Seems I just joined that club. Picked up a 71/84 in a package deal. It's not the gun I wanted , but it was in the 3 gun package . The more I look at it , the more I like it. It's growing on me. I think it has to stay. This won't be cheap to play with. Here we go AGAIN !
who is loading for 43 mauser ?
- Thread starter triggerman42
- Start date
I'm loading 43 Mauser and have been for several years.
You can buy Bertram brass at last time I checked $125 for 20 pieces. If that's too spendy (was for me) here's how you make brass.
It has actually been one of the easier obselete cartridges I've loaded to date. It wasnt easy or fast to get ammo made up in this caliber but once it did get ammo made ive yet to loose a single piece of brass or have any issues.
The first thing you must do is find an original 43 Mauser cartridge as this will be pattern that you work from.
Lee makes dies for a very reasonable price so that part is easy to take care of.
For brass I successfully used 45-90 brass that I ran though my 43 die after a good annealing which left me with a 43 case that was iirc 1/8" too long. I trimmed those down and they end up being almost perfect BUT they are a bit too small at the base. Once you fire them for the first time they will expand out and be fine size wise after that. I've yet to have one split during the first firing so 45-90 seems to be the right choice as a donar cartridge.
The biggest hurdle is the rims, they are too thin and they need to be beveled to fit the bolt face of a 43 Mauser rifle. I have a lathe so it just means I have to chuck them up an make a small relief in the back of the rim to make it fit the bolt face. If you don't have a lathe it's not really any trouble as you can solve that issue buy making a small wood dowel that can be inserted into the case mouth to keep it from crushing then you can chuck it up into a drill press. Then you just use a file and slowly turn down the rims to the appropriate profile to fit the bolt face. It's tedious work but it's doable with minimal tools. The rim is on the thin side with 45-90 so I have soldered brass wire to them to make up for the sloppy head space created by a rim thays too thin. That worked but it was a lot of work so on the last set of brass I made I fireformed the brass with a rubber o-ring slipped over and against the rim to take up the headspace and then I've partially necksized them after so the case is headpacing on the shoulder and therefore the brass doesn't need the brass rings soldered on.
Lastly is the bullets which are .446" in diameter and pretty hard to find. I purchased a Lee 405 grain .459" hollow base mold for a 45-70 and a .430" sizing die. I then took the .430 sizing die and used course sandpaper and a dowel to open up the die to the size desired. I insert the sandpaper wrapped dowel into the die which ends up like a rolling pin type of arrangement and just roll it on my bench top. It took me about an hour to get it to the right size. I ran 50 caliber round balls through the die to test the size which was an easy way to do that.
So now that we have brass, bullets and dies we can load up cartridges. Ive been running Imr4198 at 28 grains with a dacron filler to keep the powder against the primer. Recoil is decent with this loading but I wouldn't call it stout. I've shot many 2.5" groups at 100 yards with the load so it's pleanty accurate and costs maybe 30 cents a shot.
Here's what the brass looks like:
Good luck loading 43 Mauser. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
You can buy Bertram brass at last time I checked $125 for 20 pieces. If that's too spendy (was for me) here's how you make brass.
It has actually been one of the easier obselete cartridges I've loaded to date. It wasnt easy or fast to get ammo made up in this caliber but once it did get ammo made ive yet to loose a single piece of brass or have any issues.
The first thing you must do is find an original 43 Mauser cartridge as this will be pattern that you work from.
Lee makes dies for a very reasonable price so that part is easy to take care of.
For brass I successfully used 45-90 brass that I ran though my 43 die after a good annealing which left me with a 43 case that was iirc 1/8" too long. I trimmed those down and they end up being almost perfect BUT they are a bit too small at the base. Once you fire them for the first time they will expand out and be fine size wise after that. I've yet to have one split during the first firing so 45-90 seems to be the right choice as a donar cartridge.
The biggest hurdle is the rims, they are too thin and they need to be beveled to fit the bolt face of a 43 Mauser rifle. I have a lathe so it just means I have to chuck them up an make a small relief in the back of the rim to make it fit the bolt face. If you don't have a lathe it's not really any trouble as you can solve that issue buy making a small wood dowel that can be inserted into the case mouth to keep it from crushing then you can chuck it up into a drill press. Then you just use a file and slowly turn down the rims to the appropriate profile to fit the bolt face. It's tedious work but it's doable with minimal tools. The rim is on the thin side with 45-90 so I have soldered brass wire to them to make up for the sloppy head space created by a rim thays too thin. That worked but it was a lot of work so on the last set of brass I made I fireformed the brass with a rubber o-ring slipped over and against the rim to take up the headspace and then I've partially necksized them after so the case is headpacing on the shoulder and therefore the brass doesn't need the brass rings soldered on.
Lastly is the bullets which are .446" in diameter and pretty hard to find. I purchased a Lee 405 grain .459" hollow base mold for a 45-70 and a .430" sizing die. I then took the .430 sizing die and used course sandpaper and a dowel to open up the die to the size desired. I insert the sandpaper wrapped dowel into the die which ends up like a rolling pin type of arrangement and just roll it on my bench top. It took me about an hour to get it to the right size. I ran 50 caliber round balls through the die to test the size which was an easy way to do that.
So now that we have brass, bullets and dies we can load up cartridges. Ive been running Imr4198 at 28 grains with a dacron filler to keep the powder against the primer. Recoil is decent with this loading but I wouldn't call it stout. I've shot many 2.5" groups at 100 yards with the load so it's pleanty accurate and costs maybe 30 cents a shot.
Here's what the brass looks like:
Good luck loading 43 Mauser. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
i'm loading 43 mauser and have been for several years.
You can buy bertram brass at last time i checked $125 for 20 pieces. If that's too spendy (was for me) here's how you make brass.
It has actually been one of the easier obselete cartridges i've loaded to date. It wasnt easy or fast to get ammo made up in this caliber but once it did get ammo made ive yet to loose a single piece of brass or have any issues.
The first thing you must do is find an original 43 mauser cartridge as this will be pattern that you work from.
Lee makes dies for a very reasonable price so that part is easy to take care of.
For brass i successfully used 45-90 brass that i ran though my 43 die after a good annealing which left me with a 43 case that was iirc 1/8" too long. I trimmed those down and they end up being almost perfect but they are a bit too small at the base. Once you fire them for the first time they will expand out and be fine size wise after that. I've yet to have one split during the first firing so 45-90 seems to be the right choice as a donar cartridge.
The biggest hurdle is the rims, they are too thin and they need to be beveled to fit the bolt face of a 43 mauser rifle. I have a lathe so it just means i have to chuck them up an make a small relief in the back of the rim to make it fit the bolt face. If you don't have a lathe it's not really any trouble as you can solve that issue buy making a small wood dowel that can be inserted into the case mouth to keep it from crushing then you can chuck it up into a drill press. Then you just use a file and slowly turn down the rims to the appropriate profile to fit the bolt face. It's tedious work but it's doable with minimal tools. The rim is on the thin side with 45-90 so i have soldered brass wire to them to make up for the sloppy head space created by a rim thays too thin. That worked but it was a lot of work so on the last set of brass i made i fireformed the brass with a rubber o-ring slipped over and against the rim to take up the headspace and then i've partially necksized them after so the case is headpacing on the shoulder and therefore the brass doesn't need the brass rings soldered on.
Lastly is the bullets which are .446" in diameter and pretty hard to find. I purchased a lee 405 grain .459" hollow base mold for a 45-70 and a .430" sizing die. I then took the .430 sizing die and used course sandpaper and a dowel to open up the die to the size desired. I insert the sandpaper wrapped dowel into the die which ends up like a rolling pin type of arrangement and just roll it on my bench top. It took me about an hour to get it to the right size. I ran 50 caliber round balls through the die to test the size which was an easy way to do that.
So now that we have brass, bullets and dies we can load up cartridges. Ive been running imr4198 at 28 grains with a dacron filler to keep the powder against the primer. Recoil is decent with this loading but i wouldn't call it stout. I've shot many 2.5" groups at 100 yards with the load so it's pleanty accurate and costs maybe 30 cents a shot.
Here's what the brass looks like:
good luck loading 43 mauser. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
thank you
You're very welcome. Just loaded some 43 Mauser the other day and I'm still loading these same cases I made. That makes over a dozen times and still no issues.
I've loaded for the 43 Mauser for years. I have a good stock of "correct" brass, but have shot dozens of rounds using common 45-70 brass. The neck is shorter than spec, but there's still plenty of neck to grip the bullet. After first firing there's enough neck to maintain correct headspace orientation.
As for loads - I use 45-70 "Trapdoor" loads of which there are many, mainly with one of the 4198's.
Bullets are all cast, usually 400 grs or heavier and are 45 Cal rifle bullets with deep lube grooves, sized in a Custom 0.447" push-through sizing die.
As for loads - I use 45-70 "Trapdoor" loads of which there are many, mainly with one of the 4198's.
Bullets are all cast, usually 400 grs or heavier and are 45 Cal rifle bullets with deep lube grooves, sized in a Custom 0.447" push-through sizing die.
