I recently purchased a very nice British hammer cape gun. The seller advertised the rifle barrel as 500/450 BPE, 2 3/4"; aka the 450 No.1 Express. But when I took possession of the rifle, my Bertram 500/450 BPE brass stopped about a quarter inch short of being able to chamber. So I poured a chamber cast. The 500/450 is clearly the parent case. With the cartridge mouths lined up, the shoulders align too, but the body of my cartridge is about 1/4" shorter than that of the 500/450. Has anyone heard of a 500/450 with a 2 1/2" length? What would that caliber be called, and where can I find brass for it? Any help would be appreciated.

The closest "common" cartridge would seem to be the 450 Peabody Martini with a case length of 2.33" I don't have them to pace side by side but the neck and shoulder seem to match with the loss of length occurring on the main body of the case. the Peabody also has a slightly thicker rim which would account for a small part of the difference. I'm a little surprised the gun doesn't have the case length engraved on it somewhere.

Take a look at the 500/450 #2 musket cartridge. aka: WR #2 express.

Yep...its a 500/450 #2 musket....got some brass from the fine folks at Buffalo Arms in Sandpoint, Idaho today. Thanks for the help!

Original WR brass is very expensive, about $6 a case when you can find it. Best alternative that I have found is
Martyn Robinson
X-Ring Services
1405 S Woodward Rd
Spokane Valley, WA 99206-5541

Or, for an additional 3% ($49.96/box) I can accept payments through PayPal. My PP account is linked to this email address (xringservices@yahoo.com).

I bought several boxes from them a couple years ago & found the quality to be very good.

m-4