Hello Marrakai,

Very nice article. It does a good job explaining the purpose of a Howdah "gun", wheather rifle or pistol.

When I emailed Westley Richards and obtained the factory letter authenticating the 16" barrels of my rifle, they told me that my rifle might be the only one ever built with such short barrels, as they did not recall ever having lettered another. They also opined that it was likely made for one of the Maharajah's guards as a "back-up" working gun for Tiger hunting, as it was not inscribed to a specific Maharajah.

So far, I've been keeping all the Tigers in Wisconsin in check.