.43 Spanish reloading data ?

[Musket Man]

I was looking at a Remington Rolling Block chambered in .43 Spanish. If I get the ole girl I definitely want to shoot some handloads through her but I am having a hard time finding any reloading data for this round. I went to the Hodgdon website and came up empty handed. I know Lee Precision makes a die set for this round so I would imagine it has the data sheet that normally comes with their dies. I was just curious to any information on this round may be and what kind of performance you guys have with black powder and smokeless.

Thanks

[enfield]

This should probably be in a different section ( black powder ). the Lee Dies for some of the large old BP cartridges don't come with reloading data for smokeless. I would stick to BP myself, maybe 4759 but unless you already have some, you wont find any.

[curator]

Do a search on this site and you will find some useful data. The Lee Reloading handbook uses .45-70 "trapdoor" data reduced 10%. There is a lot of variation among .43 Spanish rolling block bores and chambers. Many of them were modified for the .43 Reformado which is similar but used a larger bullet (.454 versus .439) Each rifle will have its own idiosyncrasies. A cerosafe chamber cast is a good idea before buying brass and dies.

[Mk42gunner]

All I've used is a case full of FFg, a Coca-Cola box wad and a Lyman 439186. It worked well enough for plinking in the desert.

I really need to get back to loading for that rifle.

Robert

[r1kk1]

Write the powder companies. This seems to be a lost art. Accurate Arms will send data most likely 5744. Alliant has given me the least help while Accurate Arms has given me the most. Hodgdon ranks very close to Accurate Arms. Trail Boss is another good powder to use in the old girl. There are black powder substitutes on the market. I use to form cases for this cartridge and the 11mm Gras. I don't do wall hangers.

take care

r1kk1

[Guesser]

I use a BP substitute in mine that duplicates the BP loads by volume. BP will work well but cleanup is so much faster and easier with the substitute. I use the large Lee dipper, 4.3, to scoop the 2fg substitute and I seat the bullets out just so they do not compress the powder. The substitute does not react well to compression, unlike BP. I use a Walters Wads veggie card under the bullet.
I've never tried smokeless. One of the old Accurate Powder load manuals has smokeless loads in it.

[rwadley]

The Spring 2017 issue of Black Powder Cartridge News has an article on this round with some smokeless load data.

[maxreloader]

Be careful with CIL brass, it is not the most reliable.

[Scorpion8]

I was hunting for load data for my Rolling Block awhile back and got these stored away for use with 370-gr RN Maplewood cast bullets for this round.

Smokeless -- 25.0g Accurate 5744
Black Powder – 78.0 g FF (“2F”)

https://www.buffaloarms.com/43-spanish-11-15x58r-ammunition-370-grn-rn-lead-black-powder-box-of-20-amo43spanb

[trails4u]

I'm with Mk42....fill the case with FFg enough so to leave yourself some compression. I use a .030 fiber wad between the powder and bullet, and generally try to compress around .200. I don't remember offhand my exact load with the 439186, but I believe it is right around 70g. You could probably get more in there with a long drop tube.

[Mk42gunner]

trails4u brought up a point I forgot to mention, drop tubes. I made mine from a ~2 foot piece of 3/8"copper, flared on both ends. One end let the powder funnel fit inside, the other rests on the case mouth.

I bought the .43 cal arch punch from Buffalo Arms when I was getting started, but I think you could get away with using a 7/16" hollow punch from Harbor Freight.

Robert