US/French/German Peabody Rifle

[DreyseM65]

Every 1870 Spanish 43 Peabody in that serial number range, and with that German proof, I have encountered, read about, and handled, has been the same. There is plenty of information available online, as I did the research before I fired mine. They all have a bore larger than the normal 43 Spanish in .439, and all of them shoot well with a .446 bullet in 43 Spanish brass. They are military issue rifles made in a time when there was standardization.

To me firing this rifle was simple. You buy 43 Spanish brass and open the neck to seat a .446 bullet. Seat the bullet, and apply a small crimp in order to chamber the round. After firing the casing will fit the chamber perfectly and reloading is simple as the bullet will fit in nicely. There was no resizing or crimping necessary. Especially when keeping the velocity to around 1100. Reloading 50 rounds was a snap.

[mike ford]

It is very often difficult to ID an old black powder cartridge, based only on dimensions from a chamber cast and slugging the barrel. This is especially so for military rifles, so it is fortunate that the model of the rifle is a big help. Bullets in black powder cartridges were always smaller than groove diameter, sometimes smaller than bore diameter. Also chambers were often larger than necessary to accept a clean cartridge in a clean chamber. The question is how much smaller or larger, also some chambers had a leade the same diameter as the neck area of the chamber. Others seem to not have a leade. This makes determining a case length difficult. I "broke down" a case of ca.1912 UMC 43 Spanish cartridges to salvage the cases. The lead bullets were .433", and were expected to "slug up" to fit the barrel, while leaving some room for the well known residue. The cases were "folded head" type, so the rims were pretty thick, as reported above. As a matter of interest, to use .452" bullets( I wanted to use .454", but they wouldn't fit into the seating die) in the Mod 71 Mauser, I had to expand/bell the fired/ unsized case to seat the bullet with crimping and one grease groove outside the case. As the final operation, I had to size the neck and bullet in a 444 Marlin die. This results in effectively an outside lubricated bullet. I wrote about this operation in my article on loading 11 mm cartridges in an old WAIDMANNSHEIL. Those that will use black powder, don't have to use the procedures I do.
Mike

[w10085]

I'll try to fire form a 45-70 case as soon as I can to see what the case looks like. I have some cerosafe that I have never used. Sounds like a good project. I need to do my 10.5x47R rifle also. Thanks for all the help. I hope to get this one shooting soon.

[mike ford]

w10085,
For the full length 43 Spanish(also Reformado) the best case is 45-90( available from Starline). The 45-70 is fine for the 10.5x47R.
Mike

[w10085]

I did a chamber cast today. It's .43 Spanish. I can see the definite shoulder that is not there on the Reformando. The chamber diameter in the neck is 0.470". The barrel diameter is about 0.450. I saw somewhere where you need 0.476 to seat a 0.452 bullet. I may try a paper patched hollow base mine' to try to get 0.448 or so. I guess I could also buy a sizer in about that size and use one of my 45-70 molds and hope it bumps up enough. Thanks for all the help. I have 43 Spanish dies on order to size the cases and to seat the bullets.

[mike ford]

You might try the trick I use with the Mauser, sizing the neck(with seated bullet) in a 444 die ( or maybe 45ACP), to get a .468" neck. Just a suggestion. You would need to leave a couple lubricated grooves outside the neck to preserve a section of .452" diameter.
Mike

[Leatherman]

When you get your cases formed and shoot some loaded shells, let us know what the inside diameter of the case neck is. Like I said before you can use drill bits and see if you can match one up that fits the tightest and measure it with calipers or use a conversion chart online to figure the size in thousands of inches. Then find a bullet that is closest to this. It can be slightly under or over. If it is over it can be swaged down with a Lee swagging die in your loading press. They have standard sizes but will make custom sizes. This will be the best bullet size you need for your rifle not what some book or article says . Then as Mike said find a bullet seating die size that will seat but not necessarily crimp the neck to hold it . I pick up used dies in different calibers at gun shows really cheap , they have come in handy just for this type of thing. But let us know the neck size and we will try and get you fixed up.