43 spanish

glyn

I am looking for reloading data for the 43 spanish,does any one have that info,cant seem to find it any where.

dandak1

Ah yes...I am assuming you are the proud owner of a Remington Rolling Block. I bought one once and ran into the same trouble you are having. I'd have it checked out to make sure it is safe for shooting, and if it is a rolling block and is considered safe, then if I were you I would stick to blackpowder or Pyrodex only. At the time I owned it I had just got into blackpowder cartridge reloading, and had learned very few tricks that help these things shoot better. Now there is an entire book out there on reloading the 43 Spanish called "Shooting the 43 Spanish Rolling Block". I'll put a link at the end of this post.
Lyman makes a mold for it, still in production.
Buffalo Arms sells cases that I believe are made from 348 winchester cases.
Tooling was an issue for me. At the time I had access to miiling machines and lathes at the shop where I worked, and made shellholders for my herters press, rcbs press, and Lee priming tool.
I believe Lee still makes dies for this.
In any case, I dont know your experience reloading black powder powder cartridges, it is a bit different than smokeless reloading and there are many books out there to teach you. Here is the 43 spanish book.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=359249

glyn

thanks Dan,yes I am pretty experienced with blackpowder and Rolling Blocks as I have been reloading with BP for the last 20 years but in 45-70.I also have 11 Rolling Blocks so have some experience with them.Can you remember what the charge was that you loaded the brass with.This is actually not for me but a friend.

dandak1

I set my black powder measure to 70 grains volume but used Pyrodex RS in it and also tried Goex 2F. I have no idea what the actual weight of the pyrodex load was since it is designed to be loaded by volume and not weight. I tried 3 alloys using the Lyman mold: wheelweights, 20:1 lead to tin, and pure lead. Accuracy was terrible. I mean, some 3 shot groups were around or over 1 foot at 50 yards!!! Best average group was 5.3" using pure lead and 70 VE (volume equivalent) Pyrodex RS. As you know, you cannot allow any airspace in a bpcr round, so the charge you want to use is actually dictated by the seating depth of the bullet...you want a slight compression of the powder, maybe 1/16" or so, to make sure there is no air space. Called Hodgon once to get some data, they told me to determine my seating depth with the bullet I will use, then take an empty case and inside the case make a mark that represents where the base of the bullet will be. Then fill the case to that line with Pyrodex RS, then empty the powder from the case into a measure and use that for your load. Mine came out around the 70 grains marking on the black powder volume measure I had. At the time I had this I was relatively new to bpcr reloading. As an aside, I had terrible results in a 45-75 until I tried seating a 0.030" LDPE wad (from buffalo arms) on top of the powder charge which shrunk my groups down to under 3" at 100 yards. I wish now I would have kept the rolling block to see what a wad would have done to the accuracy there...at the time I had no idea what a drastic effect a wad would have. Land size in the remington was 0.434" and groove was 0.440" if that helps you. My bore was pitted but was not a sewer pipe like some of the 43 spanish rolling blocks I have seen. Expected better accuracy out of it and after a year or so sold it at a gun show. Anyway, hope this helps, and hope your friends 43 is better than the one I had.

glyn

Thanks Dan much appreciated.

Michibay

Cartridges of the World 1972 page 198

4198 powder 32 grains for 1360 MV using 387 gr bullet