Yes, I know it's and O/U.... Still nice!

But tell me, please - what is that mysterious little latch on the right hand side of the gun?

WR Double for sale

Pity it's been converted to another caliber!

- Lars/Finland

Well that's certainly a busy (but beautiful!) rifle. Interesting, looks like that hatch on the right sideplate corresponds with a similar one on the left sideplate.

It is a little egg shaped door.
You can see the door open in one of the pictures.

Yes but for what?
Little eggs?

- Lars/Finland

Wow, very nice rifle in a very useful caliber... I think it perfect for driven boar in Hungary. Hmmmm.....

Lars, parts such as different sights ......Or hard boiled quail eggs for a snack !

That's where shootaway stashes what he's smoking.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Lars, parts such as different sights ......Or hard boiled quail eggs for a snack !

LOL! The quail eggs occurred to me after Huvius's post...

It seems to me it's a through hole and with access to the trigger?
Thus maybe not for small parts?
Also I think there was a latch in the pistol grip which usually is for such small items.

Are the bets still open?

- Lars/Finland

quote:

Originally posted by Huvius:
It is a little egg shaped door.
You can see the door open in one of the pictures.

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:
Yes but for what?
Little eggs?

- Lars/Finland

My guess is this is a compartment for a spare front sight bead, and a pair of spare strikers, and is a very nice touch IMO!
...................................................................

I don't think for parts as the tops of the triggers are visible inside.
Maybe it is convertable to a single trigger and that is the access to accomplish this.
Should pose the question on the Explora blog.

Yes but at the bottom of the hole you can see something that looks like part of the mechanism - trigger or strikers?
So how can one store anything in that little compartment?

- Lars/Finland

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:
Yes but for what?
Little eggs?

- Lars/Finland

It's for the "SELVYT Preserving pad that you use to wipe down the locks when you take them off to clean them.

The little compartment 'doors' are beautifully fitted and very difficult to see the joints, have to zoom the photos to really see. The mechanism visible in the compartment seems to be the safety block on the triggers and maybe it is possible to change to non-auto safety by doing something within the compartment. Don't see the reason for two compartment covers though?

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Little:
That's where shootaway stashes what he's smoking.

Spot on Aaron

quote:

Originally posted by DoubleDon:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Little:
That's where shootaway stashes what he's smoking.

Spot on Aaron

I don't know about this. I doubt Shootaway would own such garbage. Remember gents, he only has the best of the best.
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:
Yes, I know it's and O/U.... Still nice!

But tell me, please - what is that mysterious little latch on the right hand side of the gun?

WR Double for sale

Pity it's been converted to another caliber!

- Lars/Finland

Yes, a very nice gun indeed, and I agree that it is truly a shame that it has been converted to a different calibre.
Let's hope the quality of the rechamber/rebore is of a higher standard than the "proof marks".

The trapdoors fitted to the sideplates are there to allow cleaning and oiling the trigger parts. (Ovundo guns could be fitted with single or double triggers).
WR designed these guns to allow the owner to be able to clean and oil all the important lock parts.

The spare strikers and spare fore sight would have been located in the little hinged grip trap which can be seen in a couple of the photos.

Lars, this discussion in another forum will tell you more:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/f...mber=212061&page=all

Ah, excellent!
Though I don't quite understand what utility a service port has on a droplock gun.

- Lars/Finland

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:
Ah, excellent!
Though I don't quite understand what utility a service port has on a droplock gun.

- Lars/Finland

It was really meant to allow the WR single trigger mechanism to be cleaned/oiled, but the trapdoors were also fitted to some 2 trigger Ovundo guns as well.

Yes it is a maintenance port, in particular for the much maligned and oft denigrated Westley single trigger.



And without port

quote:

Originally posted by 5seventy:
The trapdoors fitted to the sideplates are there to allow cleaning and oiling the trigger parts. (Ovundo guns could be fitted with single or double triggers).
WR designed these guns to allow the owner to be able to clean and oil all the important lock parts.

The spare strikers and spare fore sight would have been located in the little hinged grip trap which can be seen in a couple of the photos.

You are absolutely correct! All the pictures didn't come up when I hit the link and I only saw the one with the door open with nothing but a tiny bit of the trigger showing. I pulled it back up today and saw all the pictures, one with a lot of parts showing inside the trap, and also the picture with the trap in the pistol grip as well.
.................................................................

What is fascinating is when the trap is closed one can't tell it's there. Such was the skill of the craftsmen back in the day. I would challenge any modern makers to produce such work. If they did it would be the exception rather than the rule. Then, it was the rule, not the exception.
Cal

I'm truly amazed at the DR knowledge here. I hope to join the club soon.

quote:

Originally posted by gatsby:
Yes it is a maintenance port, in particular for the much maligned and oft denigrated Westley single trigger.



And without port

I believe that those are two different rifles.We do not have a picture of the trap door closed to see what it looks like.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by gatsby:
Yes it is a maintenance port, in particular for the much maligned and oft denigrated Westley single trigger.



And without port

I believe that those are two different rifles.We do not have a picture of the trap door closed to see what it looks like.

good call, Shootaway. I didn't notice the triggers.
Cal

Sorry the big foto but now you could better see how WR "Ovundo" with unopened latch looks like:

http://www.theexplora.com/2-ni...ey-richards-factory/

WOW!! Spectacular Rifle no question!!

The reason for Maharajah guns to be rebored is they are often shot out killing Tigers!! Thousands of them years ago....

In Bill Jones HISTOREIC RIFLES dvd, he displays a beautiful Rigby, 416 Rigby, said to be the only 416 Rigby double by Rigby....it also has a set of 470NE bbls.....he explains that the rifle was sent back to Rigby by the original buyer-Maharajah because it was shot out....some 1800 Tigers recorded! So, they rebored the original 416's to 470 and made a new set of 416 Rigby bbls....WALA a spectacular 2 bbls set...vs a simply rebored rifle as we have here!!

Cheers,

58,000 euros is a lot of money.

But a HRH made rifle in wonderful shape might be a solid buy.

It would be a hell of a buy if it was a bigger caliber, but the Euros probably won't care.