I've been the caretaker of these for a few years now and enjoy the .22, but my wife has expropriated the .298 Minex, except when I get to reload the empties for her.

;-)

The first is a Robert Hughes & Sons-retailed Francotte-Patent damascus octagon-barrelled rook rifle which was probably originally chambered in one of the small rook calibers, and later sleeved / PARKER-RIFLED to .22 Long Rifle. The barrel carries nicely-engraved twin folding leaf express sights, marked 50 & 75, matching the 50% scroll engraved receiver & lever.

When it came to me, the action was almost completely filled with hair, grass seeds, caked oil & other detritus, such that the action would not cock or fire and it was hard to know the receiver was engraved or blued! Removed the internal frame of the action, let it sit in diesel for a few days, along with the barrel & receiver after removing the wood bits, blew them out with compressed air & it was as good as new again, except for having to replace the main spring, which had rotted out into 12 pieces! They converted the centre-fire action to rim-fire simply by adjusting the tongues of the cocking lever, so I could, I suppose have it re-chambered to .22 W.C.F. / .22 Hornet if I so chose.

The second is a George Bate retailed ovate-barrelled rook in .298 Minex. Its rear sight is a miniature Martini ramp sight. It is also nicely scroll engraved. Under the barrel is a small triangle I found after cleaning the ~120 years of accumulated grunge off it, after it came into my care, confirming my initial hunch that the rifle, chambered for a very obscure Westley Richards cartridge, had, in fact, been made, or at least finished by, Westley Richards. Quite easy to load for, as I simply use .32-20 brass necked down in my .300 Rook dies. After the initial sizing, I very seldom have to size them again, as firing does very little other than to remove the crimp, but then again, I am loading them very lightly, as the better half does not like to hear it bark too loudly when she shoots it, which is most of the time! I also had to replace the mainspring, although this one was only in 3 pieces, which jammed the firing pin forward, thereby tying up the action.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos.