I am going to write about some questions that have bugged me for years. According to some writings the powers to be in England outlawed the importation of rifles and ammunition into the Sudan and India in the early years after 1900, of .450 calibers due to “political unrest” of the locals. This affected such calibers as the .500x450 x 3.25 and .450 x 3.25, whether Nitro or BP and the .450 #2.

Therefore, the gun makers came out with others such as the .470, .475 #2 Eley and Jeffrey, .476 WR, and .465 Holland at various dates between then and say 1910.

Now, consider the rifle #19109, in .500/450 completed in Dec. of 1908 for President Roosevelt. According to Teddy’s writing this rifle went with him on the big safari that started in Kenya and ended in Khartoum, Sudan. At that date, why would H & H make the rifle in .500/450 or the President order that caliber when it was banned where he was going? Selective enforcement of the ban?

Now going a step further, during the ‘70’s I owned (and regret selling!) and hunted with rifle #19108, in .450 #2, a Royal Deluxe made in 1907, for the Maharajah Pretab Bahadur in India. ( Also inlaid in gold on the barrels.) That rifle came to me out of India through H &H through one of their American directors at the time. How did that happen? Selective enforcement of the ban?

Both are great rifles and mine was a joy to use, but I just wonder how tight the ban really was. Any theories anyone has, I would like to hear.