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Just to add to the general knowledge base, and for those who may be interested:

I have discovered that WDM Bell's Winchester .22 Swift that he used for deerstalking was a Winchester Model 54 (with "speed lock") and that (as recorded in the Rigby ledger in the original post in this thread), was fitted by them with a Zeiss scope in 1937. (Probably a 2.5 power)

He wrote an article about the excellent results he had with it on red deer, and this article was published in GAME AND GUN just before WW2, so I assume that was sometime in 1939. I have not seen a copy of this article but would love to. Who know where it could be found? I don't know this publication. (He wrote another article in 1950 called the "The Neck Shot" for AMERICAN RIFLEMAN which mentions the .220 Swift prominently, which I do have a copy of, but from a description they are not the same article.)

I also have come across an account of Bell's last deer that he shot. (1950, at the age of seventy.) Here is the story. This was written by Mark Crudgington, whose gunsmith father did work for Bell:

"Bell’s forest was fairly modest however it was still a deer forest . Bell had a “mild " heart attack in 1948 and did not venture onto the hill much after this , preferring to “pot “ rabbits around his house , sometimes with Clarke . (A gunsmith friend of Bell's, and business partner of the writer's father.) However one year , guest rifles on the Corriemoillie forest wounded a stag ,whilst Clarke was in residence . They failed to secure the stag for 3 days despite it being seen on a couple of occasions “swinging a foreleg “ This state of affairs annoyed Bell immensely and he hatched a plan to take Clarke onto the hill in a pony and trap . after dropping Clarke off on the “ downwind “ end of the piece of ground , Bell and the driver would proceed as far as the trap could go , up wind and hope to move the stag , possibly in Clarke’s direction . If this failed then Clarke was to stalk up wind and try to find the Stag.

Well they got up onto the hill , Clarke armed with a very accurate ‘scope sighted 30-06 of his own make and Bell carrying a 318 , a companion that had slain many Elephants 30 years earlier . Nearing the spot Bell wanted Clarke to alight , up got a stag some 200 + yards away , a quick inspection confirmed the amazing luck that this was the one they wanted as it had a foreleg smashed just below the brisket .

Clarke slipped out of the trap unseen whilst the stag stared at this unusual interloper into it’s domain . Clarke crawled forward for a few yards , steadied himself , controlled his breathing and shot .

He missed the stag completely ; which now lurched off broadside to him , Clarke cycled the bolt and started to take aim when a shot rang out close by and the running stag pitched head over heels into the heather . Clarke looked up to see Bell slumping down in the trap ,which was moving around due to the skittish behaviour of the pony which had once again been scared by a rifle shot at close quarters and was giving the driver some anxious moments trying to control it .

When Clarke got to the stag he found it shot through the neck just forward of the shoulder , he gralloched it and dragged it back to the trap where Bell asked if it had been neck shot ? When told the affirmative the old man smiled and said “ my timing is not what it was , I was lucky not to miss it by shooting too far infront “ Clarke was amazed , this 70 year old man , in failing health had deliberately taken and pulled of the most amazing shot , as Clarke put it “I had ever witnessed with either a shotgun , rifle or pistol “ and this achieved by a heart attack survivor of about 70 years old ,standing up , shooting off hand without any sort of rest , whilst perched on an unstable and moving platform , with an open sighted rifle at an animal lurching at speed over uneven ground ."

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If you carry a cat home by the tail you will receive information valuable to you for the rest of your life.
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