Shooting a .43 Spanish Remington Rolling Block

[Gaucho Gringo]

I have an Argentine .43 Spanish Remington Rolling Block. The bore of the rifle looks really good and the rest of it has no rust but there is also no blueing or any other finish on it. Everything as far as action locks up tight and shows no sign of looseness. I guess all I would have to do is cast the chamber and if it was ok buy the brass, bullets and dies to reload for it. Anyone else have any tips or suggestions? Thanks.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

http://www.scorrs.org/

Follow the trail to "other pre-19th Century Remington firearms.  There is an article on the trials of making the Argy work.

For me:  I;ve just had mine converted with a Green Mountain #3.5 barrel in .45-70. It had already been altered from then original.  If it was "as-issued" I would have kept it stock.

PS;  There is more info available, and  the .43 Sp can be a problem.  Mine wouldn't shoot as the throat was extremely long! A bullet pushed into the throat was entirely in front of the case.

[Guns Garrett]

One thing you could check on when you make the chamber cast.  There were in fact, two ".43 Spanish" cartridges.  The one most people refer to is the necked version, nearly identical to the .44-77 Remington, only it was loaded with a .439" bullet. It is described in Venturino's "Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West", in the section on the .44-77.  The other is the ".43 Spanish Reformado", which was used by the Spanish in the Span-Am War.  These are a sort of tapered case (not much shoulder to speak of), that is loaded with a .446" bullet.  The military round for this was loaded with a brass-jacketed bullet which often corroded and turned green in the tropics of Cuba and the Philippines, causing many to label them as "poisoned bullets", which I suppose they were, tho not intentionally.  Both cases can obtained from Buffalo Arms, and are formed from .348 Win. brass  The Reformado reloading dies are only made by 4-D (also available from Buffalo Arms), and a little pricier than the "common" .43 Spanish, which Lee carries.  Make sure you slug the bore as well as making the chamber cast.  My Reformado shoots pretty decent, about 2"-2 1/2" at 100 yards.

[Advertising]