Obscure Webley Double Rifle?
I am most fortunate to have purchased a P Webley & Son double rifle chambered in 9.3x74R calibre. The address on the barrels is 78 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, and my research indicates that P. Webley and Son did business at that address from 1893 to 1897. Close inspection shows the British proof marks and also German proof marks from the early 1900s.
The rifle has a most interesting history. During the First World War, at the behest of Great Britain, the South African Union Defence Force invaded German South West Africa. During this invasion, this rifle was allegedly confiscated from a German resident of GSWA. Apparently he was either an officer in the military or a government official. The spoils of war!
The rifle’s stock bears a German proof mark and number 2246 with an “S”. This brings me to the question, did colonial powers such as Germany
