The Rook Rifle- The Gentleman's Garden Gun
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Rook Rifles were centerfire small-game rifles that used what were essentially pistol cartridges from a full-length rifle. Elegantly finished and lightweight they were a perfect companion for controlling garden pests and hunting small game.
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“…an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”
I think the adage “They don’t make them like they used to “ is an understatement viewing this rifle. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks to your 'local collector' for allowing us to see these fine examples. Thanks to you for presenting them. I just love old, refined firearms.
In todays world we are left with only memories of great gun masters and cheaply made modern firearms. The old masters of gun craftsmanship made objects of beauty.😊
They're still out there. Westley Richards, Holland & Holland, Merkel and a few others. No more affordable to the likes of us than they ever were but they do still exist.
Yes, Rooks were shot for food, and it was a common dish in pubs afaik. The Brits are the European Chinese, they eat anything, even small crows!
Ed Harris who once was a technical editor for the American Rifleman and now is a regular contributor in the Cast Bullet Association's journal The Fouling Shot has written a good deal about rook rifles he built using pre-war H&R small frame .410 single barrel break open shotguns. If you can check out his articles, it might be just what you are looking for.
Thanks for that- I'll look them up!
A nice rifle indeed! An American variant was the "buggy rifle"; shorter and unadorned but like this a small bore in a light gun you had in your buggy for opportunistic hunting of whatever presented itself, and also as protection from wild dogs and robbers. Liking the idea of one in 32S&W long and will be interesting to see it in a longer barrel.
The 9mm flobert was the gun that was more regarded as the garden gun .
"An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age."
Very nice. I have an H&R Handi Rifle in 357 that can serve much the same function, but without nearly the same grace and style.
Over here in England the the .22 S/L/LR were not thought up to the job of taking small game & the small centre fire cartridges from .23 to .36 were used at least by those who could afford them! About 65 years ago my aunt made a rook pie from birds shot in the middle of May. These birds were called "branchers" because they were just about to fly but not yet able to do so, hence the use of rifles to take them. I can only say if you were thinking of preparing a rook pie do not bother if the adults are inedible the young are not much better. Suffice it to say nobody who tried the pie ever asked for a second helping.
Great story, thanks for that! Yeah, Rook-and-Rabbit pie was apparently a bid deal at one point, but have no interest in trying it myself. Rabbit on the other hand...
beautiful old rifle. can tell its a nice shooting rifle.
I own a Deutsche Werke Mod 1 22LR rifle that has a "trapdoor" style action, with about a 22.75 inch tapered barrel. The rear sight is just a bent up piece of trapdoor receiver and the front sight a dovetailed post (looks like a miniature bishop chess piece. And the stock is very much like your Garden gun. It is my understanding the DW Model 1 was a youths model produced in Germany in the 1920's.
Looking forward to the one you make - .32 S&W long (or maybe H&R mag?) is a good choice, and with those new J frames coming out possibly more available than it used to be. You bring up an interesting topic that might be worth looking into at an outdoor range - barrel length (with pistol calibers) as a function of sound/ muzzle blast suppression. 9mm out of a 16” barrel carbine isn’t exactly hearing safe but it’s still surprisingly quiet, makes me wonder if there’s a barrel length threshold where certain pistol calibers could be hearing safe(ish) relative to the shooter
.32 S&W long wad cutters from the 29" of my Mosin-Nagant sounds like a low powered pellet gun. And CCI quite .22Lr from a 24" barrel is super quite as well.)
I find myself pleased with the concept and considering this larger-caliber small game stuff a bit more seriously.
What an absolute joy to behold one of those rifles, so elegant but very accurate and useful, light to carry , great rifle to teach a up and coming young hunter
I love these guns. They seem like just the perfect thing to carry on a walk after rabbits or what have you. Thanks for the video!
Beautiful rifle. Great example of form and function working in harmony
Beautiful. Elegant. So very English. Thanks for sharing!
Love that thing. Fun side note : In 1532 Henry VIII introduced the Vermin Act "ordeyned to dystroye Choughes , Crowes and Rokes” to protect Englands grain crop. From Wikipedia
Another interesting one Tinker.
Small action Snider WOW what next
What a beautiful firearm. The simplicity and elegance make it piece of functional art.
Excellent video on a rare subject. I have a Holland and Holland rook rifle myself rechambered in 6x70R and use it for roedeer - an excellent gun for deer stalking.
THE ACTION OF THAT RIFLE REMINDS ME OF AN AUSTRIAN WERNDEL .
Exceptional condition! Beautiful little rifle.
What a lovely old gun! A reminder of more sane times in the past.
Beautiful craftsmanship right there.
My dad has my grandpa's Rook rifle. His is a break action in .360 with one fixed and two folding rear sights. I got to shoot it a few times over the years. Sweet little rifle.
Very cool!
Beautiful rifle!
That is a work of art, and an amazing firearm. When they fell out of favor, hence dropping in value, I wonder if shortening the barrel to make them easier to handle in the woods was commonly done? The design, to my inexperienced eye, doesn't lend itself to caliber modification.
Thanks for the timely video. I've been wanting a "Rook" rifle in .32 H&R. Not having your skill my plan is to acquire a single shot break action .410 shotgun and a .32 caliber chamber insert. The only gunsmithing needed would be improving the shotgun bead sight, preferably with a scope.
The barrel looks to be swamped? elegant!
Mate thank u , don’t see these in AUSTRALIA much at all , I’ll be looking for one now after this video , closest rifle I’ve got to this is a 32-20 low wall 1885 , absolutely love it 😊
Sam Colt had a factory in London and sold thousands of his 32, 36 and 44 caliber percussion revolvers to the Brits.
Many of these revolvers were converted to fire rim-fire and later center-fire self contained cartridges.
A great many small rifles were
chambered for Colts revolver cartridges.
The 38 Long Colt was a favorite.
I have one by Tranter and another American cousin made by Ballard in the 1880s.
When smokeless came out and the 22 Long Rifle was vastly improved, the Rabbit and Took rifles fell into disuse.
They are wonderful little rifles.
Eras Gone Bullet Molds make the correct bullet designs for these guns.
The Brita call the 38 Long Colt the .360.
@@johnndavis7647 Thanks for the information! I thought those .360 Rook cartridges looked familiar. The European .320 Revolver is identical to the .32 Colt Short, and there is some debate as to which came first.
@@tinkertalksguns7289 the Brita have always had a funny way of naming cartridges. Cartridges of the World goes into some depth with some cartridges being called three or four different things in different countries.
@@tinkertalksguns7289 they were all made in rim-fire first then center-fire. They were 32,36 and 44 straight walled cartridges. They had to be short enough to fit in Colt revolver cylinders so they couldn't have full size rifle power but were idea for small game and pest control.
What a great rifle but your project gun sounds very cool too.
That one looks like it'd be a ton of fun at the range. I love that octagonal barrel too.
Beautiful gun
Beautiful firearm.
Thanks enjoyed.👍
Tinker, if I join the patreon can you do another video on the rolling block you built? More specifically on the breech block itself and on how the 10/22 barrel is mounted in the receiver?
Not really; You Tube gets uptight about these things. But whether you join Patreon or not you can email me at Tinkertalksguns@gmail.com and I'll give you as much detail as I reasonably can. I will tell you that the barrel is a combination of a tight fit and Loctite Red. Basically it's glued in place.
Wonderful little rifle! I’m looking forward to your project gun. 32 long is one of my favorite cartridges. I might however suggest going with 327 Federal. You’ll be able to shoot 32short, long H&R and Federal. Until the 327 happened I had long fantasized about a small Steven’s like rolling block in 32 H&R mag.
Chambering it in .327 occurred to me. Now, the power of .327 pretty much violates the idea; it's meant to be low-powered and relatively quiet. But chambering in .327 would make it easier to load useful shot shells.
@@tinkertalksguns7289 not to mention black powder loads that’ll politely take squirrels and deer 😉
That’s outstanding! 💯🍻
Very nice rifle!👍🏽😀❤️🇺🇸
The europeans still make guns until least quite recently in 9mm flobert that are smooth bore and have mostly shot, but also some ball loads in a rim cartridge.
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I once read the velocity was 600 fps.
Colt 1877 lighting ammo
Pretty much.
They're really well suited to discretely dispatching the odd unruly cur (esp. pitbulls, etc). Now *I* would approach the rook rifle project by finding a Rolling Block Remington in caliber .303 British. Then I would simply have a chamber insert made, or just do it myself as it's not an insurmountable task with a good lathe. The bullet diameter is actually .312 on that round, same as the .32 S&W Long. Unfortunately .32 HR mag and .327 Federal Mag are too long for the adapters. Alternately you could remove the barrel, cut the .303 chamber portion off, and have it rechambered for .327 Fed mag, and set the barrel back. Here's a fellow demonstrating the firing of .32 S&W long in a .303 Enfield: th-cam.com/video/2Riv4arifoM/w-d-xo.html. Nice and quiet!
Looks a lot like my flobert gun..
It's pretty much the same use-case, the Rook Rifles are just a bit more potent in some cases.