Without the frustration and/or expense of the our friend TexasJohn from the process he took to get here, I'm excited about his rifle.

If the barrel is from a Dickson and Son rifle, and if they used a 6.5x54 or 6.5x53r barrel, the twist would have been in the neighborhood of 1:7.8 or so. Close to John's 7.5 twist measurement. Groove diameter might be big, but I'd be trying a modern high-BC heavy hybrid in there right away.

Might not be exactly what he was hoping for, but it might just be a really neat hunting rifle after all!