This is a very rare early British single shot barreled action that has a unique side mounted loading lever with the swing over breech block. These rifles were originally developed in the late 1880's with the intention of competing against the British Martini rifle for military contracts. As we all know they didn't win any military contract, instead they became one of the highly sought after, dangerous game British hunting rifles that are akin to a Rigby, Farquharson and or a Alex Henry rifle. At one time it was reported during testing of these rifles that you could actually load and fire 60 rounds in one minute. To accomplish this feat it uses a single massive loading lever mounted on the right side of the action and with a single down-ward movement of the lever, it opens the breech, insert a cartridge, close the breech fire the rifle and depress the lever to open the breech and ejection the cartridge. The action had a reputation for being a very simple, strong and compact, where the sides of the action had massive locking lugs (one on each side) that used a hinged breech block mounted on the right side. The breech block rotated from the right to the left over the rear of the receiver, somewhat like a Snider rifle only much, much stronger. This strong action allowed these rifle to be chambered in the highly desirable large African Game cartridges. Additionally with this short action it was easy for gunsmiths to fit these actions for clients. Currently it is still in the white, as originally made and has been fitted with a brand new heavy weight, barrel made by Ron K. Smith. Ron Smith is very well know still today for making some of the most accurate cut rifled barrels. The barrel measures 26 inch overall and is 1 inch at the breech and muzzle. Currently it is chambered in 40-65 WCF, an excellent big game cartridge.