Dear Old Dog .Well Talk about a cedar shingle from er ' Out'building ' that gun has a decidedly "Left Field' quallity . But I instantly reconasize it as one of Abuls from down Diagon ally off Meston road Cawnpore its got his' house style' Very distinked (His shop was behind the tannery ) You can see his blue period blending of morphed muzzle loader into SMLE ".Very demand !" as they say in Cawnpore .
Such Utter Predesh' bumph' aside its evedntly a well made gun the rear sight ? maybe its oval bore ?. Are there any Indian ordnance factory marks it looks much too good for the useually Diagon ally or Kyber Pass (Allways read Peshawar not much activity in the pass only useing guns ) In short its a mystery to me clearly well made I doubt Skennerton's definitive work on the British Service Lee covers such a gun but you did get all sorts of' Commercial's' in the Native States . We only ruled maybe a third of India direct the rest where traditional rulers of their Native States any one of them might dream up such an order for their private armies . So I wouldn't rule it out Doesn't seem too logical to us but I made it a rule not to look for logic in such regions. (That Definatly applies to West Africa !) It could just be its purpose was to make a gun that was guaranteed to get talked about & if so they succeeded admirably ,its curio value alone eclipsing any other varient SMLE . Ide jump over a pile of Hog rifles to get to that gun . ( I Actually like Hog Rifles I have one )
Re Bisley fire pics Ive one Roger from Kidderminster took it I didnt know I was too busy hoseing down gas bottles lest they go . The heat was formidable , But it was Arthurs Mashing shed & Ide camped there once. Got look after our Arthur , good bloke was Arthur .
Cheers Rudyard