Old Roller

[Yance]

Just picked this one up today. Appears to be .43 Spanish, .437 bore, .447 groove. Have to do a chamber cast tomorrow.

http://photobucket.com/1878

Haven't been able to find any photos of this particular model SRC. The "J" shaped staple, its attachment to the receiver, and the double rings are a new one on me.

Can anyone here shed some light on this old Gal?

Thanks

Got the chance to do a chamber cast tonight. Definitely a bottleneck 43. Ordered some Jameson brass and RCBS 380 gr bullets from BACO. Guess we'll see how it goes from here.

[Buckshot]

............Yance, It appears to be a Spanish made RB, as the butstock is marked "Oviedo". The Remington-Spanish cartridge was a BN case and the nominal GROOVE was .439". Some will run from that to .441" in the groove, or so. The breechblock shows it has the very early "scooped" or rounded debris skirt (the portion going underneath the barrel's breech). But since it's Spanish made they may have retained that throughout their production.

Nice looking carbine, regardless.

http://www.fototime.com/CFE4FB6484BDAE6/standard.jpg

Did your chamber cast look like this cartridge case? This is the .43 Remington-Spanish case. The Spanish 'Reformando' actually took a boolit with a .454" base band.

RCBS has 2 moulds of the same design. One is for the .43 Remington-Spanish dropping a slug of about .439 - .440" (shown in the above photo). The other is intended for the M71/84 Mauser repeater (of a nominal .446" groove).

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

[Yance]

Buckshot;

Yeah, most of the "basics" I've figured out since I've been studying this one for a couple of weeks. A customer wanted me to find a rear sight for it and "I" wanted it to be correct, (he didn't care as long as it was a sight and didn't cost much). After I told him how much a sight would be, and what loaded ammo would cost him, he decided to sell the carbine to me.<G>

Heard from Kenn at rollingblockparts.com today that these still chambered in the original 43 Spanish are rare here. Most are chambered for the Reformado cartridge. All the more reason to get this one back up 'n' runnin'. Ordered 20 rounds of Jamison brass to try, along with some of the .446 RCBS bullets.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/Yance_2006/1878%20Rolling%20Block%20Carbine/IMG_0794.jpg[/IMG]

This is the chamber cast I did tonight. .438 bore, .448 groove. Guess we'll see how it shakes out in a week or so.

I added a few more close up pics to the PB album tonight.

[twildman]

That cast looks like a 43 Mauser to me......bore dimensions are like a 71/84, are they not?

[Yance]

That cast looks like a 43 Mauser to me......bore dimensions are like a 71/84, are they not?

Yeah, the long neck threw me, but even going by 11X60 Mauser specs the chamber is STILL a good .100" long.

Rim thickness is another area of question. The cast shows the rim recess to be close to the same as the Mauser so I'll probably order a few Mauser cases to try.

All part of the "FUN?" of keeping the old ones shooting.

Still have to wonder why an 1878 Spanish carbine would be chambered for the 11X60 Mauser.

[Buckshot]

Yeah, the long neck threw me, but even going by 11X60 Mauser specs the chamber is STILL a good .100" long.

.............What you're seeing in your chamber casting as a Long Neck isn't. Even the Remington made RB's chambered 43 Remington-Spanish are the same. I have a M1879 Argentine contract Rem RB, chambered .43 Spanish and it's exactly the same. There is no step at the end of the chamber as you'd expect. This would normally be the beginning of the throat. Instead the neck portion of the chamber simply continues straight ahead until it meets that short abrupt leade.

Check out the photo in my first post. That's the RCBS Spanish boolit reversed in the case, then chambered and allowed to be pushed back into the case upon contact with the leade. The distance from the casemouth to the leade is right at .500".

http://www.fototime.com/4B9EBE131ADC269/standard.jpg

This photo is of a Saeco #525, 45 cal boolit that was driven up into the throat until a cartridge case would chamber behind it. The pink lines show the width and angle of the leade, which is short and steep. So in effect, with a .439" - .441" boolit (whatever your chamber will allow) is, in effect hanging out there in mid air in the caseneck with probably about .012" to .015" clearance all around it. Kind of like chambering a 8x57J (.318" bullet) into the later 8x57JS chamber intended for the .323" bullet OD. At least so far as the throat is considered.

http://www.fototime.com/14622A982A0BAF6/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/912EA02D06C7231/standard.jpg

Many years back when Dan at Mountain Moulds was still doing full on custom designs, he and I cobbled up this 420gr blunt nosed design in order to bridge that 1/2" long throat, to allow the slug to butt against the leade. His designation for it is 43FN425. Here it is loaded with a sized (.440") and as cast slug. At this OAL, and with the blunt nose it DOES butt into the leade. What you have there is the common .43 Remington-Spanish, or 11.15x58R chamber.

http://www.fototime.com/B2ED114FF9356A7/standard.jpg

The 'Reformando' cartridge DID have the 'A' base of the Mauser, as shown in this photo from Keith Doyans excellent website. Or I should say SOME reformando cases did. I have one that does NOT have the 'A' type base. Instead it has a much thicker rim then that one shown in the above photo. Mine is headstamped at 12 o'clock 'A', at 3 '1', at 6 '78' (1878) and at 9 'S', so it's 1878 date places it correctly in the time frame. I'd guess some were made with a thin rimmed 'A' base, and some with the thicker rim to take up the windage.

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