OK, it's not a double rifle but it is Belgian and not German/Austrian and it was made for the US market so here it is. In the 1890s H. Pieper of Belgium made some Cape guns in 12 gauge and US rifle calibers for the US that were marketed by Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck. The rifle calibers Sears offered were 38-55, 44-40, and 32-20. I've read that Montgomery Ward's 1893 catalog listed a 40-60 (I've ordered a reprint to check this out). I've seen a post someone made that he had one in 30-30 but I would need to see that offering in print. They were back action hammer doubles in both top lever and side lever models and utilized what today would be called mono-block construction. I have had one for some time that was marketed as a 38-40 although no caliber is marked. The groove diameter is slightly over sized for the 38-40 at .406 vs .402. I chalked that up to manufacturing tolerance or something and have been shooting it with .406 diameter cast bullets as a 38-40. It is quite accurate. The chamber is a little sloppy in the neck (tolerance or something again?) so I was playing with it the other day and just happened to drop a 44-40 round in the chamber. It went right in. On general principles I'm not going to shoot a .427 bullet into a .406 barrel. Can it be possible that this is what was going on with the "44-40" guns? The rifle barrel is quite sturdy and it may have worked. Does anyone have one of these in "44-40" and has slugged the barrel? Later ones were marked 44-40 on the rifle barrel. To make it interesting, Pieper also made some single shot rifles on Martini actions in 44-40 that may have been marketed to Australia as kangaroo rifles!
Last edited by HalfaDouble; 01/14/20 09:24 PM.
