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Have you learned the identity of the craftsman who is responsible for this piece?

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I have not, and I am more and more convinced that what I have is a rifle which was originally a work of art, but one which was botched by a ham handed conversion to .404. Full length resized Hornady brass is difficult to close the bolt on even after several firings, and rounds tend to jump out of the right side of the magazine when cycling the bolt. The barrel bears only the cryptic marking ".404", with no indication of the maker's name.

As related above, the story I got was that the rifle was originally a .375 H&H and that it had been converted to .404 Jeffery at some time in its history. I suspect the original maker's name was on the .375 barrel and that the person who installed the .404 barrel had only Kynoch ammunition to check headspace with, since it evidently chambers original Kynoch ammunition with no problem. Eventually I intend to get it sorted out, perhaps to the estent of having a new barrel installed, but at the present I have other irons in the fire.

I try to fathom the mentality of someone who would commit such a desecration on a beautifully designed and executed rifle, but I have been unable to come up with anything. The only far fetched explanation I can imagine is that someone got the rifle for a song (estate sale/stolen property?) and decided that it was not powerful enough for a planned African trip. Following someone's advice, he turned the rifle over to a local gun mechanic, who did not even relieve the barrel channel correctly after installing the new barrel, and did nothing to correct the feed. The owner then possibly fired it a few times, decided that the recoil was too hefty and got rid of it. Monte Manderino was able to tell me that it had passed through his hands once, but that it had already been converted at that point.

I keep hoping that either the original owner or the maker will step forward, but my hopes are rapidly fading.

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