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Double Rifles, Single Shots & Combinations >> Single Shots & Combination Guns

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450_Ackley
.375 member


Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 583
Loc: Darling Downs, Qld Australia
Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE
      #321450 - 11/11/18 07:51 PM

Thought I'd start a new thread instead of de-railing the other 500 BPE thread.

Here's a couple of more photos of my little Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE.
It was a bit of a "barn find" rifle, and as often happens, was only 10 minutes from where I live, but never knew it was there. The old Gentleman I bought it off has had it for over 40 years and never fired it.
I actually went to his house to have a look at a Swinburne rifle, never having held one before. I fell in love with it and it followed me home. All we knew about it was that it was a "450" calibre. After a chamber cast etc it was actually a 500/450 WR Musket #2, much better... It has engraved on the right hand side of the action James W Rosier, Melbourne Australia.
Anyway, when I picked up the Swinburne, John said you need to look at this rifle, and he gave me a Cogswell and Harrison underlever hammer double rifle in 450 BPE to look at, again, he had it for 40 years and never fired it. It too followed me home, so as they say, third times a charm, went back to pick up the Cogswell and that's when he gave me the Mortimer to look at, and as you can guess, it too needed a new home. I haven't been back since, ran out of money!

I shoot a duplex load of smokeless and black in the Mortimer, the load is as follows.
Hornady 500 NE case, Federal 210M primer, 12 grains of AR 2207 (H 4198), then 95 grains of Wano PP, then a beeswax disc, then a 1/8" grease cookie of SPG and then a 0.060" Walters vegetable fibre wad, followed by a 350 grain Paper Patch soft lead projectile. Velocity is 1715 fps.
It shoots well enough at 50m, with 5 shot groups running around 1.5" and about 2.5 - 3 inches at 100m, on a good day! It is a huge amount of fun to shoot, and at 7 lbs, is fairly stout.

Recently I used it in a Blackpowder Express event at our club. This is a sanctioned event in the Big Game Rifle Club in Australia. Course of fire is as follows - 4 shots offhand and 4 shots sitting or kneeling at 100 metres. The target for the event is the International 50M slowfire pistol target. At 50 metres, we fire 4 shots offhand again, followed by 2 rounds rapid-fire, in 10 seconds. Then at 25 metres, we fire 3 lots of 2 rounds rapid-fire, again, each 2 rounds in 10 seconds. Total match is 20 rounds. In QLD rules, we can clean between shots, or between ranges. In the National rules, no cleaning is allowed for the whole match, hence the use of duplex loads.
I usually use a Ruger #1 in 450 BPE for this event, but as our BGR "season" is done now, I decided to shoot the Mortimer, whilst not as accurate as my Ruger, I certainly wouldn't disgrace myself with this rifle. And I think this rifle likes being taken out and fired as it should have been for the last 40 years or so.

Here's a couple of more photos.





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HuviusModerator
.416 member


Reged: 04/11/07
Posts: 3517
Loc: Colorado
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: 450_Ackley]
      #321456 - 12/11/18 01:19 AM

Thanks for sharing!
Great to see a rifle such as this taken out and shot as it should be.
I have often thought about trying duplex loads. Does the 4198 keep the fouling down as expected - I see you run a bit more than the 10% usual for a duplex.
Now, about that Swinburne...

--------------------
He who lives in the past is doomed to enjoy it.


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450_Ackley
.375 member


Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 583
Loc: Darling Downs, Qld Australia
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: Huvius]
      #321461 - 12/11/18 06:31 AM

Huvius,
Yes, it does keep fouling down considerably. I have no issue firing the 20 round match and not needing to clean at all. Cases come out clean and don't need much cleaning either, although I do wet tumble them as soon as I get home. I found that less 4198 did give me fouling issues, particularly in the throat region. If I increased the 4198, I dropped the black charge back a little. Some of the writings I've read on duplex loads say that 1 grain of smokeless is roughly equivalent to 3 grains of black, so in this load I have 36 + 95 = 131 grain equivalent, pretty close to the original BP load.

I'll start another thread for the Swinburne.

Thanks.
DC


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93x64mm
.416 member


Reged: 07/12/11
Posts: 3954
Loc: Nth QLD Australia
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: 450_Ackley]
      #321463 - 12/11/18 07:25 AM

DC
fantastic to hear you've got those rifles after languishing for decades; truly wonderful finds there mate!
It certainly appears that the load you're using really goes well in the Mortimer & really good at that if she's still going well after a 20 round match!
Keep up the good work mate, without efforts like yours to keep these old war horses going; otherwise they just get thrown away or sent off to be destroyed!
Hopefully we'll catch up at next year's BGR state titles.
93x64mm


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TH44
.375 member


Reged: 21/02/09
Posts: 731
Loc: West UK
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: 93x64mm]
      #321468 - 12/11/18 12:03 PM

congratulations also for getting it shooting well

The barrel/action or even the whole rifle made by Alexander Henry, truly a bonus

Good luck for future shooting

TH


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50Calshtr
.300 member


Reged: 01/11/05
Posts: 119
Loc: Southeast Georgia
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: TH44]
      #321499 - 13/11/18 03:53 AM

A lovely rifle! I very much like the honest age look of it, so many would refinish it to ruin. To my thinking every bit of that look tells a story. Great to hear that it shoots so well. Well done!

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cordite
.333 member


Reged: 29/01/07
Posts: 341
Loc: NW Montana
Re: Thomas Mortimer 500 BPE [Re: 50Calshtr]
      #321554 - 15/11/18 02:15 AM

Very nice. Count me as one who also loves the look of a well used but cared for rifle. To hold it in your hands and think about where it has been and what it has done. Nothing better!

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