43 egyptian Rem. rolling block ammo question

[smkummer]

I just bought one of these. Bore is around .446-.448 trying to measure a 5 land barrel that is in really good shape. I have a pending deal on 32 gauge magtech brass coming, but it may be berdan primed but affordable. So I may have to alter it for 209 primers. Looks like I will need a shell holder that works for 50-70 such as Lyman 22 or RCBS 31. Anyone have one they want to sell? My plan is to slowly size down the neck with various dies and the last one being the .45acp die. I have a .451 sizer and plan on downsizing Lyman 457124 (385 grain) to .451. What I have found for loads so far besides black powder is: 465 grain lyman 446187 and 34 grains IMR 4198 for 1440 FPS and 370 grain RCBS 446 and 28 grains 4759. Anyone using 5744 which is close to 4198 in burn rate? Any other tried smokeless loads? thanks. Of course black powder is not out of the question nor are any of the substitutes. I did do a search here and that is about all I could find.

[salpal48]

There is another thread about this. You can use star line 50/90 sharps brass. I use it to form Beaumont. Which is similar

[smkummer]

I did see that but I am getting the 32 gauge brass for a really good deal if I buy all 150, of which I maybe will use 50.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I would sugest you try BP first. Every RRBlock I have owned shot BP better than any smokeless load I could find. Smokeless was not far behind but never could equal BP.
I shoot 43 Spanish in origonal Rollers. I use the Lyman .446 in it as my 43 SP has a fat throat and a .444 bore. 43 SP used either a HB boolit or was PP. I tried numerous Smokeless loads and none came to the slightly under 3 inch groups that rifle will shoot off cross sticks at 100 yards.
So when I get a BP cartridge rifle, I first shoot loads with 3F or 2F and get my benchmark to strive for with smokeless or the Substitutes. As of yet I have not found a Sub that equals my best 2F 43 Spanish load. Or 3F in my 50-95. My Bauska barreled Navy Arms roller 45-70 will come real close to the best 2F or 3F loads with Pyrodex Rifle but still lacks just a bit.
So pretty much any more I buy 3F a case at a time and just enjoy the fun. When I am out of 2F I do not know if I will get anymore as I like 3F in everything I have tried it with.
Mike in Peru

[herbert buckland]

I have had trouble with the re-formed 32 ga shot shells,the rims are not large enough for my rifle to extract reliably every time,once fire-formed and left unsized they work fine,I would be very carfull useing smokless in the brass shot shells ,they are semi balloon head and I have had a few parcial head seperations useing the formed shot shells with smokless,I have also got my best acuracy by useing larger diameter bullets(I use watever will slide into a fie-formed case,in my case the Lee 405gr 45-70 bullet works best)

[smkummer]

Thank you gentlemen, I believe my plan will be to fire first with blackpowder to form and then maybe develop smokeless loads.

[armorer59]

Depending on the primer size, Graf & Sons did have Berdan primers for sale. I loaded Berdan cases quite a bit many years ago when that's all I had for .303 and 7.62 X 54R. It's a bit more of a chore, but if you're only loading 50 or so rounds, not bad.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

If you use Berdan primers it is best to use a Berdan depriming tool. IIRC RCBS made one some years back. Forget the idea of decapping them with the "hydraulic method" ....inserting a plug in the neck of a water filled case and hitting it with something (a hammer?). I tried that a few times once upon a once and wound up cleaning walls, ceilings and me every time. LLS

[smkummer]

I do have about 100 berdan primers that I will start out with. And yes, the water/hydraulic method is messy. I have a old 12 gague shotgun loading tool that was made to pry out berdan primers so I will see if I can make it work for 32 gauge.

[smkummer]

No deal on the old magtech 32 gauge brass. It is berdan primed and even though it was priced at $15 per 25 empties, I did not want the additional issue as I still have to form the brass for 43 Egyptian. So I have some coming from Midway. If someone is interested in this brass, he has 6 boxes of it and I can pass along the contact info.

[smkummer]

Update. I received my 32 gauge brass yesterday. Using several other dies such as .348 Winchester, 45-70, 7mm mag, and finally 45 Colt, I was able to form the brass into something that would fit. My initial load of 10 grains unique and a .451 roundball did little to fire form. Then a case full of pyrodex RS and a 300 grain bullet perfectly fire formed the first case. The second case fired experienced a complete case head separation. I of course was wearing shooting glasses but could feel some of the pressure back at the face. I am fine but now I have a stuck case in the gun. I have oil soaking to try and get it out. I looked at the first case and the primer did back out some. All of this brass is somewhat short with rim headspace. Do I not use it anymore? Anything that can be done? I see that Old Western Scrounger uses 32 gauge brass for his 43 Egyptian ammo also. I may be switching to 50-95 sharps cases.

[ndnchf]

You were very fortunate not to be more seriously injured. I've read about people adapting magtech brass shells for quite a few different cartridges. Without exception, there were reports of case separations and headspace problems. A lot of folks say they work fine, but for me there are too many who've had problems to take chances with it. My suggestion is to form it from .50-90 basic as mentioned earlier, or take a chamber cast and have RMC make cases for you. Don't endanger yourself just to save a few bucks.

[smkummer]

Success. Today I was hitting a 16" steel plate at 200 yards with Lyman's 457124 sized at .451, these are weighing about 400 grains with wheel weight alloy. The rear sight originally appeared to be installed backwards and it was shooting to the right. I flipped the sight around and now it is right on to the original military sights at 200 yards with 13 grains unique. The 32 gauge brass shells are slowly forming to the chamber with every shot. This old gun is a lot of fun for the initial $250 price.