First shots from the 43 RB

[Marvin S]

Got to shoot the 43 Spanish today using the boolits from my home made mold. These where cast from dead soft lead and sized to .440 and pan lubed with a mix of bees wax, paraffin wax and petro jelly. Loaded with 24.5 gr XMP 5744. It shot well with zero leading. The only bad thing is it shoots about 18in high and 8in left at 100 yards. It was a lot of fun to shoot out to 300 to 800 yards at old barrels and concrete slabs. I have already named the gun, Big Medicine. I will do some sight work and take the chronograph next time.:Fire:

[405]

Can't remember but think you had the inquiry on an earlier thread about the 43 Spanish?
No matter, sounds like good results to me! Mine has an excellent bore with .440-.441 groove dia. I messed around with the so-called Lyman 43 Spanish mold. Finally gave up on the soft cast dropping at .439 from that mold. Went with a custom cut mold at 380 gr. that would drop a .443 bullet. Sized to .442. Even had it gas- checked. I know that's cheating but I can get a sewer pipe to go bang and send somethin downrange. So be it, I don't think 5744 was around in 1879 either :mrgreen:

With the best bullet weight and correct fit out of the new mold, mine has shot 5 shot groups of .41" at 50 yards. With the issue sights it would shoot a full 12" high at 50 yds on the minimum rear sight setting plus the sight picture was terrible. I didn't want to alter the gun with more holes for other sights so I rigged a rear base with an adjustable peep that would use the existing screw holes and JBed a taller front blade onto the existing front blade and block. That cured the long minimum range and the sight picture problems. I shoot about 21 grains of 5744 with a low density dacron fluff under the 380 grain bullet. The chrony mean vel for that load is 1144 fps with an SD of 11. It's now one of my best original single shot rifles. Glad you got yours shooting and congrats with the self made mold!

[Marvin S]

Do you have to turn the necks to get a .442 to chamber. I also bought the Lyman mold, wish I had not now. I thought about replacing the rear sight or getting a spare and milling down the part that the ladder bottoms out on to lower it.

[405]

Marvin S,
When I decided to give up on the Lyman mold I slugged the throat. I used a 520 gr smooth sided 45 cal long round nose slug of pure lead. Drove it in to where the midpoint of the slug was about at middle of the throat. It gave a good impression of the first part of the bore, the throat and the end of the chamber. That helped with the design of the mold specs. It also showed the specs of the end of the neck. After I got the .443 mold I tried chambering a round loaded with the .443 dia bullet just to make sure. I use Bertram brass that is not turned. No chambering problem with that diameter. I got a Lee push thru die sized at .442. I put the gas checks on, run the bullets thru the .442 sizer then pan lube with a modified Felix lube. I use Bertram brass that is not turned. I anneal the necks on all such BPCR type brass about once a year and use a primer flash hole deburring tool once on all brass when new. That's about it.

[Marvin S]

I made some push through sizer's @ .440 .441 and .442. The .440s go in good the .441 will with a clean chamber but .442 wont. The chamber is just tight on mine, like most every one that shoot's these. So far it's not been a big problem, so Ill work on the sights next and go from there. Im getting quite a few unburnt powder kernels with the 5744 and the boolits are fitting tight in the cases, any suggestions?

[405]

I imagine my chamber is largish. Lucky in that respect I guess, makes for easier best bullet sizing for best bore/groove fit. I have the Lee 3 die 43 Spanish set. The expander die is their simple belling cone and not really a neck expander. If I were shooting soft, plainbase bullets in mine I'd for sure contact Buffalo Arms and get a custom expander that would open the neck up to about .001 smaller than bullet diameter. Since I'm loading a gas-checked bullet I don't worry about the neck tension sizing down the bullet when seating. The gas check simply "paves the way" for the rest of the bullet shank as it is seated. You might try screwing out the case sizer die so as to only partially resize the case. That will prevent touching the shoulder, prevent over-resizing the case body and will minimally resize the neck. May help prevent neck tension from sizing down the bullet too much when seating. Unless I'm using a custom or neck sizing die I almost always only partially resize for the single shots.

5744 kernels? No magic answer there. They are a nuisance. Sometimes, in some loads they seem to be worse. In some loads.... much less. I haven't fully figured out how to prevent it. I just go for the best accuracy within the velocity/ pressure range I want and ignore the kernels. What has surprized me about 5744, aside from the nuisance kernels, is that it is a relatively clean burning powder and cleaning the bore after shooting is no problem. Some powders seem to leave much more carbon and soot than 5744 when loaded within the BP pressure and velocity ranges

[Marvin S]

Im not going to size the cases after I have fired them. The boolits still go in snug even after fire forming.
I don't have have near the unburnt kernels in my 38-55 with 5744, just something Ill have to live with. I Just bought another pound of 5744 @ 30.00 bucks OUCH.

[405]

Yes, sounds like your neck chamber is on the smallish side. But the other possibility is that your brass has thick neck walls. I just looked at the numbers on my chamber and brass. The chamber neck diameter is .464. The walls on my Bertram brass are .009". So my .442 bullet plus total neck wall of .018 leaves loaded round at .460. As you brought up in an earlier post, you could turn your necks down a little.
30.00 for 5744 is a little steep but not horrible. I bought some a couple of weeks ago for 23.00, but that is at wholesale. There for a while 5744 and Trailboss were very hard to get. I think that both Western Powders and Hodgdon got caught behind the curve, underestimating the cast bullet and SASS/Cowboy shooters. :)

[Marvin S]

That's the difference! My chamber is the exact same @.464 but the cases are .0125 neck wall. So we got something figured out there, valuable info for anyone shooting these guns.
The powder came from a person that always has the best prices so maybe the prices are going stupid on powder also.