43 Mauser ammunition

stevejones

stevejones

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Well, I have managed to land a couple of 1871 Mausers. Both are in great shape and (of course) I want to shoot them. I have some loaded ammo but I think its too old (collector?). Some is Marked DC , Dominion. One has no head stamp is Berdan primed and the bullet is paper patched.
I have almost a full box of Bertram brass (made down under mate) that is supposed to be for 43 Mauser but it is straight walled. Am I supposed to run it through a re-sizing die? It looks like a fairly significant step to do at once so perhaps the brass should be annealed first?

Cheers. Steve
 
If there are some good smokeless loads I'd be interested in hearing about them too - Someone on here helped me out a while back with great info, then I lost it all when my comp crashed.

*sorry for the thread hijack!*



P.S. - the necks don't seem to transition too heavily, but being so big annealing might be a good idea. Certainly won't hurt.
 
You can use 45/70 Trapdoor loads for the 43 Mauser. In the M71/84, the bore groove size will be about 0.446", and in the M71, in the 0.454" range, so you will want to slug the bore.

The cartridge has a long distinct neck, but the shoulder is not very pronounced - it is not straight-walled.

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if useing blackpowder loads the best load I've used is 72grs of fffg for the infantry rifle, and for the calvery carbine use 55grs of fffg...other wise you get the s#@t kicked out of your shoulder and wast alot of powder, beside thats what the origanal black powder loads were for both of them.
 
Sizing?

Ok. So thanks for the feedback.... Any thoughts re. my query as to whether or not I can run the Bertram brass through a 43 Mauser resizing die? as mentioned, it is straight walled so it has to become bottle necked to chamber in the rifle(s).
Oh by the way, one is a cavalry model and the other is an infantry model.

Cheers. Steve
 
I use 78gr. of Goex FFG or CTG. with a bullet cast from a Rapine mould. Both Rapine and RCBS make moulds specifically for the .43 Mauser, and the Rapine bullet works great. I pan lube them with 50/50 beeswax and Crisco. The powder is poured into the case through a 30" drop tube, a wad punched from a milk carton is seated, then the powder is compressed with a plug made from a turned down, hard cast bullet. Next comes a lube wad. I just pour lube into a perfectly level greased cookie sheet, let it dry, then punch lube wads out of the sheet using the case mouth. Seat another card wad over the lube, then seat the bullet. The bore stays clean, no need for wiping or blow tubing, and all shots stay in about 20" at 600m. I tried smokeless loads once, but the old 71/84 seemed kind of hard to please. Also, the last round in the magazine would often have its bullet pushed in from recoil. Case life with the black powder has been awesome, my 20 pieces have each been loaded more than 20 times now. Only problem is, our range is only 200. long! I have to take it out to the wide open spaces to really shoot it. Oh, and I've never sized the bullets. I shoot them as cast.
 
stevejones said:
Ok. So thanks for the feedback.... Any thoughts re. my query as to whether or not I can run the Bertram brass through a 43 Mauser resizing die? as mentioned, it is straight walled so it has to become bottle necked to chamber in the rifle(s).
Oh by the way, one is a cavalry model and the other is an infantry model.

Cheers. Steve
Click to expand...

No problem, just don't get carried away with the lube. It won't have too far to go, there shouldn't be any problem.
 
I would think you could run the brass in the sizer die to form the .43 Mauser.Have never done it myself but use to make .33 Winchester brass by running .45-70 brass in the .33 Winchester sizer die and then trimmimg.
 
I'm shooting a nice 1871 mauser (thanks tula!) and am having my best luck with 60gr ffg with cornmeal filler and a 390gr hard cast bullet. 2-3" groups at 50 yards with no problems.
 
Hard cast bullet

So what constitutes a "hard" cast bullet? I know the Brits used pure lead with about 16% tin in it. Is there a ratio one can use? I have pure lead and I have lead free solder. I suppose i can experiment by adding it to the pot until a suitable result happens...

Cheers. Steve.
 
In the 71 mauser you can also use 45-70 shells as the parent stock. They are about .1" short but they work. The 71 does not have an ejector and does not require a rebated rim. Also as long as you stick to black powder or don't use high pressure smokeless loads the cases will bulge a bit to fit the chamber but they work.
With the hard cast bullets try using about 50% wheel weights and temper the bullets by dropping into water from about 4" above the surface and after the sprue has hardened. I think you will find that soft bullets with less than 5% tin/antimony will also work well

cheers mooncoon

cheers mooncoon
 
I got the proper cast bullets for the 43 Mauser from Ben Hunchak who lurks here. His cast bullets are top notch. I used black powder for a bit before changing to SR4759 which is a single base smokeless, and used the load data from their web site for 38-55 and 45-70 cartridges. My little cavalry carbine shot awsome. I also use SR4759 for all of my cast bullet lower velocity loads in .303 British and for duplex loadings in my Sniders and Matini Henry rifles with great success. Good luck, Dave
 
I use 25grs. of 2400 (no fillers, Fed 215 primer) with the RCBS cast bullet (around the 390gr. weight, sized .446 dia.) in my nearly mint bored 71/84. Brass life goes for ever with the exception of a few in the early stages having rim separations (balloon head cases) but the solid headed brass (HDS etc) has not failed. I also have around 30 factory, smokeless rds. squirreled
away but at $5 each I will shoot them when I need the brass.

These are my results so take this with a grain of salt.

FWIW Buffalo arms has told me Rapine bullets molds is no more.
 
M&W are no longer in the casting business. If your 71 needs oversize bullets, .454 will be difficult to find. If u had a sizer die, u could squeeze down 45-70(.457) bullets.
 
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