1871 Mauser

Bjmurata, what bullet are you using? What diameter is it sized to?

If you took it hunting and the CO was investigating and found your cases, I think he would be a might bit confused looking at the head stamps and trying to figure out what caliber the rifle really is.
 
:)
35Wailin said:
Bjmurata, what bullet are you using? What diameter is it sized to?

If you took it hunting and the CO was investigating and found your cases, I think he would be a might bit confused looking at the head stamps and trying to figure out what caliber the rifle really is.
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The bullets I'm using for my 43's came from a fella out west,G.K. Henry, around 30 years ago.I'm down to my last 100 now and they have shot fine in my rifles,both single shot Model 71's. The bullets are cast of a soft alloy,weigh 350 grains and are sized to .446".
I hadn't thought about the various headstamps confusing anybody before, if I take one of these old timers out for a hunt maybe I had better bring along a pair of calipers and a round or two with the proper headstamp.Wouldn't want any unnecessary headscratching to take place.
 
The carbine had a different load for the cartridge, 55grs of fffg, standard infantry load for the long rifle is 72gr fffg powder.... I had the carbine and had to do some homework because the standard cartridge was a nasty thing to shoot through it. I found out the carbine had a lighter load.
 
tula said:
The carbine had a different load for the cartridge, 55grs of fffg, standard infantry load for the long rifle is 72gr fffg powder.... I had the carbine and had to do some homework because the standard cartridge was a nasty thing to shoot through it. I found out the carbine had a lighter load.
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The U.S. Army did the same thing with the .45/70 in the 1873 Springfield. The rifle load was a 500 grain lead bullet over 70 grains of black. The carbine(cavalry) was a 405 grain over 55 grains of black. I am pretty sure those numbers are correct.
 
The shell holder from RCBS that you need for the 43 Mauser is Shell Holder No. 22. It's not listed on some charts but it's available.
My original Lee shell holder broke as it was too weak for some operation. The replacement from Lee was modified to use in the Lee hand priming tool. The base had to be cut off and the centre hole had to be enlarged. It works well on both my 43 Mauser and 43 Spanish cases.
 
Good idea. I received a replacement from Lee, but have been using the RCBS to size, prime and load. I will modify my Lee to use in the hand prime... That will make my life a little simpler...
 
Wailin-Have you modified the shell holder yet? Let's see some pictures.

I'm getting ready to put some A bases onto a friend's 45/70 brass as the first step to make 43 Mauser brass. It'll be a bit short but will work just as well. I'll snap some pictures and post them here.
 
To make the A-base on 45/70 or 45/90 brass one has to construct a little die and punch to push the rim up. See picture #1. This little die was constructed on a lathe but one could make something like this by soldering two washers onto a steel plate. I use a hammer and work on a case until it looks even. In picture #2 we have three cases. An unconverted 45/70 case, a Dominion 43 Mauser case, and a 45/90 case that has its rim raised up with the little die. We are trying to emulate the 43 Mauser case. Raising the outer rim of the 45/70 or 45/90 case does two things. It increases the head space and it allows the extractor to ride over the case as it was designed to do.



 
Next, the cases are annealed. The mouth of the case is rotated in the flame until the Tempilaq melts. It's then dumped into water. The cases are then cleaned to remove the Tempilaq.

 
Here are the cleaned cases with the freshly made A-Bases showing.


The cases were lubed and run through the Lee 43 Mauser die to form the neck. This was a smooth one-step operation.



The cases are ready to be loaded and fire-formed by my buddy. It will usually take two firings to fully form the case.
 
35Wailin said:
So far, so good. Only fired 2. They will not hold the bullets for the second load, but my rifle slugs out at .451" and the bullets I have are .439", so I'm not really surprised. I loaded the other cases with the .439 bullets and they hold fine. I'll get another 50 of the .439s and paper patch them until I can get a proper sized mold to proper sized bullets.
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I have a Remington rolling block in 43 Spanish that uses bullets sized to 439. The brass also has the Mauser a-base but it is made from a Winchester 348 case. My71/84 Mauser uses .446 sized bullets. I have a bunch of Dominion 43 Mauser brass which I have stopped using when 5 cases split longitudinally at the head. I now use only 45/90 brass that was converted to 43 Mauser and have had no grief with them after several reloads. I partial neck size them with a Lee 43 Mauser die. I then flare the neck a wee bit with a 9 mm Luger die. (Weird but it was on hand and works.) I seat the bullet with the Lee die and sometimes I do a factory crimp using a Lee 338 Factory Crimp die that I opened up to .446.

Wailin- Paper patching your .439 bullets up to size is a good idea. With a .451 groove diameter you likely will need to start with 45 caliber bullets sized down to fit your rifle. It's a lot of fun getting an old gun shooting again and especially when it has been in the family for a few generations.
 
Gun5tuff said:
I have a Remington rolling block in 43 Spanish that uses bullets sized to 439. The brass also has the Mauser a-base but it is made from a Winchester 348 case. My71/84 Mauser uses .446 sized bullets. I have a bunch of Dominion 43 Mauser brass which I have stopped using when 5 cases split longitudinally at the head. I now use only 45/90 brass that was converted to 43 Mauser and have had no grief with them after several reloads. I partial neck size them with a Lee 43 Mauser die. I then flare the neck a wee bit with a 9 mm Luger die. (Weird but it was on hand and works.) I seat the bullet with the Lee die and sometimes I do a factory crimp using a Lee 338 Factory Crimp die that I opened up to .446.



Wailin- Paper patching your .439 bullets up to size is a good idea. With a .451 groove diameter you likely will need to start with 45 caliber bullets sized down to fit your rifle. It's a lot of fun getting an old gun shooting again and especially when it has been in the family for a few generations.
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Next year, when my renovations are done, I plan to spend some time working with this rifle and load. I think it will be fun, I just have higher priorities at this time...
 
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