Charles Lancaster .500ex Oval bore singleshot

[rigbymauser]

An english gundealer send me these photos of an attic find near London.

Lancaster rifles with oval bore above .450cal are rare. Here is a real piece untouched from the victorian era. Maybe the last shot from this rifle was fired in the 1880s-1890s. I am a big sucker for this "junk". It creates walletdamages...

 

[Tom Leoni]

Uuuh.... Martini (drool).

 

[Red Leg]

Makes me bitter and unhappy just looking at it.

 

[R.M.C.]

That's quite an attic find lol its frickin beautiful

 

[Caldix]

Hi, it’s been a while since you posted this SB Lancaster oval bore. I came across your post when ‘googling’ Lancaster “oval bore” and “wraps”, for a 1873 DB Lancaster cf 14 (yes, fourteen) bore DB rifle smoothbore 2nd patent. The provenance I got from Lancaster mentions “1½ in. WRAPS shell ball 2½ ins. Case”. I was lucky enough to score in the same auction a 14-bore HP (= “shell”) bullet mould with the same serial number. Bullets from this mould could be pushed with little force through the barrels, so I assumed bullets to be paper patched, and I’m glad to see my assumption confirmed from the “Instructions for Loading Cartridges for Breechloading Rifle” in the lid of your gun case, so thank you.

I’m used to paper-patching bullets for some other oldies, but the “1½ in.” doesn’t make sense: for two layers of papers, this is to short, and as for the depth of the patch this is too long. I found here in France some dozen cardboard 14-bore cartridge cases and are about to make me some ammo, but will have to improvise on the paper patch.

 

[analog_peninsula]

Stunning. An item of real beauty.