Tamid,
Yes Churchill developed and marketed the 25" barrelled gun in the 20's, and called them XXVs. If you pick up a copy of his "Game Shooting" (ghosted by MacDonald Hastings) you get the story. He made many hundreds of them and was careful to publicise all the "posh" purchasers such as The Prince of Wales. He didn't just promote the guns, he pushed the shooting style he thought they demanded too, from his own shooting school in St Mary Cray, Kent.
Bob inherited the EJ Churchill business form his Uncle "Ould Ted" when it was effectively bankrupt; it took him 20 years to get it back to robust health, and then WW11 scuppered him again. Ted could build a gun from his own hands, lock, stock and barrel, though I suspect Bob couldn't knock a nail in straight; his forte was selling and salesmanship.
Churchill severely damaged his right eye in WW1 when experimenting with incendiary ammunition for the RAF. This, combined with his stocky build, led him to the XXV configuration, and what became known as the Churchill method of game shooting. On his day he was said to be a superb shot and was certainly a great stylist; the pics in the above book show a very classy act indeed. As per ...
Abe books have some second hand copies ... [url=]
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=robert+churchill&sts=t&tn=game+shooting[/url]
Eug