doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com H&H Royal Rook and Rabbit Rifle

I paid £350.00 for an 1886 H&H about 5 months ago in simular condition. Mine is converted to .410 from .295 Rook. It's a shame it has been converted. However, I didn't pay £3,000 for it either. Neat thread! I bought a lightweight leather case for it also... Damn near paid as much for the case as I did the gun! LOL!

I've recently acquired a small frame Martini, maker unknown, with a replacement barrel chambered for .38 Special. It appears to be someone's attempt to recreate the Martini version of a rook rifle and is a great deal of fun to shoot. Using .38 wadcutters and light loads of Bullseye powder, it shoots far better than I can with my 56 year old eyes and iron sights and is about as quiet and close to recoil free as one could reasonably ask. The butt is probably original, or at least came off a commercial rifle and not a Cadet, as it has what looks to be an original oil finish and is checkered in the British style, with flat topped diamonds at a rate of 16 or 18 to the inch. The forend is clearly a replacement.

If Pennsylvania hadn't outlawed centerfires for small game other than varmints, it would make a delightful squirrel and rabbit gun, as well as being capable of taking the occasional crow or woodchuck out to 75 years or so. Alas, since I'm not a varmint hunter, it's likely to spend its time in my care punching very precise holes in paper targets.

I wrote an article about a year ago about one of these I had. It was cased like ashotgun and had its original H&H scope circa 1880 numbered to the rifle. The 'Royal was their best grade roof rifle , the 'Ross' was less well finished. I think most were built by Ellis in Birmingham, though other suppliers were used.

Min had been lines (Parker-rifled)to .22 rimfire and was a grat rabbit rifle - I shot quite afew with it before I sold it to an Irishman for £3,500.

Converted examples in .410 are worth alot less than either original calibre ones or those properly converted to a more modern calibre like .22 R/F or .22 hornet etc.

Prices of all of them have climbesd steadily over teh last 10 years. As shotgun they don't work unless the barrel has been turned down - the octagonal barrel is far too heavy for effective use asa bird gun and most conversions took no pains to see if the shot barrel patterned or shot to piont of aim at all. Most have no choke. Maybe OK for rat shooting at close range.

Small Bore, it was Parker liner or insert? Do you use central-rim fire adaptor or liner/insert was eccentric?

Parker-rifling is essentially a permanent repair not unlike Teague lining except a rifle barrel is a lot thicker. The bore is reamed out and a full-length rifled barrel insert goes into the existing one. Only a small line is visible at the muzzle.

The striker is disc-set and the centre-fire one replaced with a rim-rire one.

This rifle shot to point of aim with original scope and Eley subsonic ammo. It was as accurate as a modern bolt-action .22 of good quality.

Thank's Small Bore for explanations, thou I'd prefer 22 Hornet

Did you get him drunk first...

Irishmen look like drunken from birth Thou most Russians do as well.

Rem40X, I use .38 Special cases to make ammo for that .360 rook rifle that I have. To all intents and purposes it is a little .38 Special rifle.

The one I have that is converted to .410 actually shoots very well indeed. I took it a few weeks back when I went to a black powder sporting clay shoot. I made up some BP cartridges with 1/2 ounce of shot and 1 dram of powder, although it is nitro proof, and it did not disgrace itself. It was busting clays far better than I expected. Like Smallbore says, if it still has the full octagonal barrel it is very muzzle heavy as a shotgun. Lagopus.....

I had my .410 rook rifle lined to .22 hornet. Not completely done but looks and works OK now.