| 400NitroExpress |
| (.400 member) |
| 17/06/08 06:15 AM |
Re: Army Navy .450......Nitro or BP?
|
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Thanks for answering.
I feel like I bought a BP rifle instead of a Nitro!
The only mark on the barrels flats is 450 Ex.
That means it's black powder proof.
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The rifle is almost new, perfectly on face, with gorgerous woods. It has 26 inches barrels, full rib with one standing and one folding leaves, splinter forend.
A nice Army & Navy .450 BPE is very much worth having. It's a nice, useful cartridge. It just isn't a .450 Nitro Express. If you got it at a price commensurate with it being a BPE, then no harm is done.
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Serial number is 13082. Weight 9 pounds.
Definite confirmation that your rifle is a BPE. Your number 13082 is from Army & Navy's ledger volume 1, which was in use from 1890 to 1896 - before the .450 Nitro Express was introduced. Likewise the weight. An early .450 Nitro Express would be heavier than that.
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I bought it used from a gunsmith in Paris with 60 cartridges (A Square) .450 NE.
I tried these and accuracy was very good at 70 yards. But primers were too flat for my tast!
Do you think a BP rifle would have stand such loads?
Yikes! Sounds like the gunsmith didn't know very much. Never fire any ammunition that happens to come with an older double rifle like that until you're certain that it is appropriate for the rifle. Operating chamber pressure of the .450 Nitro Express is much, much higher than that of the .450 Black Powder Express cartridge that your rifle was proved for. Shooting Nitro Express ammunition in it is seriously unsafe, as well as abusive to the rifle. BTW, excessive pressure with A-Square ammunition isn't unusual.