Whitworth didn't patent pressed fluid steel until 1865. It was expensive and the gun trade stayed away from it... yet the patent was extended for 5 years in 1879 and the Whitworth "wheatsheaf" mark became a symbol of quality in the early 1880's. Purdey made his first gun with the steel in 1879 - delivered in 1880. There is no way that barrel is original to the gun. The gun is still beautiful.
Of course it has been sleeved! Who cares? Is this the first English gun anyone has ever seen that has been sleeved?
Good grief, what sleeving has to do with the gun is only part of the history, I guess I don’t see what the urgency is to keep questioning that aspect of the gun’s pedigree…
