"I took the 230-grain shell to be an explosive shell." -- Why?
British rifle ammunition for the 450/400 3 1/4" cartridge was made primarily (and perhaps exclusively) by Kynoch and Eley.
Their early 20th Century catalogs make no mention of an "explosive shell" nor does Fleming in "British Sporting Rifle Cartridges."
Can anyone cite a source for explosive bullets in British commercial metallic sporting rifle ammunition?
Explosive bullets are historically associated with Sir Samuel Baker and George Fosbery. In Baker's case, his bullets were being
launched from a 4-bore barrel. A detailed study of explosive rifle bullets used in the Civil War can be found in the journal of
the American Society of Arms Collectors. They were used to shoot at observation balloons in WWI and Germany experimented
with the B-Patron in WWII. If they were ever practical - as bullet size decreased, they became impractical.
Pantaman - suggested topic for your next investigation. Weight of the priming compound in the No.40 Berdan primer.
This particular antique sacrifice/ study bullet is from a factory Eley round. Its diameter is .400" and I am hoping, after failing with some other diameter bullets in this Lancaster rifle, that I can get its alloy figured out and thereby cast something close in the Brooks mold. Unless they had their own mold etc with the gun, Lancaster oval bores generally shot whatever was standard for caliber. This Eley round is very much what was the market standard for the 450/400, and I want to replicate it, having failed with others.
Some custom rifles beyond "the Baby" fired explosive bullets, made up by the shooter with the tools and materials that accompanied the rifle. A number have been paraded in DGJ over the years. I think Frank Findlow wrote an article about a .577 that had some explosive compounds and hollow tips; Ross Seyfriend for sure did. I know I have seen some for sale over the years. What do you suppose this gun's ledger entry means? Why the distinction between a 225 grain bullet and 230 grain "shell"? While zero tools accompanied this gun, it was made in 1894 for a maharaja who liked it so much the Lancaster ledgers show he had another exact same one made the next year. The maharajas could order anything, and get exactly what they ordered. If he wanted an exploding shell for his 450/400, he could get it. Incidentally, I recently finished reading Baker's Rifle & Hound in Ceylon, Wild Animals and Their Ways, and The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. He really did use the exploding shells in hippos, rhinos and elephants. I think some buffalo, too.
Mike Rowe, I agree with you this is complicated, but what else is to be done? The other bullets I either cast or bought did not work as expected. I felt fortunate to locate some original antique 450/400 Eley rounds that were surely the industry standard, and which the Lancaster probably shot very well. So I am trying to replicate that Eley bullet. Having failed to come up with the correct formula for comparing the factory bullet to one cast of pure lead and getting the Eley bullet's alloy mix, the mass spectrometer is the only way to definitively answer the question of what the Eley bullet is made of. And no, my lead tester did not work, because the copper tube in the nose squished down and the slight cup in the base interfered with the tester. So, maybe this is too complicated, but no one here knows how else to get the bullet's actual alloy. You said it was likely 12:1, and you are probably right. Hopefully we find out tomorrow.
Finally, Steve, I did as you requested, and arrived at the average Berdan primer compound weight of between 1.112 grains and 1.159 grains per primer. But as I was increasing the N to get a more robust confidence in such a huge variation, I noticed the tips of my fingers were disappearing from exposure to the fulminate. So I had to stop, because my thumbs were unable to manipulate those tiny primers very well.
More tomorrow!
