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Number 3 is a fixed frame 30" barreled falling block rifle.
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...

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...

Well in comparison Coster vs Webley

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...

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...

And to finish off the photo essay

Here are the J Coster and Webley 500 3" BPEs together

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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...

So some research and this image arrives of what the proper hammer might have been like

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Ask around lots of guys and 5 very nice hammers come up from Southland and one from CNI
Fit up...

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

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First three shots at 50m from a standing...

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

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Tap a screw on the hammer nose to get roughly...

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...

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...