| rigbymauser |
| (.400 member) |
| 21/06/20 06:15 AM |
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.500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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| tinker |
| (.416 member) |
| 21/06/20 03:22 PM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Exciting story!
| 93x64mm |
| (.416 member) |
| 22/06/20 06:34 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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440gn Woodliegh's soft?
I don't think so!
| 264 |
| (.375 member) |
| 22/06/20 07:31 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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recovered from buff 440 woodleigh
Chris with good bull , projectile above.
another bull , borrowed Chris's thomas blisset 500bpe 23m shot didn't get up. hit a bit high . required a coupe more.
| DarylS |
| (.700 member) |
| 22/06/20 09:53 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Well done and presented - WOW. Nice mushrooming as well.
Nice light-looking rifle. Looks close to a Henry pistol grip - guess they are all similar.
| fraserdouble |
| (.224 member) |
| 22/06/20 11:45 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Wow, perfect mushroom. What load did you use?
Fraser
| 264 |
| (.375 member) |
| 22/06/20 08:11 PM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Chris, loads 500BPE felt wads x 2 , 440 RNSP, 55 gr -57GR for around 1750fps. straight out of the woodleigh manual.
The Thomas blissett is a nice slim rifle. Very well balanced.
Nice to shoot!
Not as powerful as some of. the bigger 500's but well placed shots its capable of the game we hunt.
Chris with another bull
| fraserdouble |
| (.224 member) |
| 22/06/20 10:19 PM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Thanks, really similar power to the 400 x3” Jeffery.
Fraser
| rigbymauser |
| (.400 member) |
| 23/06/20 04:15 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Love more and that caliber.
Thanks for sharing pics from planet earth.
Wonderfull to see the ol' guns being used.
Inspiring indeed..
| 3DogMike |
| (.400 member) |
| 23/06/20 04:17 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(article by Bill Pace)
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Great story about a vintage rifle doing what it was made to do.
- Mike
EDIT: I should have noted his misspelling of the Jeffery name
NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 23/06/20 04:25 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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"Jeffrey"? He has the rifle and even enquires to its providence and doesn't know how to spell the name.
Who takes three different loads and bullets, maybe four? Woodleigh, Hard cast, two types of Hawk.
I don't know either way if the Woodleighs are soft or not. Certainly Mick's results show they work OK. Shooting behind a shoulder will work better than through the shoulder with a lighter rifle. And lighter or lesser jacketed bullet.
10 shots, with the first making a big hole in the heart???!!! Good "story"! More like the last. Or one of the later ones.
Still "shit" can happen.
Good story to read. And using an old hammer BPE.
Jens, thanks for posting. I increased the size to 1024 pixels, so I could read it better.
Damn eyes. Also just possibly, Bill Pace's experiments with loads and this article, and of course Mick's might prove very useful for me.
***
Mick, great stuff with the old .500 BPE. Shows they still work fine with good loads, bullets and good shooting! Enjoyed the photos.
Something about these old under lever hammer double rifles.
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NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 23/06/20 04:29 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Nice cape buffalo trophy too.
The stomach of the buffalo in the first photo right at the top looks bloated from being in the sun. Maybe.
| Huvius |
| (.416 member) |
| 23/06/20 08:44 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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I was a bit interested in a Jeffery with island locks - something of a Purdey specialty.
His Jeff has standard style Locks of the day, not island locks which are fully encircled in wood and don’t butt up against the action.
Still, a good read and some useful load info there.
| 3DogMike |
| (.400 member) |
| 24/06/20 05:54 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Reading the article again it struck me that the author was trying 440 grain bullets with black powder and being unsatisfied with attained velocities.
This does not surprise me because the traditional period loads were typically using 340-380 grain bullets (Westley-Richards even offered 300 grain loads) to achieve express velocities.
Now, Holland & Holland did offer .500 Express 440 grain loads with BP and regulated some rifles for such, but that was Hollands thing.
That the author found success using Nitro for Black loads (H4198) with 440 grain bullets is not unexpected because 440 grain bullets were the accepted NfB Cordite load that would regulate in the older .500 BP Express rifles.
As noted; his is an entertaining story even if sprinkled with inaccuracies and head scratchers.....not a great resource for the uninitiated.
- Mike
| Marrakai |
| (.416 member) |
| 24/06/20 09:48 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Quote:
his is an entertaining story even if sprinkled with inaccuracies and head scratchers.....not a great resource for the uninitiated.
What Mike said!
I have difficulty understanding why some handloaders think that using nitro powder in BP doubles is risky:
The BP loads are typically 10 tons pressure with the express bullet,
whereas the regulating Nitro loads are usually around 7 or 8 tons, even with the heavier bullet!
| 85lc |
| (.375 member) |
| 25/06/20 02:51 AM |
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Re: .500 express goes to Africa(artical by Bill Pace)
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Rigbymauser,
Thanks for posting. I read this when it was published and enjoyed rereading it today.
Has Bill Pace written anything else?
I also noted the misspelling of Jeffery but I probably am guilty of that also along with numerous other misspellings. For me, it is hard to remember whether it is "er" or "re", but then again, spelling is not one of my forte (though some may ask if I have a forte).