Had they not been converted to .410’s, giving them a new lease of life and much simplified legal status, many of the rook rifles that still survive would have gone as scrap.

The pity is that so many, on conversion, had the front part of the barrel turned down from octagon to round with the change being marked by 2 or 3 circular grooves turned into the barrel.

This was pretty unsightly and in my view the rounding down of the barrel was unnecessary as in boring out to .410 a lot of metal is removed from the barrel leaving the octagonal barrel, if left alone, quite nicely balanced.

It also made it much more difficult to restore them to their original state as rifles such as .32-20 as many have done in recent years.

To prove it could be done nicely (if it had to be done at all) here is how it was done by Charles Edward Greener ( W.W. Greener’s son) for his daughter May.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

The original fully octagon barrel has been blended into an ovate shape with the original matted top flat being preserved all the way to the muzzle. Note the chisel work done to blend the change.