Veisey & Son .451 rifle
30" barrel, 46½" overall and weighing 8lb 2oz. I got it from Peter Asquith
just before he passed. He said he showed it to de Witt Bailey and was told it
looked like the kind of thing the Victorians used to take up to Scotland to
shoot at deer from 400 yards. Peter was chummy with Rex Holbrook which probably
explains the sights. Gordon Jones had already called around and got the Rigby's
we met up second Sunday of the following month and I am not sure I didn't have
the better deal. I think this Victorian slug gun has possibilities.
Inside the patch box were suggested loads and sight settings for a
.445 patch ball (45gns of TPPH), and a sized .451 suppository
(80-85 gns of TPPH). It came with various accesories including a
gadget to force lubricants neatly in to .451" and .577" bullet grooves.
A large frog and a really light trigger. The bridle has snapped though
either side of the cock pivot some time in the past and been brazed
back together. The barrel has a damascus outer around a tape wound core,
presumably because damascus is pretty but it cannot hold rifling very well.
It is stamped H&S, presumably Hollis and Sheath.
It's not easy to photograph oily, blue lock engraving, but I got a picture
of the rifling by sticking a bore light 3" up the pipe. The ramrod turns an
amazing 1¼ times on the way down. Some rust pitting on the back end of
the trigger guard and the butt plate, but the lock, tang and barrel seem to
have survived unscathed
The target sling on the trigger guard replaces the original mount which
seems to have gone missing. I will have to try and reproduce the thread
from the hole left in the woodwork.