Jim:

I remember that we discussed this rifle a good while back, before I started assembling the data base on the Webley & Scott rifle serial numbers that I'm slowly building now. It is a work in progess and not yet what I would like it to be.

For the benefit of the rest of the board, as I remember, your rifle bears the P. Webley name and barrel address, as opposed to Webley & Scott. Refresh my memory, what barrel address does it have? As we previously discussed, the Philip Webley and W. & C. Scott firms merged in 1897, but both lines continued to be marketed under the original names for some time (some W. & C. Scott models continued to be marketed under the Scott name for several decades). Webley & Scott numbered shotguns and rifles separately. The shotgun records survive, but the rifle records do not - which is why I'm reconstructing a serial number table.

I remain firmly convinced that the Webley & Scott rifle serial number series was simply a carryover of P. Webley's rifle series. I can't prove that yet, but I have little doubt that this is true.

The earliest number with a hard date that I have for a Webley & Scott double rifle is 10303. This rifle is a .400/.360 NE, A. & W. C. First Quality model, built for William Evans and ordered in 1902. Your gun is 263 units earlier. While we can't assume that production was ratable, that's getting pretty close. My guess is 1901.

Would you post a few pictures of it again? Always good to hear from you, Jim.
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