Indians For Guns

Just attaching a pic for you guys to see. Ammunition is Alex Henry and Co, England .500 NitroExpress rimmed, in their original packing. Bullets are 375 grains. Am not sure what the nail like structure in the bullet is.

Thanks for the interesting pics,Katana. I think they are BPE (Black-powder Express) and not Nitro-express.Did you find NE on the packing?

I think those cartridges are DeAC.Guess work on my part.

Best-
Vikram

Could be, hope you are right. I'll check when I visit the family they are with. BTW, whats DeAC? Care to enlighten me?

I think these cartridges are deactivated or at least that seems to be the purpose of driving a nail into the case.Good that they did not try it with the primer.

Best-
Vikram

These are .500 BPE (Black Powder Express) paper patched cartridges. They are not deactivated or anything In fact they are in great shape and these are highly collectibles because of the Copper tubing inserted along the length of the bullet (what you believe to be a nail).They made these for 15 years or so but it didn't work.

I hope this helps.

They seem to look like the 3 1/4" case, the .500 BPE was commonly found in two loads carrying the 330-grain and 440-grain lead projectiles, the copper capstan in the projectile functioned like a rebar and kept the bullet from disintegrating rapidly upon impact. They dont seem to be deactivated and may go off if fired from a rifle in good condition. Good rounds those, they are collectibles no doubt.

I guess I'll check the rest of the ammo when I go over to them next. If I remember correctly, all of it does not have the copper rebar. I always found it intriguing, and had therefore posted the pic.

Definitely a black powder express. A Nitro Express would never have a paper-patched lead bullet. Can't make out any "nails"; but that's a "copper tube" bullet, with a large hollow point into which a copper cup was inserted. An early type of controlled expansion bullet. An explosive bullet of that era would look pretty much the same, but have a detonating compound in the cup. May be wise not to drop them!
(If they are explosive, the box should so labeled.)