Egyptian Rolling Block Rifle

[rk4570]

OK, I am sure many of you have been through this, I went to the local gun show with a buddy to look around & came home with a .43 Egyptian Rolling Block Military Rifle. I've had some RBs in the past & I think this one is in very good condition. My problem is I haven't been shooting for several years (Now 78) but I am wondering if I should get some .43 dies & molds to have some fun or be more realistic and sell it to someone who can. Is anyone shooting a RB in this caliber ?
Thanks for your help, RK

[WILCO]

Continue the adventure!

Buy the dies and supplies.

Make smoked empties!

You can do it!!!!

[15meter]

Not a 43 Egyptian, but a .43 Spanish, kinda like a 3rd cousin, twice removed. Go for it. They're a hoot to shoot.

There are more and more vintage military rifle shoots around, you'd fit right in with the old rummies at my club.

Trapdoors, Rolling Blocks, Spencers, Garands, Carcano's, Mausers of every flavor and vintage show up.

Make noise! Annoy the neighbors! Scare the kids! It's what old guys are supposed to do.

[firefly1957]

I saw a paper patched round in a box of old rounds in my grandfathers gun room asked him about it he said it was for a rolling block rifle he used to own. He swapped it off when he could no longer get .43 Egyptian ammo for it . He said it was a heck of a brush gun for deer when he was in his 20's he was born in 1998 .
I still have the round in my cartridge collection no date on it .

[RustyReel]

I had an Egyptian. Bought 10 pc of brass from Buff Arms and the stuff to cast and load with. Loaded 5 rounds of BP to try it out, after 2 rounds decided it was unsafe to shoot and not in good enough condition to go to the expense of having it repaired. Sold it off as parts as I'm not going to sell another shooter an unsafe firearm. If I ran across a decent one at a reasonable price I would probably buy it, but all the ones I see are very well used.

[marlinman93]

Before you invest in anything, get the brass first! Since that's the toughest thing to find, it will determine whether you want to pursue anything else. A lot of people order dies, bullets, molds, etc., and then either can't find brass, or get sticker shock when they find this brass can cost $3-$4 each!

[rk4570]

Thanks for all the fast replies and advice!!
At this point, I'll be selling the R.B. as soon as I can post it with pictures & price.

RK

[b67]

So many experts.... 43 Egyptian is a great cartridge I suspect it was a Remington sales tactic at it's start. Their two most promoted cartridges were 50-70 and 43 Spanish.... Egypt wanted a proprietary cartridge and Remington gave them one....50-70 necked down to 43....Now if you want to make this you need to start with 50-90, but then you probably cant spin brass, but I digress....It isn't really a 43 compared to Spanish or 43 Mauser....In 1937, when Phil Sharpe published his state of the art reloading tome, a book all should own, even today.... Remington was still producing four black powder rifle cartridges: 43 Egyptian, 43 Beaumont, 43 Mauser and 43 Spanish....According to Remington, 43 Egyptian and Beaumont used .453 bullets,43 Mauser used 446 bullets and 43 Spanish used .436 bullets....My point here is that the internet and Frank Barnes and Cartridges of the World aren't always correct...Due diligence is always the right path.....

[john.k]

You dont need the expense of die sets in the old black powder militaries.......die sets Ive seen are greatly undersize ,and if used to form brass ,cause collapses,and for reloading ,no sizing is ever needed...........Also note the reason various bullet sizes are quoted is that all the old militaries were paper patched ,and different thickness paper ,different bullet diameters.

[marlinman93]

I don't believe any of the various .43's the military Rolling Blocks were sold in were done so as sales tactics. All of them post date the Remington .44-77BN cartridge, and Remington tried to sell each country on the idea of chambering military rifles in the .44-77BN, but each of them wanted their own proprietary cartridge. So what Remington did was keep everything they could the same or close to the .44-77BN, and just changed the case design and reamers enough to not make the various .43's interchangeable, but make production less expensive still.
.43 Mauser, .43 Egyptian, .43 Spanish, .43 Reformado, all are based off the .44-77BN Remington introduced back around 1873.