Well having spoken to the owner this is an interesting rifle.

He thinks it came into his family in the late 40's or early 50's, at the time his father was farming in Rhodesia. At that time there was still a bit of game passing through or close to their farm and his father took a few buffalo and possibly elephant with it (there were other rifles in the armory). In the 80's and 90's farming became untenable and the current owner moved to NZ in 2000. By this time the only game about was the odd pig and occasional hyena.

Sadly he is now moving on again to Australia and the difficulties of taking the rifle with him outweigh his desire to continue hunting and firearms ownership.

So changes the world, I wonder for the better !