Interesting Jacob's Rifle 1861 - Cape Gun.

I am pleased to offer this exceptional rifle,
Brigadier General Jacob was an extraordinary man, soldier, mathematician and inventor. He influenced a great portions of India’s wild Northwest Frontier, set up civil administrations and generally did a splendid all-around job of soldiering on a wild frontier. A town was even named after him, which still exists in Pakistan.
Jacob’s idea was to improve on the British-issue Brunswick Rifle, which fired a belted round ball, he devised a symmetrical conical projectile with studs that mechanically fit in the rifle’s bore, giving far better accuracy than the Brunswick. He continued his work, to include the invention of a bullet with a fulminate nose plug that exploded upon contact that was felt would be great for blowing up enemy artillery caissons at long distances. At about the same time he became infatuated with the idea of the double rifle, and figured that style would perfectly suit his rifling system and would be just the ticket to issue to his troops.
The rifle was developed at considerable expense at Jacob’s cost. It was unlike any conventional military weapon of the time, short barrels of 24”, the overall length of the rifle is only 40” and ambitiously sighted for 2000 yards. Jacobs manufactured his rifle in 577 calibre, unlike the smaller .451 calibres emerging at the time. It is thought that this was because the rifle could be fired with conventional bullets if his studded bullets were unavailable.
There is no doubt that Jacobs made an impression on people and was a talented man. His methodology followed that of Sir Joseph Whitworth who was his contemporary and also a mathematician and inventor.
Many of Jacob’s rifles were manufactured by Swinburn as is this one. This particular example was manufactured in 1861 as evidenced by the two back action lock plates engraved “Swinburn and Son Patent 1861” and was manufactured as a sporting gun, in effect a “Cape Rifle”.
One barrel is configured in Jacob’s unconventional four groove rifling and the other is smooth. There is no evidence of a bayonet bar but the rifle has the ambitious 2000 yard sight and the patch box engraved “Jacobs Rifle”. The overall condition of the rifle is excellent with an even patina and some original fire blue extant on the sights. The oiled walnut stock is in sound order and features excellent sharp chequering. The sights comprise of three flip sights and the longest ladder sight you will ever see on a rifle. This configuration of one smooth bore and one rifled barrel this ubiquitous rifle could fire Jacob’s patent bullet for long distance employment and either shot or ball in the other barrel.

Code: 50661