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In the book, Hunting Weapons, by Howard L. Blackmore at plate 138 there is a picture of an almost identically stocked Rigby .303 Mauser made for a one-armed British Officer.

On that example there is a small leather covered cheek rest at the turn of the stock wrist and the “paddle” is leather covered presumably to be held in the armpit by the stump of his arm.

It was then in the Tower of London, but will now be at the Royal Armouries at Leeds where Jonathan Ferguson or Mark Murray-Futter should be able you give more details.

Does yours have a Rigby number on the bottom of the trigger guard?

DON’T try this at home, although interesting it was not the brightest of ideas.

I bought at auction 2 boxes of Kynoch .295 or .300 Rook “Non-Rusting”. The part filled box had original contents and empties. The then full box pictured above had a variety of rounds from different sources some solid and some hollow point, a cartridge collector’s dream.

The block of 25 on the right with brass primers (some stamped ICI) are almost certainly non-corrosive with No. 69 .177 primers.

The 2 head stamped ELEY are at least 100 years old Kynoch taking over Eley centerfire rifle production in about 1924.

The rest with no head stamps, copper Boxer primers are even older, and were probably made over 123 years ago in the reign of Queen Victoria.

Last Sunday was the HBSA spring rifle competition at Bisley. I had loaded up nitro ammunition for the “Greener” for smokeless ammunition but none for the “Holland” for black powder only.

It occurred to me that the really old stuff was probably black powder loads and I could use them up in the Holland’s IF they worked.

Course of fire is 13 rounds sitting at 50 yards, and 13 standing at 25. To save time putting up sighting targets and shoot more details we use the muzzle loader rule of best 10 shots to count for score.

Having shot the smokeless event, I explained to the Range Officer what I was intending so he could watch to see that I was using black powder (they were).

At 50 yards I got off 13 rounds (a couple required re-cocking the hammer for a second strike and there was one slight hangfire as well as a total mis-fire).

My score of 53 ex 70 was not much worse than my admittedly indifferent nitro 50 yard score and bettered the 50 yard score of the only other black powder competitor in the Holland’s.

Half of my scoring shots hit the black (7 and 6 rings) which is about the size of a Rook’s chest, the rest being above and below the black.

I did not have a dead Rook handy, but I believe all 13 shotholes could have been covered by the carcass with the wings folded.

So far so good, but at 25 yards I had misfires followed but a squib that left the bullet stuck in the bore and I had to retire with no score at 25.

The stuck bullet pushed out easily, and I have boiled out the corrosive fouling with no damage to the rifling,

The cases had clearly become embrittled with age as can be seen with the stuck bullet under the box.

I won’t do it again and will try to find the time to load at least 26 black powder rounds before the next competition, but I find it interesting that ammunition perhaps over 125 years old would still largely function and still if well aimed kill a Rook.

For the man with two loaders?

I shot it yesterday with 2-1/2" light handloads in Fiocchi cases. The shell jumps the extractor after firing. [censored - come on man!] of a job to remove the case. Crimped the rim with slip joint plier. I will try other cases. I have some RSTs. At worst I'll have to have the extractor built up and maybe the rim recess recut.

Really good book. Wouldn't want to part with my copy of it.

Good luck, RR.

Added to the dictionary (Updates now on p.14):
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=480959&page=all

Crosse - stock
...Crosse arab - Stock with a smoothly tapering neck to a sinuous butt.
...Crosse anglaise - English straight stock
...Crosse à joue - stock with cheek piece
...Crosse de borgne - crossover stock
...Crosse demi-pistolet - half pistol grip stock resembling a "Prince of Wales"
...Crosse pistolet - pistol grip stock

Yeah, I know. I was joking. It's got the little dollar signs stamped into the left side of its flats. Big Scrooge McDuck fan, so I bought it.

I guess my picture's not showing up for you. It does have that mega yacht of a forend, with the horseshoe-shaped retaining hardware at the front, as opposed to the previous version with fasteners on either side of the wood. The weird thing about it is, when I unboxed and first beheld it, I expected it'd handle like a baulk of mine-shoring timber. Not the case. It swings like it's an extension of my hatred of the color orange.

I heard through the grapevine that Hodgdon in its infinite wisdom is now publishing 12 gauge loads for 244.

Sure enough, the website has quite a few loads many with some of the new wave wads, and many with pressures on the low side for the claimed velocity levels at least in the one ounce selections.

Surprising. This powder was initially marketed for pistol applications with a copper scavenger and low flash characteristics. My source claims it's either an alternative to or an eventual replacement for WST. This is just one word of mouth claim.

The main attraction at this point is that the stuff is available, and good bit cheaper than WST and the Alliant extortion when you can find any. I'm not saying it's cheap. It certainly isn't. We are still being robbed.

If you want one ounce loads in the 7200 psi range with snappy velocity, you might want to investigate 244.

Its thick leather with a felt liner.

Any pictures?

Yes, you are correct compared to the $230.00 price of the same loads at RST.

UK Archives has forward the bankruptcy account from E.M. Reilly & Co., presented at a meeting held in August 1913. Reilly declared bankruptcy on 06 June 1912. It was hoped that this report would contain lists of equipment, machinery, etc. sold from 295 Oxford Street to pay off creditors. It does not. It is purely a financial document listing amounts recovered from debtors and paid out to bondholders and creditors.

The list of creditors being paid a limited amount on their debt (in addition to the usual water, gas bills) is interesting. The companies include:
. .-- Eley
. .-- Kynoch
. .-- Holloway - SN 35614, one of the last guns serial numbered by Reilly, also has a Holloway SN. See Chapter XII. Death of EM Reilly; Decline and Fall 1890-1918; 91. 1904-1912: Reilly Reduced to Finishing Guns Bought in the White?
Remington
. .-- Le Personne & Co. - (Belgian gun merchant living in uK: see: https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=611262
. .-- Remington Arms
. .-- Stevens Arms
. .-- Webeley & Scott
. .-- London Small Arms
. .-- Regent shooting ground
etc.

Among the debts recovered is one from Lord Conyngham. This is likely either
1. Lord Victor George Henry Francis Conyngham, 5th Marquess of Conyngham, (1880-1918)
2. Lord Frederick William Burton Conyngham, 6th Marquess of Conyngham (1890-1974) (brother of the 5th)

Probably the former since the #2 didn't ascend to the Marquess-ship until 1918. The Conyngham's were Irish landed nobility. A "Marquess" ranks above an earl but below a duke.

Selected documents to be posted.

We’ll get on over and shoot it with us. Promise you won’t have to wear a cheesehead.

I shoot 14 gauge components from Circle Fly in my 15 gauge MH Blood ML. My gun was made in Memphis, TN with Osborne barrels. It's a left handed SxS restored for me by MV Highsmith late of Memphis.

That's me! I use them on field birds. I do not in the woods. Different strokes I guess.

The UK sporting goods business is similar in function to that in the U.S. They have to stock what sells.

You may stumble upon some trinkets in a shop that you like, but every shop knows where the good stuff needs to go to get a turn.
There’s a fishing/shooting shop in Edinburgh that has been there for ever, ….sorry, name eludes me.
Vintage book stores with all sorts of old titles.

You can find piles of Spanish boxlocks in many gun shops, low grade hammer guns, and some SLNE’s.
Half the fun is just looking at your itinerary and calling the little sporting goods shops in the town you are visiting.

In Edinburgh, (I confess I mostly confine my time to relaxing at “Number 11”, and eating haggis at “The World’s End”) I always touch the statue of Adam Smith, like a gladiator returning to the Colosseum.

It’s a good town to explore but finding vintage firearms will be a challenge.

Note: if you travel through Dunblane, the church has magnificent wood carvings ( best I’ve seen in the western world) All done by two brothers before the Great War.

Builder, thanks.

Hinge pin free, again.



Best,
Ted

PS
Fab,

Cela fait beaucoup de canards. Trop de canards !

Might have gotten lost in my prior ramblings but all the software & security settings ARE NOT a substitute for judicious preemptive personal decisions.
If in doubt; Don't.
If totally oblivious & certain: consider darwinawards.com

BTW: NICE Gun!

Yeah it's the same idea. No idea if it was converted or made that way. But unlikely a pinfire cartridge would work with it.

I have a handful of these, some of which are US patents.


I did a short article on these some time ago, focusing on the pistol cartridges. This gun had an insert that allowed it to work also with pinfire cartridges. And some had a very tapered "pin" to allow it to work in existing 12mm revolvers:

I can understand why the scalloped ones would have problems. I think I always just liked the looks of a boxlock, too. But that's just me. I don't mean to run down or ridicule someone else's admiration for certain guns. If I have I apologize for that. As I said earlier, the eye of the beholder. And I respect that. Thanks.

Remington Society of America website forum. Ask in early shotguns subforum.

Thanks for your excellent investigative gunsmithing Dustin. To give credit where it is due, on the disassembly questions the person who responded to a post on passionlachasse.fr was FAB500.
https://www.passionlachasse.com/t40494-damon-petrik-superposes-demonter-larme

This is a historic line and surely will be consulted by others, who might acquire this French relatively unknown over here but classic and beautiful superposed shotgun in our country.

He is right next to my chair. He had a good day.

You can ask any price you want. Making a sale is an entirely different issue

I will sell you CCI BR2s at $300/1000, but not a penny less. Any takers? Did not think so.