Hi All,

I have an 1885 in 50 Eley and have learned quite a bit about this chambering that some of you might find interesting.

First things first.

Winchester never produced a 50 Eley cartridge. After several years of looking, I have never found a single round of ammunition or even an empty cartridge box labeled  “50 Eley”

Winchesters “50 Eley” was their name for a British cartridge. This British cartridge was the 500 Black powder Express (BPE) in a 3 inch case. 

When cordite became available, the Brits retained the same exact cartridge case as used for the 500 Black Powder Express, but loaded it with cordite and renamed the cartridge as the “500 Nitro Express, 3 inch”. 

For those of you who want to handload for their 50 Eley, it’s pretty simple. You buy a set of dies for the 500 Nitro Express (3 inch case) and some new 500 Nitro 3 inch brass (Hornandy makes it), cast bullets for the 500 BPE and off you go…

Just be very careful to only use the low pressure black powder or black powder equivalent loads listed for the 500 BPE.

Even though a Winchester marked “50 Eley” will  chamber a 500 Nitro Express 3 inch cartridge, the old Winchester High Walls should never be fired with the higher pressure 500 Nitro Express cartridges.