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Dear experts,

greetings from Finland.

I ran into this forum some time ago while searching through the internet for information on ‘homemade’ SxS doubles, and now my registration was finally accepted. I’m one of those unfortunate, who consider a side by side double to be the one and only true hunting rifle, but who really can’t afford one in the foreseeable future. A somewhat pathetic substitute for that condition is of course to collect good literature as well as every available piece of information on these magnificent big bores, and then live on by daydreaming…

The reason for this message, however, is not related to building a rifle. I need your help in another issue. I decided to try this forum before sending personal letters to some famous names in this field.

A friend of mine is a long time firearm collector with an extensive collection of hundreds of hunting guns and rifles. Mainly he collects Finnish rifles and shotguns but he also has some interesting examples of various foreign arms. In the 80s or early 90s he purchased a 16-bore RB Rodda double rifle from Holland & Holland in London. The rifle is No. 1093, and both tubes are rifled – so not a cape rifle.

SxS doubles are quite rare in Finland. We’ve had that… how should I put it… well… miserable .308 and .30-06 tradition with Sako and Tikka rifles. Yes, they are well made, accurate and reliable, I admit, but to my mind all bolt action rifles are basically military equipment… and with those particular cartridges I consider them to be merely spiritless steel tubes screwed on a plank. And still I use them for lack of anything better.

Back to the topic… As side-by-sides are rarely seen or used here, I’m planning to write an article on that particular Rodda double to one of our national firearm magazines, and for that purpose I am trying to gather every piece of information on that rifle. I shouldn’t have difficulties with the technical writing, but in historical sense the value of the article would be totally different if I was able to trace at least something from the manufacturer’s records on that particular rifle. So, the key point in my message is that:

Do any of you guys know if the RB Rodda records or ledgers are still around somewhere, or, do you know anybody, who could help me with this, but who is not available here in this forum?

I have collected the basic historical information on the manufacturer RB Rodda, but if you happen to have good references at hand, I would be more than happy to receive something from those sources too. Quotes from the text (scanned or written) would be great. Please let me know, if you have something, and I will PM my email address to you. Surely personal comments are also very welcome from all of you, who are in one way or another familiar with Rodda and their products.

I want to say already at this point that I will definitely make sure that I won’t publish anything without properly referring to the bibliographic information of the source (I’m a scientist and therefore used to compiling proper reference lists in the end of all my writings…).

Regarding the original Rodda records the situation may be hopeless from the very beginning, since even the H&H didn’t provide anything to my friend when he bought the rifle, but I just HAVE TO try this before I take the easy road and write only about the body but not about the soul of this piece of weaponry.

With best regards,

Sakari Mykrä

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