| TH44 |
| (.375 member) |
| 16/09/16 09:15 AM |
4 bore rifle
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Hi Guys
Seeing that wonderful double posted by Nitrox, I thought you may be interested in this
I bought it at Holt's in June in a quite dilapidated state
Made (or marketed) by Bentley & Playfair, who in the percussion era tended to specialise in large bores
With a (possibly shortened in the past) 26 " barrel, a full 4 bore at 1.065ish (1.052 for full 4 bore), it is a seriously rugged rifle, weighing 14 lbs 6 oz make it very handleable
It has had a very hard life, I had to re-solder the under rib and repair the stock (not helped by me dropping it and breaking the cap off!), and tried to sympathetically refurbish it with out losing some of the patina
Whether in Africa or India it would be used against the largest and most dangerous game
I would be nice it it could talk!
Full 4 bore at 1.056"
On the left, bigger than my other 6 & 4 bores
4 bore goose gun
6 bore Alexander Henry 6 bore rifle
4 bore Belgian rifle
4 bore Bentley & Playfair
Cal Pappas' book an essential support!
Comments and opinoins welcome
TH44
| Watson577 |
| (.300 member) |
| 16/09/16 09:32 AM |
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Re: 4 bore rifle
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TH44,
That's a neat rifle! What sort of twist rate does it have? Do you think that it was used with a double belted ball or a conical bullet of some sort? One of these days I really need to find one of these 4-bore muzzle-loading monsters. Thank you for sharing the photos.
Regards,
Jim
| Wayne59 |
| (.400 member) |
| 16/09/16 11:11 AM |
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Re: 4 bore rifle
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That's quite some collection you have there.
| TH44 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/09/16 08:25 AM |
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Re: 4 bore rifle
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Thanks for the comments guys - these old big bores are very interesting, especially their history
Jim - The 4 groove rifling is quite shallow with a twist of 1 in 96????ish
I would imagine it would be a patched ball very close to true 4 bore at 1.052" or a little less
Regards
Tony
| lancaster |
| (.470 member) |
| 18/09/16 10:17 PM |
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Re: 4 bore rifle
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you have a remarkable and enviable collection of muzzle loader bore rifles
imho, very tasteful restoration of your last acquisition
| TH44 |
| (.375 member) |
| 19/09/16 07:36 AM |
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Re: 4 bore rifle
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Thank you Lancaster for your kind words
It was in quite poor condition overall and I tried not to overdo it
Rebrowning and especially reblueing sometimes does not look right
Tony