43 Egyptian

[FrankG]

Been held off on shooting a 43 Egyptian Remington Rolling Block I swapped for a couple years back by cost of brass and dies . I read on a site somewhere while search for brass and or dies of using 32 ga brass shotshells and looked until finding dimentions of them and the .43 . Looked like it would so I ordered some 32 ga brass . After doing some head scratching and figuring I set about making a set of dies. First I had to make a 'D' type reamer Ive seen made on a couple of gunbuilding sites . After finishing it and hardening with kasenite I roughed out a forming die from 4140 before trying out my new reamer. Tested and it worked so made a neck size die , expander die and a seating die .
This was all a first for me and they all work , although not as pretty as a $200 die set I am plum tickled ! I can shoot the old critter now :bigsmyl2:
For the last three dies I used plain ol 1018 CRS and polished where it mattered .

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/ModocWrangler/Falling%20block/43dies.jpg

[Gunsmoke4570]

Pretty isn't important as function in some cases. The end result looks really nice though!

[excess650]

EXCELLENT! I often thought the 43 Egyptian was an interesting cartridge, but never encountered a RB that had a bore I thought worth messin' with. I did have a NY State 50-70 that shot better than the bore should have. These days I have a '71 Mauser (guild sporterized carbine) and cut down '71/84.

[Buckshot]

..............Outstanding work Frank!

.............Buckshot

[NoDakJak]

About thirty years ago I somehow came by a Rolling Block that had a good exterior and an excellent bore. The rifle bore no markings but I was assured that it was a 43 Spanish. Wrong!!! That slick ore slugged at .48?. My new Bell, 43 Spanish brass wouldn't chamber.
I tried a 348 case in the chamber and it was too fat. AHA!!! I selected a Grade 5, 7/8 x14 bolt and drilled through it and then ran a taper reamer into it. That helped but the case still wouldn't fully chamber. I measured the mouth of the chamber and made another die to swage the head of the case down a whole bunch. My old Herters #3 wasn't up to the job so I took it to work. A new six inch vise worked well for the first two cases. Had to use a three foot piece of cheater pipe on the andle though. The third case snapped the vise into two pieces. Hmmm! We had a twenty ton hydraulic press sitting out on the shop floor. It worked slick as a whistle if you were quick enough at getting off the switch. I wasn't quick enough several times and ended up with cases that had 1 1/2" rims that were about as thick as a razor blade. Cases were fire formed with a slowly increasing amount of Unique that used a cse filler of grits and corked with a wad of hand soap. This was just as my casting hobby began and I had never heard of a custom mold and wouldn't have had the money anyway. At that time Lee produced a mold for a .448 Minie and I went with it. I don't remember the lube but it was probably 50/50 Alox. With a case full of Pyrodex or FF this abortion shot about 18 inches high at 100 yards. No money for custom sights so I filed off the top of the pyramid front sight and then split it with a hacksaw. I soft soldered a piece of hacksaw blade into the slit and then proceded to shoot and grind the front sight down until I had it zeroed at 100 yards. Very crude but it shot amazingly well and I even won a local match with it once. Bubba wins again I reckon! I am still not sure what that rifle was chambered for as the case dimensions didn't quite match anything in "Cartridges of The World". Neil