Howdy Everyone
As the Subject states, I am in need of some expert opinion as to what rifle this barrel might have come off of. A friend of mine has commissioned me to "restore" this barrel and rebuild the rifle using any available hardware, lock, & stock I can find.
The story of this barrel: In the late 1800's, my friend's family from England came over and originally settled in Zavala, Co Texas. As the story goes, some of his much older family members always told him that this barrel came off of what was then called a "Citizen's Rifle" in England. Eventually, it was given to the kids to play around with since in no longer functioned and eventually ended up under one of the ranch houses with nothing left but the barrel and a partially unscrewed breech.
Judging by the short barrel length, an approximate caliber of ~.46", the two dovetails cut very close together to hold the lugs, & the presence of what's left of the under rib, it is my guess that it was originally what's known as an "ENGLISH SPORTING RIFLE".
If my assumptions are correct, I am proposing to build this rifle as a "half-stock" on a good piece of Walnut. If it is deemed "usable", I really would like to have the barrel bored out, re-rifled, & re-crowned and either salvage the breech of have it removed and another milled out with a matching tang, along with an appropriate lock, buttplate, trigger guard, hardware, etc.
Any help, thoughts, opinions, etc. would be most graciously appreciated!!!
P.S. I am willing to pay for any barrel/breech work on this project, if it is offered, and will ship it A.S.A.P.
Thanks,
Will