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Picture Page February 2015 An tropical pack of 500/450 Magnum Express......
This soldered tin box is a tropical pack of 500-465 Magnum Express
cartridges made by Kynoch. These tropical packs were intended to provide
air-tight protection from humid conditions to the cartridges they contained.
While the containers might occasionally be found in rusty battered
condition, the boxes within are usually in as new condition. The stamped
marking on the side included not only the type and number of cartridges in
the pack, but a Inside this tropical pack are five 10 round boxes, labeled as being
specially loaded for Holland's Cordite express rifle. As expected, the boxes
appear to be in pristine condition. The most interesting thing about these
boxes is the advertisement for Holland & Holland's Paradox gun.
The reference to Sir Samuel Baker's book Wild Beasts and Their Ways provides a good estimate of the age of these cartridges, as the book was published in 1890. I would guess this tropical pack would have been produced within ten or so years after that publication date.
. . I almost invariably include only items from my own collection on my
picture pages, but this one is an exception. I received an email from the
owner that included these and a number of other pictures, and an offer to
purchase it if I was interested. Of course I was, and I made an offer. He
made a counter offer which I accepted in a follow up email, and asked what
payment method he preferred. He did not respond to that email, which gave me
a feeling that something wasn't right.. The following day I sent another
email, again asking what payment method he preferred. This one got the
following response: "Sorry, sometime last night, someone bought it on Gunbroker, so I am obligated to complete that transaction. Sorry about the timing on this one." Almost sounds like someone sneaked in and took it. There's a simple lesson here - wait until the internet auction has ended before offering and agreeing to sell your item to someone. Otherwise, there's a good possibility you will end up in what was likely an embarrassing situation for this fellow. .
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lso
indicated the bullet weight (365 grains) and type (soft nose solid point),
as
well as the propellant (Cordite). That 365 grain bullet was a standard load
for this cartridge. 
These
guns were double barreled, and with the barrels typically smooth bored
except for a couple of inches of rifling at the muzzle.While they could be
used with shotshells, they were intended for use with Paradox shells,
shotshell cases loaded with a single heavy projectile, often either hollow
nose or copper tubed solid lead or lead coated steel. 
The cartridges in
the boxes have the headstamp shown here. The 'C's in the headstamp identify
them as being loaded with Cordite propellant.