43 Egyptian- I want to shoot it!

[jmoore]

Regarding the 11mm Vickers comment: It should have the same case dimensions as te 11mm Gras, but I'm pretty sure it's NOT intended for any sort of shoulder fired weapon. WWI aircraft mounted Vickers balloon busting round, usually incendiary... The jacketed bullet seems like a clue, but I don't remember the best source for info.

Cordite load?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Cartridges of the Gras System
Author: Philippe Mention, Christian Ramio

should answer your queries.


Patrick

[jmoore]

I guess my point ought to be: Don't try to shoot that jacketed bullet round out of a rolling block! T'weren't made for either the load or even that hard jacket. Plus, it might start a fire downrange, depending on the backstop... Just a SWAG.

[Patrick Chadwick]

A very correct warning!

[jon_norstog]

Just to add some more , ah, confusion .. it was not uncommon for BP militARY rifles to be arsenal refurbed. This could include re-broaching the barrel to restore the rifling. All the Argy .43 RBs I've seen had that done ... took a .446 bullet really nice. Maybe yours got the treatment.

As for chambering, those old RB rifles and carbines just never said die, And A LOT OF THEM ENDED UP in the arms market after the changeover to smokelesss and magazine rifles. If they could be rechambered, well, why not?

jn

[musketshooter]

The cases show are a .43 Reformando with brass coated bullet and standard .43 Spanish. They were produced in the same time frame. The RRB reformando bore size is .446 The standard bore is .439. The bore size of a 43 Egyptian is .448. Ctg books state the bullet diameter of the Reformando at .454, however the bore size is .446. I would not fire any thing until I know the exact ctg for the rifle. All pre 1900 ctgs were loaded with mercuric primers and they will destroy the brass after just one firing. DO NOT shoot them unless you reprime them with new non-corrosive/non-mercuric primers. Do a chamber cast to be the safe side.

[gew8805]

Good, no, excellent advice from musketshooter.

[Patrick Chadwick]

The bore size of a 43 Egyptian is .448.

I think there may be some confusion between bore diameter and groove diameter in this discussion. I have just measured the bore of my undisputably Egyptian RB "The Mahdi", which has featured in these pages. The bore diameter on this rifle is approx 0.433".

Please, I wrote "approx", as it was a one-off "quickie" measurement with the old dodge of driving a bullet down the bore a way, and then banging it from both ends so that it squashes and fills the grooves. I will conduct a more accurate measurement as soon as health permits.

The groove diameter is approx. 0.452, and I use the same 0.446" bullets that I also use for the M71 family and the M66/74/80. These are fairly soft (8-10 Brinell) lead bullets, well greased, and with a lot of lube behind them, so that the bullet a) is soft enough to obturate and fill the bore, and b) has a good hydraulic sealing all the way to the muzzle.

And please also note, I wrote "on this rifle". My experience with not collecting, but shooting ancient BPCRS is that each one must be treated as an individual. I have learnt not to blindly trust the measurements that may be found in books. These old rifles are often way off any standards to which they may have been built. So other Egyptians may well have noticeably different measurements.

But I doubt that any bore gets tighter with age, and so I respectfully question the value quoted above as a bore diameter. As it says over and over again in the Lyman reloading handbook "Slug your bore and size accordingly".


Patrick

[JerryB08]

My .02...................Hang it back on the Wall. lol And find another rolling block.

[jarmann]

for the .43 egyptian you use beaumond cases or form them from 50/90 cases starline
greetings from over the pond
jarmann