Rifle Shooter – July 2019

50 http://www.rifleshootermagazine.co.uk

DIGGORY HADOKE E

which H.H. has been using for

some time. It stopped the animal

with one shot.”

Before WWI, a Fauneta cost £100 in

fixed-lock, two-trigger form. With

hand-detachable locks and single

trigger, the price rose to £145.

The Fauneta that appeared in my

gun room for appraisal is typical of

many guns and rifles that went to

India. This is the plain model, with fixed

Anson & Deeley locks, a straight-hand

stock and 25" steel barrels with

dove-tail lumps. The quarter-rib has five

leaf sights, graduated from 100 to 300

yards and, at the muzzle, there is a

shotgun-type bead sight. The top rib,

for most of its length, is swamped.

Engraving is minimal. The words ‘The

Fauneta’ is engraved in script on the

left tube and ‘Westley Richards & Co,

London’ on the right tube. This shows

it was sold from the Westley Richards

shop in London, as, of course, the

company was based in Birmingham.

The fore-end is of conventional

splinter type, with a horn finial and the

1883 Deeley & Edge release catch

(also a Westley Richards patent). It is a

non-ejector model; the proof marks

show it was proof-tested for Cordite

and with a maximum bullet weight of

510gr. The ‘R CHOKE’ stamp denotes

rifled choke. However, the rifling, which

was a softer version of the Fosberry

Paradox rifling, has been honed out to

make it a smooth bore.

This seems to have been the fate of

a lot of shot and ball guns with rifled

chokes. After India gained

independance from the British Empire

in 1947, the scope for overseas sport

seemed very limited, especially as the

country was suffering from severe

austerity and rationing. A lot of the

returning Brits left their guns in India. I

know my grandfather did.

Those that came back were

considered more useful as shotguns

and the rifling was removed, or the

barrels sleeved. The barrels on this

particular gun are badly pitted, but

the ribs and loop are soundly fixed and

it appears to me mechanically decent,

with a lot of use apparent but not

much bodged gunsmithing, apart from

the usual enlarged slots in many of

the pins.

The fit of wood to metal remains

tight and clean, the woodwork is worn,

with no chequer or drop points left, but

the level of wood is not significantly

below the metal parts, where they

meet. The striker holes and face of the

action are in good order, with no

pitting, and the Model C doll’s head,

supported by the Purdey under-bolt,

still holds the barrels tight to the

action, with no perceivable ‘headache’.

I’m currently awaiting the arrival of

the speculative American who bought

the Fauneta for a small sum in a

provincial auction. I look forward to

hearing his plans, whatever they may

be. It can not be restored to act as a

double rifle; the enlargement of the

bore would be necessary to remove

pitting, and even if that left sufficient

wall thickness, this would affect the

bullet’s travel adversely and would

likely have adverse consequences for

accuracy, even if the rifled choke could

be replaced.

To do so should be possible, in

theory. Teague (now owned by Westley

Richards) offer fixed choke

replacements and should be able to

recreate a rifled choke of ‘Fauneta’

type, but it would be economically

unviable to do a one-off, especially for

a gun in this condition.

I suspect we will end up doing a

sympathetic restoration and bring it

back to use as a shotgun. How it

performs with modern 20-bore slugs

will be interesting to experiment with. It

might even have potential as a

short-range forest hunting rifle for boar

or deer. Where there is the will, as they

say, there is often a way.

»

“THIS FAUNETA MIGHT EVEN HAVE POTENTIAL AS A

SHORT-RANGE FOREST HUNTING RIFLE FOR BOAR OR DEER”

ABOVE: The

rifled chokes have

been removed

BELOW: The Fauneta

is sighted to 300

yards, but its value is

in the instinctive

shotgun-like

handling it provides

at under 100 yards