Not a Giffard, suspiciously like a Greener though

[duomatic410]

Probably set of as a 303 carbine, more rife than shotgun.

[Jerry Cornelius]

Remarkable. I wonder who made it and why. They certainly seem to have known what they were doing.

[oldcurmudgeon]

I believe that I may know who created this, if it is a.22 then careful inspection of the barrel may show it to be sleeved with Parker-Hale parker rifling insert. If this is the case, then it will have originated from the one and only Les Westley. Before legislation became too restrictive, he was converting old rook rifles with said insert to CO2.
So a very good chance it's one of his, though the one I saw was marked with his name.
HTH

[Benelli B76]

I believe that I may know who created this, if it is a.22 then careful inspection of the barrel may show it to be sleeved with Parker-Hale parker rifling insert. If this is the case, then it will have originated from the one and only Les Westley. Before legislation became too restrictive, he was converting old rook rifles with said insert to CO2.
So a very good chance it's one of his, though the one I saw was marked with his name.
HTH

Yes a lot were sleeved with .22 rimfire barrels, I had one myself, it weighed a ton but supremely accurate. Had a moderator fitted and all you heard was the clink of the hammer on firing. This guy has done a beautiful engineering job with the conversion.

Baz

[Mark D]

So....we need to know calibre and if the barrel has been sleeved - over to you Clank

[Benelli B76]

Looks like he has turned down the barrel diameter near the breach to allow room for the CO2 cylinder to screw in.

Baz

[oldcurmudgeon]

Correction that should read as Les Wesley.

[chieffool]

So....we need to know calibre and if the barrel has been sleeved - over to you Clank

Dear CLANK
Is this yours by the way? Just intrigued to find out more, and 'see' some more pics on the internals. Either way, many thanks for posting - seriously lovely.

[Clank]

So, now that I have had time to think about this, a Martini action it is. Almost certainly 577/.450 cal as it is unlikely to have been .303. They were Lee Enfields in the main.
I have taken some more pictures and first off, it is definitely .22 cal, the loading tap measures out at a little over as you can see in this picture below and the picture below that:




These next pictures, apart from showing the beautiful brown patina, also show how the action has been modified. It is clear, now that I have looked at pictures and diagrams of the Martini actions, that the CO2 cylinder attaches where the barrel would have been and the barrel and new breech block are on the top:




I have seen something like this and it was by Leslie Westley, it was a single barrel shotgun (I have a pic somewhere but it is from back in the day when we used Instamatic cameras and sent the films off at the Chemist!) I will dig it out and get the scanner out.

This is the barrel business end and it is a full tapered barrel, purpose built for the job:



Here is a view from the "underneath" with the for-end clipped off, nicely done and you can see how the barrel has been machined to accommodate the CO2 cylinder:



And yes, it is one of my collection. Only the weird and wonderful here