Printable View
I recently stumbled upon a truly great rifle that clearly had great pedigree and it came home with me.
J Coster 500 3" BPE Single barrel, Jones rotary under lever, side hammer.
It was missing its hammer and the fore end take down key was seized
Both faults would have likely saved it from further abuse over the years.
As found
Attachment 245017
Attachment 245018
Attachment 245019
Attachment 245020
Attachment 245021
This was clearly a very fine stalking rifle in the day.
It is most likely converted from a muzzleloader around 1895 ish
Julius Coster ran a small gunsmithing shop in Edinburgh for only 10 years after he left Alexander Henry's where he was a workshop foreman.
I was able to get it taken apart and completely stripped.
The lock has a stalking safety and fly. Both are features of very fine stalking rifles.
Attachment 245022
And this shows the small fly. This allows a very light trigger pull without risking the trigger sear falling into the half cock notch at speed and breaking anything
Trigger pull is a crisp clean 3 pounds even
Attachment 245023
Big strong clean breech face
Attachment 245024
And nicely fitted Bar Lock into breech
Attachment 245025
So first thing to do is fit a make do hammer and see if this beauty goes bang
Find a hammer in my hoard that can be forced to work
Attachment 245026
Tap a screw on the hammer nose to get roughly correct protrusion
Hence the search for single barrel shotguns? A line of bespoke 500 BPE stalking rifles for discerning hunters?
Tap a screw on the nose to get roughly correct firing pin protrushion
I had to remove the stalking safety to get this to work temporarily
Attachment 245027
First three shots at 50m from a standing rest
Two shots from me almost toughing and one by a friend just wide there to share the joy of this occasion
Attachment 245028
So some research and this image arrives of what the proper hammer might have been like
Attachment 245029
Ask around lots of guys and 5 very nice hammers come up from Southland and one from CNI
Fit up the best option and do all the painful work to make it work with the stalking safety as well
Attachment 245030
Buy a rough old Boswell leather case
Attachment 245031
Attachment 245032
Make some changes to take the very different parts of the Coster
Attachment 245033
Lots of work to remove the lock and remove and repair some broken parts and make a new key.
Reline the new parts with felt and cover the worst of the moth eaten parts with new felt
Attachment 245034
Nice!
Amazing stuff! Beautiful rifle.
The nice new hammer still needs to be hardened and tempered.
But it is essentially finished.
It has a very good bore except for the last 50mm at the muzzle ! Which is supposed to be the most important part for accuracy.
Well I got lucky because it shoots pure lead powder coated bullets extremely accurately considering its open express sights.
I can get three shots into about 30mm at 50m and then BP fouling starts to spray them around.
But its a stalking rifle and three shots with this would be a barrage
It is a delight to shoot as around 8 1/2 pounds
Unlike my Webley of the same type and caliber which is 7 1/2 pounds and likes the exact same bullet weight and load
And to finish off the photo essay
Here are the J Coster and Webley 500 3" BPEs together
Attachment 245041
Attachment 245042
Attachment 245043
Attachment 245044
Thanks for sharing David & thanks for the dedication you apply to these lovely old rifles.
The purpose of this post is that there haven't been many relics posted lately ( lots of relics posting ) and I have been pretty quiet ( for me ) on posting vintage rifle stuff.
This one is such a special rifle it is nice to share the images at least
Amazes me that they are even out there to be found still...
We need a write up on the comparison between underlever and toplever. David you are now thd gun correspondent from The Times 1885 "Hunting edition" What can you tell us?
This is awesome, I will have to put something like this on the project list
Well in comparison Coster vs WebleyQuote:
Originally Posted by Tentman
The Coster has a superb trigger
The weight is nicer for the recoil
The sights are ok but the front blade needs a small silver bead added
It is very nice to shoot and very accurate
It slings and carries nicely
The hammer needs to be brought to half cock before opening the action after firing. Because it is an older style non rebounding hammer
VS
Webley
Lighter
Shorter barrel
Front sight has a silver bead and faster to use
Recoil is very perky because a full pound lighter
It is a joy to carry
Has a rebounding hammer so very quick and easy in the field
Not as accurate as the Coster
Clearly a rifle to be carried a lot ( light) and shot rarely ( recoil ).
So both have pros and cons.
I will address the Coster front sight.
There is another 500 3" BPE in my collection
It is perhaps my favorite 500
An original Winchester 1885 50 Eley aka 500 3"
It is even heavier
Good trigger
Tang rear sight
Globe front sight
Bore mint
It is used full noise ( very strong falling block action) with a nitro for black load and 450 grain bullets.
Despite its weight the heavy charge does give it considerable recoil and muzzle jump
It is very accurate and has easily the best sights for hunting
Horsepower to burn
It needs a no drill sling and it would go hunting more often
now you have mentioned the third one..you will have to take another photo...with all three LOL.
re the no drill sling...maybe carry in a fabric gun case untill hot sign/promising area is entered then put bag in your daybag.
Number 3 is a fixed frame 30" barreled falling block rifle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
I need a sling on it because I would never lean a rifle against myself when I need my hands free for glassing
And not the type of rifle you put on the ground to have hands free
