BSA No 1 Mk III* 410 musket

cantom said:
Is that one of the ones from CS, and if so how much is it?
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BTW, since you raised the question of price, could I ask if yours was also priced in the same range?

I did see one at a show in the $175 range maybe 2 years ago, that was in pretty good shape, but not being in the market then I didnt check out the bore, etc. It was probably military 410 chamber, though.
 
Ognat said:
BTW, since you raised the question of price, could I ask if yours was also priced in the same range?

I did see one at a show in the $175 range maybe 2 years ago, that was in pretty good shape, but not being in the market then I didnt check out the bore, etc. It was probably military 410 chamber, though.
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Above $300. If you see the shape it's in you'd see why. All British as well, which is what I prefered.
 
Was it a miltary conversion or a gunmakers, it should be easy to tell.
Sorry that should have read Govt conversion or gunmakers and the UK gunsmith ones may have a magazine and it may be welded in depending on when it was done.
 
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TimC said:
Was it a miltary conversion or a gunmakers, it should be easy to tell.
Sorry that should have read Govt conversion or gunmakers and the UK gunsmith ones may have a magazine and it may be welded in depending on when it was done.
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I'm not sure who converted it...the magazine is hollow, no follower, so the shells can fall down into it.
It has .410 stamped on top of the receiver and scribed on the buttsocket under the maker info. The previous owner reamed it to take 3" 410 shells, and it came with a box of them.
 
Ognat said:
Not from CS if that is Collectors Source, but one that I happened to see recently. The CS one that is online right now looks pretty grungey. Rusty and it has that dark, grease-soaked look that so many Ishies seem to have. That is for $325 and the one I am looking at is about the same I think, asking. But in far, far nicer condition.

I am torn because on the one hand re-chambering to commercial .410 is a sacrilege from a milsurp collection standpoint, yet adds immeasurably to the potential enjoyment of the piece.

Funny that if anyone talks about reaming out an Ishy 410 nobody bats an eye, but if you talked about changing the calibre of a No. 4 you'd be chased off the typical milsurp site and branded Bubba. Not trolling here, just observing. No doubt Ishy's occupy a certain untouchables' caste in many collectors eyes, but I find them as intriguing as anything else, in some cases more so.
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But it IS a .410 to start with, you are just making it usable with off the shelf .410 ammunition. They are hardly what i would consider "Untouchables"
Changing the calibre of No4 involves rebarreling.
 
cantom said:
I'm not sure who converted it...the magazine is hollow, no follower, so the shells can fall down into it.
It has .410 stamped on top of the receiver and scribed on the buttsocket under the maker info. The previous owner reamed it to take 3" 410 shells, and it came with a box of them.
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I think as someone said above, if it has a wooden plug in the magazine well held in place with a couple of transverse dowels across the foreend it is compatible with an Ishapore conversion, and those are typically marked on the left hand side of the buttsocket with .410 and the year of conv.
It seems that the ones with magazines are British conversions bored out to avoid being "rifles" under their gun laws, so not a military conversion.

John, I agree, it is a matter of degree I suppose. My thoughts are that if it were not reamed out to take commercial I would just never be able to fire it, so the value to me is much greater. In the end, that is the only issue anyway.

Cheers,
 
Just a small thing, I found that a .410 shotgun shell would not chamber in my unconverted one. (have one of each). So I had to fireform new .303 brass for that one.
 
y2k said:
I`ve been told you can fire 44-40 in it:dancingbanana: . I`d love to try it sometime :cool:
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Cool! Really? How about .45 LC?
American Derringer makes a derringer that fires both 410 shotshells and .45LC.
Of course, being a smoothbore, it wouldn't exactly be a target gun...:rolleyes:
 
will an unaaltered .303 chamber and what is the proof stamp showing? You could always load cast lead pills!
 
i had one of these when i was a young fella, had the wooden plug in it,to make it single shot, had a yellow/ green band on the buttstock. it was on the farm when i got hear, my father and uncle used to use it to shoot sparrows and other pests around the buildings. it was bored for 410 and had no choke. i used to shoot 44-40 in it aswell. worked allright, but was hell on the brass.
 
I am not a reloader, but I would have thought that the bullet from a .44 calibre was too large for a .410 bore? Unless a .410 is actually bigger than .410???

I've read about other people using other than .303 brass to fire form their own shotshells for those with the military .410 chamber, but not trying to fire bullets from it. That sounds dicey to me.
 
The barrels are generally smoothed out to about .410. We used to make .410 slugs by swaging down .44 lead bullets.
 
Going from memory here, but I think .44 bullets are .429 and .45's are .455. I have heard the stories about shooting .44's but would be very wary of this and sure wouldn't want to try .45's.
 
bushwhacker said:
Going from memory here, but I think .44 bullets are .429 and .45's are .455. I have heard the stories about shooting .44's but would be very wary of this and sure wouldn't want to try .45's.
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I hear you, but I'm going by the American Derringer .410/.45LC gun. I know a guy who owns one...
 
The Indian Police/native levy Ishapore models had the mag well filled with wood and held in place with a dowel plug. Uk Gunsmith conversions post 1988 have the mag platform welded put and the mag welded to the action. I rescued a P14 that this had been done to and ended up with a superb shooter! It has won me a couple of competitions. It did however cost me £90 for the gun and another £300 to restore. Well worth it as no one seems to bother with Eddystone models and it has such nice furniture!
 
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With all of this talk of reaming out .303 rifles, I was wondering about how much it would cost to have this done to an SMLE with a shot out bore. I still have to try shooting it and perhaps counterboring, but I have a Lithgow rifle whose bore looks like it's done for. Has anyone had this done for their rifles?

Frank
 
TimC said:
The Indian Police/native levy Ishapore models had the mag well filled with wood and held in place with a dowel plug. Uk Gunsmith conversions post 1988 have the mag platform welded put and the mag welded to the action. I rescued a P14 that this had been done to and ended up with a superb shooter! It has won me a couple of competitions. It did however cost me £90 for the gun and another £300 to restore. Well worth it as no one seems to bother with Eddystone models and it has such nice furniture!
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I recently bought an Eddystone P14, and I know what you mean- it's a beauty.
 
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