Hello all,

I've brought this over in part from a different forum, to try to determine who might have built this rifle for William Evans. It was recently purchased and has the following details:

Tight on face - Mint bores - no cracks or chips in the wood
Overall unmolested condition - just normal aging over the last 133 years
Full coverage Engraving
Underlever
500 - 3" BPE
28" Barrels
3-Leaf Express Sights
9# 5-1/2oz
14-1/2" LOP
Doll's Head
Fences
Rebounding Hammers
Barrels marked "Henry's Patent A&T 1275P - 1276P"
Forend hanger marked "JB"
Sling Eyes
Steel Butt Plate
Lever Forend Release
Top of Right bbl = "William Evans (From Purdey's)
Top of Left bbl = "95 Buckingham Palace Road London"
Both Locks marked "William Evans / From Purdey's"
Bottom bbl flat = "39" "Crown/P" "Crown/V" "Crown/x"
Silver Shield in stock with initials "C.E.A."
Modern Case with printed label

When I called William Evans in England, they had this to say.

My rifle was built within the first 2 years of production (1883-1885) based on the "Buckingham Palace Road" address and the fact that it has "no serial number". They indicated that most of the first guns sold by Evans had no serial numbers added because the rifles that were built by others (for Evans) either complete or nearly so. During those very early times it is possible Evans wasn't even sure if his business venture would be successful, so he wasn't keeping very good (if any) records about the first guns he sold.

They indicated that my rifle was likely NOT being built specifically for Evans as evidenced by the lock engraving which did NOT have his name engraved at the same time that the locks were engraved with their borders and patterns. Rather, the "William Evans" "From Purdey's" was merely "added" onto the existing engraved locks that had finished engraving. - (but no serial number?) - Evidence that William Evans's name was added later can be seen in that it actually "overlaps" the existing engraving pattern in places.

So, now the question begs to be asked - "who" built this rifle? One distinguishing feature of this rifle is the "cone" shaped firing pins which are held in place by screws that come up at an angle from the bottom sides of the fences, as compared to most hammer doubles which have their firing pins held in place with "hole-through" nuts screwed in from the back. Could this be a clue as to who made this rifle? Although I've looked at many pictures over these last few days, I cannot find any other rifles with firing pins that are held in place like those on this rifle.

Could the "JB" stamped on the forend hanger be a clue? (see first picture)

Any suggestions?