Sealing Rifles

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WR1894

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Not much happening this morning so I though I would post a couple of pictures of some early cartriage sealing rifles

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All three rifles are in 450 BPE (3 1/4) amd for 130 grains of black and a 365 bullet.
The top rifle is a Daniel Fraser off the SS Greenland made 1880 or 81
The second rifle is a Alex Henry and from the SS Panther made in 1874
the third is a Field Patent action is from the SS Diana made around 1900
I not sure why they used the 45 3 1/4 inch case for shooting seals mabe sombody knows. I have got the Alex Henry cleaned up anf the Fraser is on its way but haven't started the Field action one yet. But they are a interesting lot of guns I think
John
 
Those are some very nice looking old rifles. Not your average 06 Remington stuff. I'm looking forward to playing with an old sealing rifle someday, got a box of brass already. What is the bore diameter on the .450BPEs?
 
I have seen coiled brass .450 cases recovered from sites in Baffin Island. Not entirely impossible that they were fired in one of these rifles.
 
I wonder if they were primarily for shooting walruses (walrusi?) Seems like a n usually heavy cartridge for shooting seals.
Also want to hear a report of what sort of groups you get with them :>)

cheers mooncoon
 
Great guns...not sure how they differ from the norm. Brit singleshots...but these are excellent examples of Brit. antique S.S. that rival the U.S. Sharps, Ballards, etc. Ross Siegfried has a collection of these types and wrote them up from time to time.....good luck with that collection, wish it were mine!!
 
Excellent, Nice to see your collection as I also own a Alexander Henry in 450 BPE. How was the chamber on your rifle, mine was a rusty gouged out mess while the rest of the rifle was in good shape. Had to get the chamber resleeved and chambered to reuse it. Presently I'm rebarreling it for BPCR shoots.....Bob
 
Here are some pictures of the Alex Henry open

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This gun I have just about ready to shoot, the next one to get ready to shoot will the Fraser, I don't think that any of them will be tack drivers as they spent a lot of time around salt water and air. They were in tough shape when I got them and I haven't started working on the Field action rifle yet.
The 450 BPE express of what I read was used for shooting deer in England so I would presume that they consider seals as the same game but haven't found out much about seal hunting in the late 1800's. I always thought they beat them on the head
As far as the difference from the normal British singles would be the engraving and checkering and quality of wood. These would be second or thrid qrade rifles. But were still of as good or better quailty then the US makers ( this should cause some disagreement )
John
 
Well i would agree with you on British Quality!
The British made Revolvers of the same time period are better made than there US counterparts.
But i like British Revolvers alot :D

The Britsh WG action is way stronger than a colt or S&W and if ya ever had a Colt apart and a WG webley you will see Webleys use half as many parts yet creat a way nicer action trigger pull ect.
Wilkinson 1892s have the best action i ever seen in any Revolver back then or even Today!

Thanks for the open action pics
 
Sealing rifles....a Snider?

I "had"...I regret...a Snider from the S.S. Kite, which was a quite famous sealing vessel. I was in good shape externally but the rifling was gone. It had an interesting homemade sight on the rear. It went on a deal for a Brunswick. What a great piece of history. It surely would be fascinating to know the life history of each of yours.
 
While my A.H. is also second or third grade and I compare the action to my 1859 Sharps. Sharps is a Chevy to my cadillac A.H.....Bob
 
I was trying to stir the pot, the big difference is also the British made very few guns compared to the US, I beleive that Alex Henry made some where in the area of 2600 single shots from 1870 to around 1905 or 10. The Daniel Fraser rifles made from 1880 to 1905 estimate that he made about 400 single shots. These sealing rifles were in that production. I haven't looked up the sheet I got for the serial numbers from Alex Henry but I believe there was 5 or 6 rifles ordered at the same time for sealing.
The Sharps rifle company made as many high grade target rifles as Fraser made total prodution sporting guns.
I have some American single shot that I also like but there is more hand work involed in the finish and fit on the British rifles.
Bob is your Alex Henry a right or left hand lock model and does it have a hammer saftey
John
 
Cartridges of the World lists this round as a medium game through deer class caliber. In those days the Express indicated faster than normal loadings of that diameter. These were meant as fast for their day, light bullets for caliber rounds. Kind of like the later magnums. These are not elephant rounds but rather medium game rounds of the day.
Great looking historical rifles. The more I read on those ships, the more interesting they seem.
 
WR1894 said:
The 450 BPE express of what I read was used for shooting deer in England so I would presume that they consider seals as the same game but haven't found out much about seal hunting in the late 1800's. I always thought they beat them on the head
John
Click to expand...

I think it is a question of the age and species of seals that were being killed. The small newborn seals were clubbed but I think the large adults were shot with rifles for those on the ice. At the same time in Newfoundland, it is my impression that there were shore fishermen shooting seals in open water, later in the year, using shotguns. Here on the west coast, fur seals in the 1800's were shot with shotguns and buckshot.
To some extent almost anything is possible as I have a book about a trip to the south Atlantic, where they were clubbing elephant seals to death using clubs about 5 feet long and only used lances and occasionally rifles on the really big bulls.
The puzzling thing to me, is that I would think ammunition would be relatively expensive for those guns compared to say a 44-40 for shooting seals close range.

cheers mooncoon
 
Hi Wall winchester

My grandfather was a gunner on sealing trips down to South America. He used his own rifle which was a 40-110 Express cartridge on a Winchester Hi Wall rifle.He had the bullet mold and hand tools for reloading his spent cartridges during quiet moments.
When I was a young fellow I had it restored and rebarrelled to 45-70 so I could still take it out and hunt with it. Broke the hearts of some Winchester collectors but I wanted to keep it an active game harvester in the family .
It is still putting meat in the freezer although now that I am older I wish maybe I hadn't rebuilt it.
 
WR1894, My AH is right handed and the tumber has a half ####( safety). My lock though is not concave like yours but flat. I use to have an AH in full military wood that cocked on the left side. But that was when kids were little, bills high and knowledge about what I was holding very little. Still made a nice profit when I sold it. But I was hooked and bought the first one I saw at a show many years later....Bob
 
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