Alan

This rifle just gets curiouser and curiouser!

Apart from Westley Richards' 20 bore Faunetas and other "Ball and Shot" variants, fully rifled 20 bores are rare commodities. Hoyem does not even list a cartridge! But it does seem to have been the genesis of Jeffery's .600 NE development; Jeffery's usual modus operandi being to take an existing cartridge and either move the neck, or apply a thicker rim so that the new round would not chamber in older black powder rifles.

Not that I am suggesting that this rifle is a .600NE, but there was two case lengths; 3.0" and 2.8", so it's chamber length seems to offer little prospect of giving clues to it's origins.

That 20 Bore rifles existed is certain, I once saw a Cape Gun that chambered .600NE and 20 bore Shotgun cartridges in the rifled barrel. It was English in origin.

I suspect that the "War Dept" markings, the lack of proof marks and the 37 inch barrel length are the vital clues, the former two suggesting a military purpose. The latter???

The Military have traditionally gotten up to all sorts of things, for example the "chain shot" guns and cartridges designed by Holland and Holland for shooting down Zeppelins in WW1. Holland's also made large calibre express rifles (nicknamed "Elephant Guns") during WW1 to pierce armour plate.

I will stay tuned!