April
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 332 guests, and 6 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums10
Topics38,443
Posts544,800
Members14,405
Most Online1,258
Mar 29th, 2024
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Sidelock
*
OP Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Hello all,

Its a Jones underlever black powder express double rifle. Can you tell the caliber of this double rifle by these barrel markings? Is it a 450 bpe or a 500 bpe?


.
.
.

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 388
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 388
If 40 is the bore diameter, then a 40 bore is .488" in diameter.

I think I'd just slug the bore and do a chamber cast with Cerrosafe to be certain.


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Sidelock
*
OP Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Hello keith,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not in possession of the rifle so I can't do a chamber cast. I'm just trying to determine what caliber it might be. Seems like .488 would be oversize for a 45 cal., and undersized for a 50 cal.

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 388
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,334
Likes: 388
I don't know what diameter bullets are used in the .500 BPE rifles. .006" deep grooves in a .488" bore would put you right at .500" for groove diameter.

But the groove diameter of my .450 BPE rifle is right at .458", and I'm going to try to alter a .452" caliber mold to drop a .452" diameter bullet of about 300 grains that I can paper patch to groove diameter.

EDIT: I see references to either .510" or .512" diameter bullets for .500 BPE. I'm stumped too.


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 948
Likes: 2
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 948
Likes: 2
As noted above, this would likely be a .500 BPE rifle

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Sidelock
*
OP Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Originally Posted By: keith
I don't know what diameter bullets are used in the .500 BPE rifles. .006" deep grooves in a .488" bore would put you right at .500" for groove diameter.

But the groove diameter of my .450 BPE rifle is right at .458", and I'm going to try to alter a .452" caliber mold to drop a .452" diameter bullet of about 300 grains that I can paper patch to groove diameter.

EDIT: I see references to either .510" or .512" diameter bullets for .500 BPE. I'm stumped too.

Hello Keith,

Thanks for the reply.

When the British marked the "gauge" like this one .. "40" ... was that intended to be the "bore" dia. or the "groove" dia.

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 602
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 602
Bore diameter; based on the size of the plug gauge that the barrel would accept; rifling, of course, is deeper/larger diamter. If Henry rifled, it could be quite a bit deeper.

My .500#2 BPE is proofed at 39

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
Cadet is correct, it's bore diameter. Also, keep in mind this does not indicate an "Exact" bore diameter. It meant that at time of proof the bore would accept a 40 gauge plug of .488" diameter but would not accept a 39 gauge plug of .492" diameter. The actual diameter of bore could have been anywhere in between.
The difference between your bore marked 40 & cadets marked 39 may be no more than a couple of thousandths. Even if they were both to exact size it would only be .004" difference.


Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Sidelock
*
OP Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 598
Likes: 54
Originally Posted By: 2-piper
Cadet is correct, it's bore diameter. Also, keep in mind this does not indicate an "Exact" bore diameter. It meant that at time of proof the bore would accept a 40 gauge plug of .488" diameter but would not accept a 39 gauge plug of .492" diameter. The actual diameter of bore could have been anywhere in between.
The difference between your bore marked 40 & cadets marked 39 may be no more than a couple of thousandths. Even if they were both to exact size it would only be .004" difference.

Hello 2-piper,

Hello cadet,

Thanks for the reply.

So its possible that a .510 dia 50 cal bullet would still be a correct fit to function in a barrel stamped "40"? That could account for .011" deep engraving of a bullet. I suppose that would be OK for paper-patch lead bullets, but seems like it would be a little much if using Woodleigh jacketed 50 cal bpe bullets.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,532
Likes: 169
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,532
Likes: 169
I would not like to use jacketed bullets in a soft steel gun
Cast is the way to go in my opinion.

But LOTS of folks use jacketed

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/acquired-a-500-nitro-for-black-now-what.23002/

Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5

Link Copied to Clipboard

doublegunshop.com home | Welcome | Sponsors & Advertisers | DoubleGun Rack | Doublegun Book Rack

Order or request info | Other Useful Information

Updated every minute of everyday!


Copyright (c) 1993 - 2024 doublegunshop.com. All rights reserved. doublegunshop.com - Bloomfield, NY 14469. USA These materials are provided by doublegunshop.com as a service to its customers and may be used for informational purposes only. doublegunshop.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. THESE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-ABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. doublegunshop.com further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. doublegunshop.com shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. doublegunshop.com may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. doublegunshop.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. This is a public un-moderated forum participate at your own risk.

Note: The posting of Copyrighted material on this forum is prohibited without prior written consent of the Copyright holder. For specifics on Copyright Law and restrictions refer to: http://www.copyright.gov/laws/ - doublegunshop.com will not monitor nor will they be held liable for copyright violations presented on the BBS which is an open and un-moderated public forum.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.0.33-0+deb9u11+hw1 Page Time: 0.120s Queries: 35 (0.061s) Memory: 0.8443 MB (Peak: 1.8989 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-04-19 04:49:48 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS