Some years ago I was browsing in one of the more expensive book shops in Charing Cross Road, and was thumbing through a book by Lord Dunsany who was a keen snipe shooter as well as being the Irish chess champion and revolver champion.

I cannot even remember if it was one of his fantasy works, or (more likely) a tale set in Ireland. Anyway, as I looked through it I came across about a page and a half in which he sets out how the sights on Rook rifles should be set up and why he considered most gunmakers were doing it wrong.

The book was not otherwise of great interest to me, and went back on the shelf, but it has since irritated me that I failed to make a mental note of the title.

Are any of you familiar with the book?

Keep Well

Parabola

Here's a list of his writing.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=Dunsany&title=&lang=en&isbn=&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr

This one?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1991045.The_Curse_Of_The_Wise_Woman

I hesitate to ask, because I know that the ecosystem in the UK is the quite different than the one here in the US, but how is it that there can be so many crows?

We have plenty of them here, but really don’t have big rookeries, where a rook rifle could be taken advantage of.

Perhaps in other regions, but in my region, the ecosystem balances out with small flock of crows, and excluding their migration, not thousands.

Any ideas?

Gentlemen, thanks for your contributions. Drew, that one could well be the book I was looking at.

“If you see one Rook, it’s a Crow. If you see a lot of Crows, they are Rooks”is like most generalisations not totally accurate but closer than many.

The two birds, both Corvids, are vey similar although the Rook has a slimmer beak and in adult birds a bald area around the base of the beak. They are distinct species.

Rooks are gregarious, live in densely packed Rookeries with dozens of nests in a clump of trees. Crows nest in splendid isolation.

About 50 years ago I knew a retired Officer, a veteran of both the Boer and First world wars (and Home Guard in the Second) .

He told me that when stationed in Ireland before WW1, he used to go Rook shooting with a pair of Webley-Fosbury revolvers.

I don’t know what the locals made of the gentle rain of 265 grain bullets falling from the sky, unless they put it down to “the gentlemen down the road having a political discussion “.

At the time I had never heard of Lord Dunsany, I wish I’d asked if they had ever met,

Keep Well,

Parabola

I have two unmolested Rook rifles in original .255 caliber. Although they were probably made in Birmingham, both were finished in London. One is cased with accessories and is in pristine, unused condition. I had some cartridges made up for them and they are extremely accurate at 100-125 yards. I am able to connect with a squirrel-sized target over and over at that distance with the original iron sights. Really neat. Imagine the sportsman willing to invest in a best single-shot centerfire ejector Rook rifle over the cheap, readily available and popular .22 rimfire. I never knew him, but I appreciate his taste in firearms and truly enjoy being the custodian of his rifle.

Owen,

Does your cased example have any owner’s name on the lid or case ends?

If so it may be possible to dig up some biographical details.

.255 Rook Rifles were generally retailed by W J Jeffery as it was one of his proprietary cartridges. I know someone who makes his cases from .25-20 Single Shot cases.

In those days a best quality Rook Rifle, might retail for £12 to £15, whist a good quality.22 single shot might be £3 to £4. Whilst even the latter was then a lot of money to a working man, I suspect that these days the differential would be a lot greater (assuming that you could find someone to build you a good quality Rook Rifle).

Greetings,

Parabola

Whilst even the latter?? What does that mean in English?? I thought Whilst was a Limey card game similar to Bridge. You chaps sure have a strange way of speaking.. RWTF

Parabola, as you can see I have only the remains of a label on the end of this guncase. The name has been removed, but despite the reference to New Bond st., the rifle is engraved South Audley St.



Unfortunately, the proprietor of S. Audley St.did not maintain suitable records of Rook rifles sold and I was unable to obtain further information.

I am aware of a .22 Hornet of recent S. Audley build, their first in 85 years.

Owen,

Lovely rifles.

The case end label you show is, I am certain, one of Holland and Holland’s indicating that your rifle was at one time was in store with them.

It might be worth contacting them to see if what remains of the folio number and storage number could identify the then owner.

Best Regards

Parabola

Parabola, Wish I could claim the battery above, but alas, no. Thanks for the tip, I will follow up and see if I can glean some further information on the prior custodians of this rifle.

Drew,

You were right, the book is indeed “The Curse of the Wise Woman”. I have bought a paperback copy.

In it Lord Dunsany, writing about a .250 rook rifle, a hammer rifle with a non-selective ejector recommends disabling the ejector to lose the very audible “click” on opening the rifle and learning to cock the hammer silently.

He recommended shooting with both eyes open, and using hollow point bullets as being more humane and less likely to ricochet .

He does however condemn the “shiny” centre line on the back sight stating that it makes it “impossible to tell” “whether you are taking a fine sight or a coarse sight” and says there should not be anything “shiny” on the back sight .

He clearly did not subscribe to the school of thought that says you should only use “the bead, the whole bead and nothing but the bead” and just aim up or down on the animal to allow for range.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction,

Keep Well

Parabola

I never could quite get the hang of sighting with a fine bead and the high poi many British rifles have. I often need to re-regulate poi for clients and for my own use. Currently have 3 new sights to make, 2 for clients and one for my own double which was damaged. I do have a few British rifles which appear to have been originally built for sighting with a coarse bead and I shoot those just fine.

I have competed with, and hunted with, open sighted rifles and pistols for many years. I grew up with a Remington 33 .22, with a front bead sight. I always struggled with accuracy with it. Then I discovered the "squared up" notch and post. My accuracy escalated. IME, the notch and post is the most accurate of all open sight styles. The front sight and the rear need to be black(ened, if possible), but the front is the most important of the two. I black mine, before using, with a splinter of fat lighter pine, alight and smoking. The soot blackens the sights and there will be no light reflection, which will cause inaccuracy. If the prevailing light comes from the side your shots will move towards the light source. It changes the way the front sight appears, and causes aiming inaccuracy. Blackening changes that.

I despise a bead front rifle sight, with it's accompanying U shaped rear notch.

I like a bead front sight combined with a wide V for hunting, fast and plenty accurate. I have never carred muc for a U shaped rear notch.

A seriously practical set of open sights I encountered was on, of all things, a take down .250/3000 Savage 1899. It had come back from East Africa.

The factory back sight had been replaced by a fixed stout single wide and shallow V angled back to the firer to avoid reflections and the foresight was a largish bead.

Matted and no white line -Lord Dunsany would have approved.

Gunbearer and tamper proof, practically unbreakable ( air line baggage handlers excepted) and as I remember it grouped at 100 yards about 2.5 inches above the top of the bead. With that cartridge that would give a 200 yard zero and effective point blank shooting to at least 225 yards.