43 Spanish

[fatelk]

After decades of tinkering with just about every other type of firearm, I finally bought an old Remington Rolling Block, in .43 Spanish. Now comes the fun of making ammo for it.

I bought some Lee dies, slugged the bore, and have read several threads about making/reforming brass. Now I just need to figure out whether it's worth-while to make or buy brass, and find a bullet mold.

Brass- Track of the Wolf has brass (in stock) for $3.99 each, and Buffalo Arms has reformed 50-110 for $2.89 (out of stock). It appears that both of these types have a decent reputation for longevity? Any experience with either? I don't mind spending some money if they will last for many reloads without failing.
I did make one case by reforming and modifying a 7mm Magnum. It takes some work but is very doable. I found the necessary c-clips on McMaster Carr but haven't ordered them yet. Thank you to member Fishoot for posting the catalog number in another thread.
I may order some brass, and make some as well. My concern is that my chamber has a couple small gouges in it, not enough to hinder extraction, but I wonder how they may affect brass longevity.

Bullets- I can't find the Lyman 439186 anywhere. My bore seems to be about .442 anyhow, but I plan on powder-coating and that bumps up the diameter a bit. I wonder about a custom mold from Accurate Molds? I don't see one specifically for the .43 Spanish in the catalog, but in the past he's been great about modifying a design to fit. Is 370gr the optimal weight for this cartridge?

I may do some black powder reloading, but I think mostly I'll be using moderate smokeless loads.

Thank you for any and all comments and guidance.

[Mk42gunner]

I think 370 was the default weight, since it was factory loaded with that or very close to it. I have both the Lyman 439186 and a Rapine that is very close to it (I haven't weighed it in several years). However the RCBS mold was about 340 grains IIRC, never got one of those.

I never used smokeless in mine, but I know a lot of people did and several posted about it. You have probably read all those posts too.

With a .442" groove diameter, you may be better off looking for a mold meant for the .44-77 which is pretty much the same case just .007" larger in projectile diameter. Or the 11mm Mauser should be close.

If you aren't planning to use this in competition where you need close to a hundred ready to go loads, just how many cases do you really need for an occasionally shot rifle? It's not like its a .22 where you are going to shoot 500 in an afternoon.

Robert

[fatelk]

Exactly. I was thinking I'd order 20 cases, and tinker with making a few myself from mag cases. That should really be plenty for my purposes. If it's like most of my other projects, it won't get shot that often after I get a good load figured out.

As to bullet diameter, that's what I like about Accurate Molds; He'll cut them whatever diameter needed. I have read that it seems to be a common issue that if the bullets are very much oversized, they won't chamber.

I had the opportunity to buy one in 50-70, but it was more money. I'm starting to wish I had; it seems like a much easier caliber to load for, and coincidentally I already have a mold, even though I've never owned anything in .50-70.

[Whole Bunches]

Here's my 43 Spanish story. Bought 20 rounds of "custom loaded" 43 Spanish off of Gunbroker. Couldn't find empty brass at that time and figured I'd now have at leasts 20 cases to reload. Brass was made by JBA (no longer in business). Took 1 round apart: Lyman 439186, sized .439", hard bullets to my thumbnail, coated with some type of dark gray coating, 5744 powder, boxer primed brass. First 3 shots great! Then the group started opening up getting worse and worse. Bore heavy leaded; took much work to get out. Slugged my bore and got .442 or a hair more (don't remember exact diameter).

Got Lyman 439186 mould. Cast of 20/1 they came out with the largest diameter being .443". Ordered custom .443" sizing die from Buffalo Arms and Lee die set. Running my newly cast bullets through the .443" sizer, they basically get lubed with little to no sizing down of diameter. Lubed with 50/50 NRA formula.

I only size my brass enough to resize about 1/10th inch down from the case mouth. No crimping of the case mouth. I'm a smokeless powder guy and used Unique to start. At 11.0gr Unique and 3.15" oal, I got 995fps with fine accuracy and windage was right on. No leading. I know it's a slow velocity, but it works for my needs. Got a few hundred rounds through it now with no lost JBA cases. I've now added 20 Bertram cases, but only have 2 reloads each through them...working fine so far.

Found a guy giving away (only pay small box flat rate shipping) 16 bad looking JBA 43 Spanish cases he found in a box of scrap brass he bought to melt down for a craft project. He hoped someone could use them, rather than melting them down. Decided I'd go for it. A friend that wet tumbles took them and they came out Great as in brand new looking. 16 JBA 43 Spanish cases for $8.40 with no dents, splits, or holes. Couldn't get the "after" pic to load, but here's the "before". Before, they wouldn't chamber. After, they all chambered without me having to resize them.

[Mk42gunner]

One thing that came to mind in the middle of the night: the Lee die set is only two dies, no expander (hey its a bottle necked case right?).

Back when I got mine, I had no idea of the Lyman M-die, so I just bumped the case mouth onto the expander of my RCBS .45-70 die set. It worked, not the best, but it did let me load 20:1 projectiles without shaving lead.

Oh, and buy an extra shell holder. The thick rim space seems to make these the weak point in loading for this round.

Robert

[Whole Bunches]

So far, I've been able to get by with simply inside chamfering of the case mouth with no expanding needed and no shaving of lead, but then I don't resize the case mouth much.

[fatelk]

You guys are going to laugh at me. I've been too cheap to buy brass, molds, or sizers yet, and too busy to tinker with it very much. I did modify a couple of 7mm Magnum cases: trimmed, sized, filed both the belt and the necks on a drill press, annealed the necks, used metal clips for the rims. I'll probably just stick with this rinky-dink method rather than buy nice cases.

The chamber neck in this rifle has been gouged by a previous owner, so the fired brass comes out with bumps in the neck. It seems cosmetic more than anything else, doesn't affect chambering, but I'd hate to buy expensive brass only to have it all marked up and ugly after a couple firings.

For bullets so far, I've used what I have on hand. I took some Lee 457-340 bullets, ran them through a .431" sizer, and paper-patched them up to .440". Again, pretty rinky-dink, but it works. I took it along when I went to the range, and fired two shots at 25 yards- bullet holes touching. I loaded up two more, and took it along again today- two shots almost touching again. It shows promise!

Soon I'll get serious with it and buy some molds and a sizer. I think I'll stick with moderate smokeless loads for now, rather than black powder. It's easier in many ways, and I just don't have the time to really do it right.

[Mk42gunner]

I'm not laughing. While I haven't yet made cases from any of the belted mag assortment, I did think about paper patching .44 mag boolits up to fit mine before I just went ahead and bought the 439186.

Later I found the Rapine mold on ebay, back when things were sometimes affordable there.

If it works, and you are happy with it, I have no problems as long as you stay safe.

Robert

[15meter]

I bought my circle clips off amazon for cheap money. Don't remember the size, slightly oversized.

They were pennies a piece and delivered to the door.

Pinched them closed in the vise.

[fatelk]

I finally got out to the range again. So far I still haven't bought any brass, molds, or sizers yet, but I did get some clips, modified 5 pieces of brass, and using a moderate charge of SR4759 and my funky, amateur paper-patched, resized 45-70 bullets, and took them to the range.

I figure this wasn't too bad (25 yards) for a nearly 150 year old rifle with primitive sights, in the pouring rain, with my cobbled-together, makeshift ammo.

[salpal48]

I have several 43 Spanish Rolling blocks. The brass made be Track of the Wolf Is an exact Duplicate of Traditional Remington style with The rounded rim. Long lasting worth the Money spent . . Every One Fired in all my RB's
The one's Made of 50/110 are Ok but not great. They work sometimes . and work well in some of my RB's. Rims are way to thin and small. if you get them to work Great But Only neck size Later . some work Better than Others

[NuJudge]

I had a pair of Remington Rolling Block rifles up until 2002, when I sold them. They were full military, with beautiful barrels, but the groove diameters were .446". The chambers were cut with necks that would not admit a cartridge assembled with a bullet that big. You may have the same problem.