SOUTH AFRICA: 1885 Era Black Powder Hunt 2023 - Re-loading The Mauser 43 & The Martini Henry Classc Sporter For The Hunt

[Gert Odendaal]

Good day to all members it is that time of the year again...the prelude to the 1885 Era Black Powder hunt on Quabe Private Safari situated between Vaalwater and Ellisras . I commenced re-loading the Mauser 43 as well as for the Martini Henry Sporter rifle .

This reloading process is a "home made procedure" . I bought paper patched Martini Henry bullets from Hansie Minnaar owner of Stewarts Bullets. The Mauser 43 bullets was 404 cast bullets we swaged down through the RCBS Lubresizer .
Here are photos of the process , note that I do not use Martini Henry dies . The dies were in the Gunshop and it was closed today.So I had to use whatever items /components I could source in my garage.
Here are some photos will upload when converted) Members I am struggeling to get these photos to be saved as jpeg ..will try to solve this challenge and then upload all the photos

 

[Gert Odendaal]

More photos

 

[93marlin]

I'm the proud owner of an 1896 JP Sauer double rifle in 43 Mauser.
It's my favorite bear gun. It's a great heavy bullet slow velocity cartridge.
Enjoy the shoot!!

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I'm the proud owner of an 1896 JP Sauer double rifle in 43 Mauser.
It's my favorite bear gun. It's a great heavy bullet slow velocity cartridge.
Enjoy the shoot!!

That for sure is a special rifle ...please upload photos??

 

[93marlin]

That for sure is a special rifle ...please upload photos??

A couple of pictures of my JP SAUER double rifle in 43 Mauser. One sitting on last year's bear. He had buried his head and front quarters under a downed tree. Had to use a chainsaw to get him out.

 

[Sarg]

Great stuff Gert, please show us more on this & your hunt ?

I just relayed the ribs on my Cool old Cape gun .577/450 X 16ga was hoping to whack a deer with it but shot a Rabbit or two with the Shotgun barrel so far.

I also have a Single shot Jones Underlever in .577/450, I'm not a Fan of the .577/450 as it is so hard to get Nitro for Black loads to work for me but just recently I have cracked a load that works !

 

[Sarg]

I see you are using CBC 24ga brass shot shells, I use those in my BP loads.
Have also been using Shotgun primers in old Kynoch cases & that works great also.

Was trying for full Nitro in the Jones Under Lever as it has heaps of strength but just couldn't get it right & got scared lol !

 

[Gert Odendaal]

A couple of pictures of my JP SAUER double rifle in 43 Mauser. One sitting on last year's bear. He had buried his head and front quarters under a downed tree. Had to use a chainsaw to get him out.

What a beautiful double rifle

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Great stuff Gert, please show us more on this & your hunt ?

I just relayed the ribs on my Cool old Cape gun .577/450 X 16ga was hoping to whack a deer with it but shot a Rabbit or two with the Shotgun barrel so far.

I also have a Single shot Jones Underlever in .577/450, I'm not a Fan of the .577/450 as it is so hard to get Nitro for Black loads to work for me but just recently I have cracked a load that works !

Sarg, great to hear from you again. I love the .577/.450 black powder Martini Henry sportster. This is the only way I know to crack the Martini Henry conundrum , get yourself a Martini Sportster, it does not have any issues reloading like the military MH rifles at all. It is extremely accurate from the word get go...I gave my tri-band Martini Henry Westley Richards to Johan Greyling in exchange for the sportster..end of my quest to get a Martini Henry to shoot accurate with ...
I still can not find any information in regards to my Mauser 1871 single shot sportster as well..I have yet to see a photo of this rifle somewhere on the internet..it is a great looking and shooting rifle ..

 

[Sarg]

I had a very nice Martini Sporter but got short on $ again & sold it, I would of kept it but I prefer a pistol grip shock !

This is it here.

Sorry I don't know much about 1871 Mausers Bud !

 

[AZDAVE]

Gert it is always nice to see someone improvise to get a mission done. Have fun on your hunt. The 43 mauser is a nice old round that throws a proper heavy projectile.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I had a very nice Martini Sporter but got short on $ again & sold it, I would of kept it but I prefer a pistol grip shock !

This is it here.

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Sorry I don't know much about 1871 Mausers Bud !

Sarge, the 1871 Mauser was the last Black powder Mauser designed and made for the Otterman Empire by Paul Mauser and his brother. The single shot Mauser 43 or 11.15x60 or the Mauser 71 as I know it. The Mauser 1871/84 is the pipe magazine Mauser that was able to keep a lot of rounds in the pipe magazine and could be shot single shot or shot like the Mausers we know today. What makes this single shot custom 1871 Mauser I have so great is it is short, light and extremely accurate open sights .

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Gert it is always nice to see someone improvise to get a mission done. Have fun on your hunt. The 43 mauser is a nice old round that throws a proper heavy projectile.

Good to hear from you Dave. Yes , Dave I agree, it is important to be able to reload these black powder rifles and their cases in a hunting camp as well.. we did reload for the Martini Henry in the camp last year. I do have a set of Martini Henry dies but keep it in the gun shop since I do not have the large RCBS press that the dies will fit into.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Great stuff Gert, please show us more on this & your hunt ?

I just relayed the ribs on my Cool old Cape gun .577/450 X 16ga was hoping to whack a deer with it but shot a Rabbit or two with the Shotgun barrel so far.

I also have a Single shot Jones Underlever in .577/450, I'm not a Fan of the .577/450 as it is so hard to get Nitro for Black loads to work for me but just recently I have cracked a load that works !

Members, here are some of the items we collected from the first time we commenced with this hunt in 2015 .

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Some videos about our 2023 1885 hunt. These videos are in Afrikaans , but you will be able to follow the meaning of each process. Members, I am trying to figure out a method to upload videos onto this thread..I am experiencing difficulties in this regards. Will upload as soon as I figure it out..

 

[Sarg]

You might have to open a private You Tube account & load on to that first, then load onto here Gert ?

 

[schmijar]

This is great. I shoot and hunt with muzzleloaders at times and I know guys who do similar camps in the US but haven't seen the African version, how cool!