doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com An interesting rifle

This isn't quite the stuff that most here like. No doglegs welded off the right side, but I think it is a very interesting rifle and perhaps someone would know something about the engraving.



The rifle recently sold and can be viewed here
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=325465541

That rifle was a dandy in its day..
The first sabretooth, giant sloth, leaping salmon game vignette I've seen.
The guy with the club is behind the bushes on the right.

I'd love to own that rifle. Just like it is. Of course, I had cave paintings engraved on my rifle, so sabertooth cats are no big stretch for me. Not sure about the sloth thing or the leaping salmon though. Just love that gun for some reason. Sort of folk-artish. I find most traditionally formal engraving not so interesting.

I suspect the fellow who paid over three grand for that rifle had a Marlin letter documenting "something".

Looks like a Sabre tooth and Dire wolf or maybe an American hyena contesting a ground sloth(?). The animals seem well done and it is an interesting and very unusual scene. I wonder if it belonged to some paleontologists during the golden age of western US fossil hunting. They had to be well armed for protection. I can imagine Cope or one of his collectors carrying this rifle.

Jerry Liles

If there was ever a rifle in need of some research this is the one.

The scene likes like a Charles Knight painting from the Museum of Natural History. Have a look at one of his Smilodon paintings at this site:

http://www.charlesrknight.com/AMNH.htm

I love it.

Jerry Liles

You Philistines obviously don't realize that this rifle was originally part of Professor George Edward Challenger's collection.

Never heard of the prof. Any further details. I don't think he was a wildlife biologist.

But if I had $3k to throw at a rifle, I'd done throwed it. Yup. That just does it for me.

Prof. Challenger has been an idol of mine for many years. They still have not done justice to him with any movie made about his exploration of south america.