.43 Egyptian from 32 Gauge brass?

[Plowboy]

 Recently I was overcome with gunlust and purchased a Remington Rolling Block in .43 Egyptian. I thought the price was attractive but did not realize the difficulty involved in acquiring feed for my new (to me!) pet.
Whereas bullets seem to be available if not inexpensive, the best price I've seen on the web so far are almost fifty bucks for twenty. I don't even want to talk about loaded rounds 'cause I prob'ly wouldn't do that anyway.
Meanwhile, out on eBay found a listing by somebody was sellin' 32 Gauge Magtech with a description that indicated that these cases could be converted into .43 Egyptian. Although I figure I could probably beat the price quoted by butterin' up my favorite LGS proprietor, (Magtech's site says suggested retail is $18.50 whereas the eBay add wanted $25) I'm wonderin' what a pore ol' cowpoke would have to do to reform these cases into something the RRB would actually shoot.
Used up all my excess funds and my wife's patience buying the dang rifle but I'd really like to shoot it before I get dead.
Much obliged for any help you can offer.

[Delmonico]

Call RCBS and see what they can tell you about form dies, esp cost of them.  Might be cheaper in the long run to buy ready formed brass, others may be able to help on the dies, but RCBS might be a good place to start unless someone else has a source.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

My .43 Spanish cases were made from .348 W-W brass. That is difficult , as they have to be narrowed quite a bit.   Someone makes "Basic"  cases as well.  Can't recall who. Try Gads custom cartridges, I think its called.  or maybe Buffalo Arms

www.gadcustomcartridges.com

www.buffaloarms.com

Go to the SCORRS website.  There is an piece on making the .43 Sp work (with difficulty!)

[Advertising]

[b67]

32 guage works great. First you need dies. These can be had from CH 4D. You should also get the form and trim die. you should be able to get the 4 dies for under 200.00. This may seem like a lot  compared to Lee, but it is really not bad when compared to RCBS. Also the folks at CH are really great to deal with. The other thing you need is a piece of 7/16 stock, driil rod is ok. This will be used for a mandril when you form the brass. What you do is you trim the brass to about 2 inches and make sure to clean up the rough edges. Then you set up the full length sizing die in your press.[a good press such as the classic cast is a good idea allthough the first ones I formed on a Lee turret press] when the die is set up and adjusted remove the decaping rod. Now lube the outside of the brass,I like imperial size wax the best. Now place the brass in the shell holder. What you need to do now is put your piece of 7/16 stock through the top of the die and let it rest in the bottom of the brass . Now in one motion, run the brass up into the die. The neck will form niceley on the 7/16 stock. after this move the formed case to the file and trim die. File to length in the form and trim die, and if you do everything right, you will have nice 43 Egyptian brass. The thing about 32 guage is that the brass you make will be closer to the right dimension then the bertram that is out there and will will cost a fraction of the money. Magtech 32 guage is around 20.00 for 25 and Bertram is around 60.00 for 20. you can also use 50-90 brass and follow the same procedure, but the case head dimension on the 50-90 is a little small. Use this info at your own risk.

[b67]

Update: The 32 gauge brass seems hard now. You will get better results annealing the brass, otherwise you will have alot of malformed and wasted brass

[kurt250]

plowboy, get in touch with buffalo arms. there web site is most helpful. they will be able to help you. i've used them for many odd cartridges and they never have let me down. kurt250

[Ranch 13]

You'lll need a set of dies, hangon to your checkbook...
 Once you have dies you can use starline 50-70 brass, it'll be to short, or their 50-90 brass which will be a bit to long.
 You can also get 44-77 brass from Jamison now, but it'll be just a tad small in the web, but the stuff I have chambers fine, but have not loaded and fired any yet.
 Lastly you can get 43 egyptian from Rocky Mountain Cartridge Co. in Cody Wy.

 For bullets the RCBS 44 370 mould works pretty fair, also check with Montana bullet works if you don't cast your own.

[b67]

Just a few things here. The 43e brass out there( Bertram) is not correct. When you load it and fire it, it will fireform to your rifle. The amount it needs to stretch and expand results in a short cartridge. If you choose to use this brass (it is good except for this problem) You will need to shorten your seating die to get any kind of crimp. You can do this on a bench grinder as the reduction does not have to be perfect, just shorter. another thing here is that this cartridge has a 50-70 case head not a 45-70 case head. This  is why you need to use either 50-90 or 32 gauge shells (50-70 is simply to short. I found this out the hard way, with gas in the face) The third thing here is that this cartridge Is comparable to the 45-75; not the 44-77 which is pretty much the 43 spanish or vice versa.....Thanks, John M.