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The .461 Gibbs was a long range target round that came in two versions, No.1 and No.2, the latter cartridge having a longer neck. They were developed by George Gibbs of Bristol in the 1870's. George Gibbs was founded in 1842.

Bullet weights ran 360, 540 to 570 grains depending on the cartridge used; the 360 grain hollow nose being an " Express " load (another meaning for the term???)Paper patched lead bullets were used, and powder charges from 75 to 90 grains were normal. In the 1890's Copper plated pojectiles were introduced.

There is some conjecture about the bullet diameter, but Hoyem claims that .461 - .463" is correct. The rifles were Metford bored, and according to Ross Seyfried in his article in the Spring 2004 Issue of "Double Gun Journal", groove diameter was usually about .472", meaning that a degree of "upset" was required for the projectile to engage the rifling. This was the principle employed in the Metford bored muzzleloaders which allowed the patched projectile to be rammed down the bore. Lead hardness must be optimum for this to work, and Seyfried found that 1:20 to 1:40 tin:lead alloys worked.

George Gibbs was a noted long range shot, and set many records with his Farquharson actioned target rifles. He was reputed to have put 48 out of 50 shots into a 3 foot diameter bullseye at 1000 yards! And this was done with a rifle that had been fired over 20,000 times.

Frederick Coutenay Selous, the noted hunter/author used the cartridge to hunt African game up to Elephant, reporting tremendous penetration with the long 570 grain bullet even with the moderate 75 grain powder charge.

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Originally posted by boom stick:


Funky...