St. Etienne 1874 11x17

[JSH]

Any one ever have or fool with one of these? Found one coming up on an auction in a few weeks.
Jeff

[mikeym1a]

info here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAS_1873_revolver

[rintinglen]

I had the opportunity to buy one 2 years ago and after a great deal of hemming and hawing I finally decided to let it go. The Problem is brass. To the best of my knowledge no one has made any new ammo for these things since WWII. I saw a single round selling for 7.00 bucks as a collectible last year. Brass can be made from 44 Special cases, but those aren't exactly thick on the ground right now.
To make proper cases, at least according to Cartridges of the World you'll have to cut (trimming would take too long) the 44 case back to .71 inches, thin the rim from .055 to .035 inches, and possibly ream the case to allow seating of a .451 heeled boolit, then you'll have to scrounge up some black powder. A 44 Special sizing die with a 45 ACP expander and seater would probably work for cobbling few rounds together, though you may find that the 44 expander works better. I know of no one currently offering die sets for this caliber. To me, it was too much work.

[Wayne Smith]

And then you would have to get Lee to custom make a crimp die for the heeled boolit.