2F in 43 Mauser?

[leadman]

I recently bought a 43 Mauser and found that the original blackpowder load used 1F powder.
I don't have any 1F but do have 2F.

Have anyone loaded this in the 43 Mauser? Amount and did you use a filler?

[mooman76]

Too bad you weren't closer. I bought a can by mistake. I asked for 2f but they must have gave me 1f because I got it and have had it too long to ake it back.

[Guesser]

I use 2F in 43 Spanish, should be similar enough to work.

[1874Sharps]

Leadman,

The 43 Mauser is one of those guns/cartridges on my firearms bucket list. I have not loaded specifically for the 43 Mauser, but cannot see why either Fg or FFG would not work just fine for you. Perhaps one will do better than the other but it is hard to say until the experimentation is done. The FFG should give you a little higher velocity, but not all that much more. I would not bother with fillers, as you do not need any.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I shot my 71/78 for many years. I finally thought that FFFg under the 420 grain slug was too much pressure and made for heavy recoil, and even so with considerable filler.

The Fg was a bet to produce a quickly fouled bore with my RCBS GG bullet and worse with a patched bullet.

AHH ! The FFg and the RCBS GG (.446 in my gun) were made for each other with minimal compression, minimal neck size, and no crimp. PP bullets the same with a cookie sandwiched between thin wads too. The best FFg loads hovered arounf 78 grains. Yes, Large pistol primer, and a 3/8" newspaper wad under the charge.

Get someone to fit a very tall blade frontsight (3/8 or so), shoot off the battlesight and rear sight staff up to 300. Easy to pot 16 oz. drink cups. Battle sight and rear sight so you have some adjustability capability beyond 100. All Goex. BvT

[leadman]

Thanks for the info. I will load up some 2F tomorrow. Have to find something to make wads out of as it is an odd size.

Did you use a pure lead boolit or did you add tin? I have some pure lead boolits for the Spanish Mauser that might be too small at .437" but am going to try them. Might try my hand at paper patching a few to see what happens.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I am another 43 Spanish & 44-77 shooter who uses 2F. No problems and it works WELL.
I only use 1F in my 1.1" cannon and sometimes in a Smoothbore musket of large caliber.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Save the Spanish mauser bullets. They are highly likely too small . Patch a wrap and a half with .002 paper to shoot them. There should be a bore size stamp visible on the 71/84, left side octagon part if I remember right. Mine was right on, though I forget whether it was for bore or groove bore. Mine actially. measured .432/.446. For a wadcutter get a cheap red chinese punch set, hammer out the 7/16" a little with a tapered something & resharpen.

I shot nearly pure lead patched at bore size, and the ww GGs at .446. I patched heavier soft .430 pistol bullets too and they worked well. The 43 M is a sweetie. I believe the original German loaded BP was a very hot moisture carrying powder like the Swiss. It is easy to foul the last few inches of barrel with BP with too soft an alloy not enough lube. The RCBS 44-370 -fn bullet needs bigger grooves for BP. Mine was a new from the crate gun in the 1960's. What a piece of art they were. BvT

[leadman]

I know the spanish bullet is tooo small as I did a chamber cast and also drove lead slugs in the throat and muzzle.

The throat has .458" groove, .446" lands. A Lee 300gr. .452" boolit will almost go in the throat far enough to allow an empty case to chamber.

I loaded 3 with 60grs and 3 with 70 grs 2f and added COW as a filler. Lubed the boolit with SPG and seated to the first lube groove. Will see what happens tomorrow.

[leadman]

I shot the mod 71 today. Did better than I had hoped. Only fired at 25 yards but 2 shots would land within an inch of each other then the third would hit about 3" out.

Considering the primitive loading I did I think there is much potential. I need to take it to the desert and shoot into something so I can recover the boolits and inspect them, but they must be obturating to fit the bore.

[Buckshot]

..............The 1Fg used 130 years ago was a far cry from the 1Fg available today and it isn't really a direct comparison. I suspect that our 2Fg would be closer in rate, fouling, and power then our 1Fg would be. I've never seen any brand of current 1Fg except Goex, and it looked like what you would find in the bottom of a bag of charcoal briquets.

..............Buckshot