43 mauser supplies ?

[adrians]

good morning folks.
i have bought a mod 71/84 mauser (11mm?) in "good+" condition , it isn't at the house yet (it's in transit) so i have no clue as to bore diam yet but i want opinions as to what brass to buy and boolit mold selection, oh and are the cheaper lee dies good enough to reform brass later on ?
i want to get ready rolled brass to start with just to see how it performes then i can get into reforming brass from a diff "parent" case.
baby steps first,.
what mould should i be on the hunt for assuming my bore is within +/- original specs?
i expect it to be a tad bigger given it's age and use over the years.
in other words i have a 71/84 mauser ,,,,primers,,, and powder,,,,. thats it :)
recomendations for the rest would be greatly appreciated .
thanks and have a great thursday.

adrians.:evil::confused::confused::twisted:

[bubba.50]

buffalo arms has brass and dies listed in their catalog. 1 to 2 bucks apiece for the brass dependin' on brand and about 40 for lee dies twice that for 4-D dies. pretty good selection of molds also. huntington's might be another source.

[leadman]

I shoot a 71 Mauser. My bore is larger than what is considered standard .446".
Definitely buy the Bertram brass that Graf & Sons has in stock.
The Lee die set that I bought is not a very good set in my opinion. It has an expander ball in the full length die that is useless. This should have a seperate neck expanding die. The full length die also will set the shoulder back way too far if not backed off. Lee said to buy their Universal Expander, but it only flares the case mouth. I had JiminPhx make another plug to expand the cases like a Lyman M die does. The seater plug is also designed for a spitzer bullet. I have never seen a jacketed bullet of the appropriate size for this cartridge so what was Lee thinking?

I bought the Lyman .446" mold that is supposed to be for this cartridge. It does work fairly well if cast very soft so it will bump up.
I also found the Lee 300gr RFN GC pistol boolit sized to .450" so it will fit in my chamber works excellent.
I have been using both 2400 and SR4759 at 20 and 21grs. with polyfil filler. Been varying the amount of filler. First use was 4.5grs and it shot well but chunks of filler left the barrel so now have loaded with 3.5grs and 2.5grs to see what happens. Hope to get out soon to try these.
Velocity is around 1,400 fps. The loads also work without filler but groups are not as tight.

I had to build the front sight up with JB Weld to get a zero at 100 yards.
Definitely slug the throat and if possible do a chamber cast. The throat in my rifle is .457" and the largest boolit I can fit in the neck is .450"

[Janoosh]

I walked into a local gunshow last year and on a table were two boxes of brass (new,Bertram) and a set of dies (not lee) for $60, total for all. I still have the scar on my backside from the friction burn getting my wallet out. All kidding aside, from reading on this site it seems the RCBS mould is prefered and performs better. But, as you know, every gun to itself. I'm looking for a firing pin for my M 71. Or someone to repair the one I have, the tip is broken off.

[adrians]

thanks for the info guy's.
i'm going to order some Bertrum brass and then when my rifle gets here do a cast of the chamber/throat and slug the bore and then my "mold hunt" can begin.
thats the fun part i think,but i don't want the fun part to last forever, i want to shoot this oldie as soon as possible.
it's just a matter of time. :coffee:
thanks fella's,,,,,,:evil::CastBoolitsisbest::twisted:

[leadman]

I bought some felt wads today. I am going to "The Dark Side" for awhile (shooting black).

I have some black powder I want to burn up so am going to load it in the 71 Mauser and my Rolling Block 40-65.

I have some Berdan primed cases from the late 1880s that I am going to use for this. Only have about 100 primers so will make some inserts for the cases later to use boxer primers.

[adrians]

I bought some felt wads today. I am going to "The Dark Side" for awhile (shooting black).

I have some black powder I want to burn up so am going to load it in the 71 Mauser and my Rolling Block 40-65.

I have some Berdan primed cases from the late 1880s that I am going to use for this. Only have about 100 primers so will make some inserts for the cases later to use boxer primers.

Leadman ,sounds like a bucket full of fun.
i can see me doing this in the future ,my trapdoor has seen BP and smokeless and it doesn't complain,,, fun,,,fun,,,fun. :bigsmyl2:
i'm out of Black now so i'll try some Trailboss and see if the 43 mauser likes it, if not ,well the fun will continue until i find something that it does like.
good shooting,,, :evil: :drinks: :twisted:

[leadman]

Janoosh, Buffalo Arms is/was selling these guns so check with them on any parts they may also have. Numrich is another possibility.
There is another source for parts but I will have to dig around and try to find it.

[Janoosh]

Thanks, Leadman. I tried Numrich as they are within driving distance from where I live. No go on firing pin. Tried Sarco,inc. They had some from some shotgun conversions they brought in. As usual. I was a day late and a dollar short. These are not good financial times. Thanks for the heads up on Buffalo Arms. I wll give them a try. I've got one box of Canadian Ammo I'm hoarding. And two original paper patched rounds. Learning to take pictures, and post them, so may show them soon. (I hope).

[Chicken Thief]

Forming from 45-90 is a 3 step action. Anneal, FL size and trimming to length.

One thing i have learned is to size a case long and check for chamber fit. This is important because the rim is thinner on the 45-90 and if full length sized to the shell holder the loaded round will be slammed forward in the chamber at firing. Result is backed out primers and case stretching big time!

A small O-ring or some tape around the front of the rim will aid the case in forming evenly all around.

The top/left 2 are original and the bottom/right are conversions:
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Mauser%2071-84/R0010720.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Mauser%2071-84/R0010721.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Mauser%2071-84/R0010583.jpg

It will swallow 77 grains of Swiss #4 BP and leave plenty room for a 1/4" grease cookie, and that is in a non fireformed case.

[Chicken Thief]

Oh yeah, the bottom is called a Mauser A-bottom and aids the extractor over the rim on bolt closing. It was a big fad in Germany from 1870-1895 (don't know why).
And the big berdan primer was "stolen" from the Russian Berdan I and II cartridge.

[adrians]

thanks Chichen thief, those pics made it easy to picture the 45-90 to 43mauser conversion.
i don't have any dies yet, heck my rifle isn't even here yet (saturday i hope) but from the sounds of it i might want to stay clear of Lee dies but the alternatives are a small fortune but i guess you get what you pay for.
i heard stories of the Lee shellholder not holding up to forming brass,
what size holder would i need if i go with RCBS any idea? IIRC it's #22 but not sure.
i'll "study-up" on the 45-90 brass and see what savings i can expect if i form my own.(i will, i know,.) [smilie=1:
thanks and have a good night.
:evil:[smilie=p::twisted:

[Mk42gunner]

Adrians,

The RCBS #22 fits the .43 Spanish for sure, and probably the .43 Mauser. My RCBS .45-70 die box says to use the #14 shellholder, so that should be the one for the .45-90 also.

Personally, I would buy some already formed cases, I don't like the way the .45-90 cases buldge forward of the web.

Robert

[Pieter C. Voss]

I have a 71/84 I bought from Old Western Scrounger--it was one of the prop guns used in filming "The Last Samurai." These guns had their barrels reblued and receivers polished, new (reproduction) wood installed, and trigger guards painted (gold, to look like brass). They were also made into single shot guns. My gun has a very good bore, and after stripping off the cheap lacquer finish on the (probably birch) stock and staining it first with a concoction of stains I mixed up from some leftovers in the garage and later, following up with some pretty good (redder) stuff I bought at the Reno gun show, it looks pretty good. I also removed the gold paint from the trigger guard and cold blued it . I bought the Bertram brass from Midway (expensive--over $3 per case), Lee dies and the Lyman mold. Bullets cast 20:1 lead/tin and pan lubed with a mixture of toilet ring wax, beeswax, and candle paraffin shoot pretty good with 23-24g AA5744 or RL-7. A friend did the work of expanding and sizing 45-90 brass for me but the one time I tried those cases (with the same load) the primers backed out. I thought it must be because he didn't put a bevel on the outside of the rims--the fired cases all showed an indentation from the extractor. I ought to try BP in this gun, or a BP substitute, but don't like cleaning. Oh yeah, the Lee dies seem just fine to me--possibly modifying the seating stem might help. I expand cases after sizing with a tapered drift and try to get the bullets started in straight by hand but after seating some of the cartridges show more bulge on one side or the other--I'm sure this affects accuracy. Still learning.

[Chicken Thief]

@ adrians

Basically you need to size but once to form the brass. I use the Lee set and it is correct that the expander is a tad small (shoot me a PB and i can make you one of proper diam!) Other than that it works a treat.

@ Mk42gunner

45-90 brass set me back @$1.1 a pop and Bertram 43 Mauser is something like $6.5 and Hornebeer is worse still. So i got 100 pcs of bulged brass, 1000 primers and 4 pounds of BP instead of 100 pcs of proper size brass. Dont know about you but for me with limited funds it was a nobrainer.

@ Pieter C. Voss

If the neck bulges while seating the bullet you just might be sizing the bullets at the same time. The neck only needs to be sized 0.002" under bullet diam, thats the max brass will spring back and hold the bullet.

[Mk42gunner]

Yikes! For $6.50 a case, I believe I would do the same. I forgot you are on the other side of the pond, and cases are considerably more expensive over there.

I just don't like seeing buldged cases, when better fitting ones are available.

Robert

[Chicken Thief]

Tell me about it!
I pay 48% in tax and then another 25% in WAT on whatever i buy, and dont even get me started on special taxes on anything from matches to light bulbs and chocolate.