Colin Greenwood in his excellent book says that most if not all of the leading gun makers of the time had their rook rifles made in Birmingham and in the Holland and Holland case they were inspected to make sure they were to their standard and henry Joseph Hussey was the man who inspected them and stamped his initials under the barrel. He left Holland and Holland in 1895.
My rifle has his initials stamped so it was made before this date.
Its rifle number 9542 and patent number 1294
It was originally a 297/250 until it was altered some time or other to a 22LR with a liner.
The old liner taken out and a new one in ten barrel put in place and converted back to centre fire.
As Mike says it depends on the shape of the bullet you use. I make my own bullets using Corbin dies and jackets from Corbin which make a very nice 62 grain lead tipped bullet. I also give the bullet a concave base to move the lead forward.
These bullets also shoot very well in my 223 BSA small frame Martini with a one in eight twist. Although all my other small fame Martini's have been converted to a pistol grip stock I kept the original stock on this one as the figure of the wood was so nice and it has the NSW government stamp on it. It also seems nicer to carry all day in this configuration.
As regards to using a 22 centre fire for deer in NZ I think the consensus of opinion is that its not a good idea unless you are a calm, good shot.
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