they are lee. I will have to look I mite even have 2 boxes of brass it is Bertram.

I had a 43 Span a few years ago. My dad bought it at action as a 45/70. It sat around for a couple years until I got a Mould and dies for it. ( just sold the mold on this forum a couple
months ago) made up some brass from 348 Win. The gun didn't shoot well because of poor bore.
Traded it off. I've got a couple RBs, if you have one in decent shape reguardless of calibre, I wouldn't butcher it. They are all bringing collector prices. I have one that was a Smokeless
action 7x57mm that I rebarreled to 45/70 with the kit from Numerich, years ago. Wish I had left
it alone.

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Is anyone loading and casting for this?

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43 Spanish - a very accurate round - akin to the US 44-77
* Lyman 436186 - 1:30 - 78gr Fg black powder
* Lyman 436186 - 1:30 - 72gr FFg black powder with 5gr of 4759 or 5744
Accurate to 1000 yds

I bought one last year. I have a lyman mold which works great, bought brass from jamison brass. I use the lee .439 sizer and 2f bp. Currently im trying out duplexing to clean it up a little.

If you decide to sell it, I am interested. Otherwise, the Lee dies will not flare the neck for cast bullets. 11mm M dies will work if you have a set. You can make brass from 45-70 that will work. You might want to get a box or two from someone here, shoot them and see if you want to go further. Beware 25# trigger pull.

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Originally Posted by ascast

If you decide to sell it, I am interested. Otherwise, the Lee dies will not flare the neck for cast bullets. 11mm M dies will work if you have a set. You can make brass from 45-70 that will work. You might want to get a box or two from someone here, shoot them and see if you want to go further. Beware 25# trigger pull.

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If you have an M die, or a Lee universal expander die, you can use either to bell case necks for cast bullets in any cartridge case. I use my M dies all the time to bell cases on brass that I want to shoot cast in but don't have a belling die.

Excellent article in Spring 2017 Black Powder Cartridge magazine on the .43 Spanish and the Remington Rolling Block Rifle. The article has some good historical background information as well as some decent starting loads with both Black Powder and smokeless power equivalents.

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Originally Posted by curator

Excellent article in Spring 2017 Black Powder Cartridge magazine on the .43 Spanish and the Remington Rolling Block Rifle. The article has some good historical background information as well as some decent starting loads with both Black Powder and smokeless power equivalents.

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a real good article that lays it all out about the .43 spanish roller.

y'all should also consider subscribing to the Black Powder Cartridge News

I have one and use the RCBS 44-370-FN to great effect with Unique. My front sight is way too low, but I didn't want to do anything permanent to the old warhorse. So, I put a gob of epoxy on the existing sight, then filed it down while sighting it in. Makes for a fun deer rifle.

Well he's thinking he might get a 45/70 barrel or just sell it off.
Doubt it's worth having a smith put the time into it.
What do they go for anyway? Thanks guys!
If he decides to sell I'll post it up here on the classifieds for him

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Originally Posted by Michael J. Spangler

Well he's thinking he might get a 45/70 barrel or just sell it off.
Doubt it's worth having a smith put the time into it.
What do they go for anyway? Thanks guys!
If he decides to sell I'll post it up here on the classifieds for him

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All over the place for pricing. Most sell around the $400-$450 range in decent shape. But I've got two here in the same caliber I bought within the last year to tear apart and make project guns from. Gave $245 for one, and $140 for the other. I buy every one I can get my hands on when I see them at $250 or less. Can't have enough spare parts or receivers!