I have two questions about this gun:

1) Does .450 BPE mean black powder express? If so, does that mean you would have to shoot BP loads through it?

2) If this is a new gun, why does the receiver blue look so funny?

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...oryId=SEARCH_gl

BPE does indeed mean Black Powder Express.

There are nitro for black loads available to the reloader. Be aware the dies are a bit more expensive than more readily available calibers.

In a single barrel rifle where you don't have to worry about regulation you will be able to successfully use blackpowder or nitro. The cases you will be purchasing are actually .450NitroExpress (.450NE) cases, so you should also be able to step up the velocity, if you so choose, over BPE norms.

FWIW that stock seem to be oddly shaped but it is hard to tell since there is no picture of the entire rifle.

since its a recently made rifle, I would check to see if the chamber was cut for the thin rim BPE or thicker rim Nitro Express cases. You never know.Also, might have been chambered for the Norma 45 basic (3 1/4") which would be equiv. to the BPE) since its a custom rifle, get all the details you can about the chamber prior to purchase.

I'm not going to buy it...if I did buy a Ballard I'd probably order one but in any case it would be .45-70. But I am curious about that receiver finish.

I've looked closly at these pictures and,while it can be a real challange judging something like blueing from them, this receiver looks streaky to me. It appears to be rust blueing where something has gone wrong. Other opinions?
Jim

Looks to me like it had some surface rust then someone went at it with 0000 and oil a bit too much.

I agree it looks damaged but then the ad says 'new'.

Just how strong a cartridge is 450 BPE? What modern load is it close to?

This cartridge was upgraded to the 450 Nitro Express and would have been a substantial round utilizing 48 grains of powder. It would have been a cut lower than the more popular 470 NE but I doubt if anything shot with it would have noticed the difference.
Jim

The 450 BPE is not the same as the 450 nitro. It's almost an exact duplicate of the 45-120 sharps.

Mike:
The information I have seen indicated that the 450 BPE was re-named the 450 Nitro after the powder change. If you have different info. please post it.
Jim

The .450 BPE uses the exact same brass as the .450 Nitro Express. Rim thickness of the Nitro round is exactly the same as the black powder round. Each round is 3 1/4" long.

Needless to say, the two rounds are loaded entirely differently. The original .450 Express, now called the .450 BPE, was loaded with 120 grains of black powder and bullets ranging in weight from 270 grains (at 1975 fps) to 365 grains (at 1700 fps). Obviously, pressures for this round are limited to black powder pressures.

With the advent of smokeless powder, the old round was loaded to black powder pressures using 52 grains of Cordite and a 365 grain bullet, yielding 2100 fps.

The .450 Nitro Express is a horse of a different color. It's standard loading was 70 grains of Cordite behind a 480 grain bullet, yielding 2150 fps.

Curl

CptCurl has covered the details.

Think of the .450BPE and the .450NE as the difference between the safe .45-70 loads in a Trapdoor Carbine and a Ruger #1.

The Trapdoor and Ruger .45-70 use the same brass but the performance is completely different.

As to it being a duplicate of the .45-120, yes the cartridge is similar in size but the .450BPE would generally use much lighter bullets than its American cousin.

Now who said cartridge identification and naming was somewhat confusing!!
Jim