Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa bpe:black powder express rifles

like the 450 bpe, 500 bpe 577/500 bpe,500 3" bpe...what were they good for? why call them expresses?they werent high velocity were they? anybody have one? do they have a place in Africa today?
thanks for your input.

Not much as it turns out. They were obsolete in almost no time.


They were for black powder, which is normally a slow and heavy operation that is very effective. But when the gun companies tried to sell "fast," flat-shooting, light bullets, well, they sold, but they didn't work all that well.


Historically, they had their turn. If you like to practice a little history, that's their place.

If your gonna go this route get a 577 BPE and shoot 650 gr Woodleigh rnsp's at 1900 fps with a case fulla FFFG.

Gunner

thanks i thought of that,great idea.i have some 1890's underlever blk powder 12's id like to turn into 577 bpe's but dont know how.

You buy this book and then get'er done.
http://www.brownells.com/books-vide...rifles-on-shotgun-actions-prod26663.aspx

I'll sell you my copy for $35 plus postage.

RC, go down to the Big Bore Rifles forum here at the 'fire, PM Ed Hubel, he can fix you up, plus, we/I play around with small bores compared to some of Ed's creations.

Gunner

he knows his stuff

i might have to get that book from you,let me see how payday goes.that 35$ include questions and tech support?

Yup, plus postage. PM me.

realitycheck,

A friend of mine in Texas has a British .500 BPE double and has used it with no problems on both Cape and water buffalo, using cast bullets and black-powder equivalent loads with smokeless. I am sure he would share his loads if you by chance luck into a rifle like that.

i have an old bp 12 double,i measured my bore at .70,so, im going to be loading 730 grain .69 cal slugs starting out at 100 grains bp and im going to work up as close as i can to 200 grains of ffg. i might even try using fff powder to see what that does. you think that would handle grizzlies(or lions)?

I suspect that'll work! And not just on small stuff like grizzlies and lions....

hey Gunner,i just measure the bore on my bp double 12 and its .70, you reckon itd shoot thos 730 grain/.69 cal minis well? i was gonna try to get to 150+ grains of ffg.should i use fffg you think?

Realitycheck, is your gun a rifle or a shotgun?? A 12 bore double rifle would have thicker barrels than a shotgun and would have been BORED,not wound. Pardon my confusion.

i have an old bp shotgun;underlever double
i was thinking about converting it to a double rifles

Best see how and if the action was proofed before deciding on converting it.

I converted a 16 gauge side by side to 45 colt, and working on a 30-30; but the big issue on handling any sort of pressure, aside from if the action can take it, is that you may need to bush the strikers for smaller primers.

Don't ask me how I know.

Making it black powder certainly helps the cause, but you want to be safe.

You're going to screw around and blow that old shotgun up with 750 grains of bullet and 150 grains of powder. Listen to what ET said.

Just get yourself a Pedersoli Kodiak 72 caliber muzzleloading double rifle and be done with it. When you learn how to run that blackpowder double you will have a different perspective on the feasibility of your little adventure.

what about just getting some blank barrels like for bp rounds such as a 45-110 of around the same diameter and cut/weld to put em on..if they wont sleeve in,just cut the old off,make a platform,and stickweld the bbls on.i only need 50 yards,so dont need worry about bullets crossing. think thatd work?

worked on my colt.



member on the forum made a monobloc from scratch for the 30-30.

BUT, you need to know that the action can take the pressure, and you have the primer issue to worry about.

The book BrentD suggested has all the goods in there.

Not a hard job for a novice. More like foolhardy.

You may find with diameters of barrels and such that a smaller platform - 16 or 20 may get you what you need, and IIRC, smaller bore shotguns handle progressively higher pressure. Keep that in mind as well. The underlevers your sporting may not be the best donor. And then again, they may.

thanks for the help