Quote:

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HOLLAND & HOLLAND 'ROYAL' TOPLEVER HAMMERLESS ROOK & RABBIT RIFLE, serial no. 21178 smoothbored to .410
https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/asp/ful...465&image=2













circa 1900, 25in. turned octagonal to round nitro reproved barrel (in 1955, smoothbored from .250 semi-smooth bore rook), wave cut top-flat, rear sight removed and a dove-tail inserted, the adjacent flats engraved 'HOLLAND & HOLLAND. 98 NEW BOND ST. LONDON. WINNERS OF ALL THE 'FIELD' RIFLE TRIALS. 250 SEMI-SMOOTH BORE.',

what have they thought when drilled out this gem in the 1950s?

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It looks like a lovely gun or rifle.

It looks like a very nice single shot 410 shotgun.

I understand the dislike of it being turned into a shotgun from a rook rifle.

If you can't buy, find, source loaded ammunition, or if it is difficult to reload, for your rook rifle, it's a wall hanger. Useless. Yes the .22 RF probably killed off the profitability of ammunition makers making rook rifle cartridges. Making the rook rifles useless and obsolete.

One can of course reload rook ammunition. But how many actually reload, and then how many reload ROOK cartridges?
Nitro Express shooters often must reload. USA shooters often can buy some cartridges. The Price!!! As a youth I had to reload any centre fire ammo to afford shooting it. Started with the .222.

I admit, I'd never even heard of a rook rifle before the NitroExpress forums. A British term. We had rabbit rifles. I barely know what the British used "rook rifles" for? Those little black feathered birds squwarking in old ruins? Why shoot them?

What are the typical ballistics of a rook rifle? Originally black powder? Quickly became obsolete?

Was a .22 Hornet a rook rifle?