To quote the late  John Sukey I am seeking "Rocking Horse Dropping" , a 50 cal 8 groove Whitworth barrel.

Is there anyone out there anywhere  making Whitworth barrels or barrel liners. 

I have a Westley Richard 1869 Express rifle with Whitworth bore, for the 500 No.2.

Sometime in the near past it has been beautifully and tastefully restored.

The only think not restored is the bore.

I am going shoot it and see if it is usable for deer hunting. I am not optimistic. 

A nice option would be to be able to reline to bore with a new Whitworth rifle liner.

A less desirable option course would be to install a modern rifled .50 cal. liner.

Is any one aware of anyone making a .50 cal Whitworth barrel?

I have a '69 WR in 500-450 #2 with Henry rifling. I've taken 2 mule deer with it. Not beautiful like yours but it only cost me $10 back in the '60s.

I just went on a peruse of the WR "Improved Martini". Since it predates the Martini striker action and has an internal hammer - like our own Peabody's "hammerless" design - it might have better been called an "Improved Peabody" but that would have involved a patent lawsuit. Anyway, mine appears to be the 1869 model with its square cutout for the stock and long safety throw. There were several 1870 patents with possibly just a few rifles based on each and apparently most having the rounded stock cutout and the short safety throw. Things get confusing for the 1871s which look like yours with the stretched trigger guard but it seems some of the hunting versions went back to the long throw safety. Meanwhile under the fore stock the 69s have two large springs and the 70s have a much smaller single spring. It may be that the total made for all is not large. Mine has a 184 on the left side of the barrel ahead of the action and I only came across numbers up to about 500. Of course, these may be patent use numbers so started over with each new patent. The Whitworth rifling really threw me as most had Henry and yours doesn't look like any Whitworth polygonal I've ever run across. However, I did find this one listed: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links). To super confuse things I found some that were made in Belgium by Francotte and marked Westley Richards patent (in Belgian). Is it fun, or what?
And just now I found this which explains the Westley Richards Whitworth rifling: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

To complicate things even more,  and as can be seen in the pic, Westley Richard's didn't use a hex bore, but an octagonal one...

My .500 express has a bore much worse than that, and it will hold somewhere in the area of a 5 inch group  at 100 yards, and that's with rudimentary fixed blade barrel sight.  It holds an inch and a half or so at 30 yards, where the sights are regulated to.  I use gas check grease lube bullets in it.  I'd be pretty comfortable shooting  a deer with it.

oneatatime wrote on Jan 15^th, 2025 at 6:46pm:


I think there is even more confusion to add to this.  The ZAR Martini was made by Francotte and marked  as Westley Richards. These indeed made in Belgium.  I have two of these ZAR guns, one Carbine and one Rifle.  I also have a third rifle of this pattern, clearly marked Francotte. They are all the same action.   This action of course is more familiar in its reduced size as the BSA family of Francotte Martini's. 

But, these are not the Patent 1869-1871 Westley Richards.  The 1869-1871 appear wholly British made.  Can't say that for sure as there is nothing you can say for sure about the old  British gun making industry.   

I now have two of the Patent 1869-1871 WR rifles.  The Express rifle posted above, and a second short rifle or carbine in 1-1/2 carbine.

What is in unusual about these two rifles is that they appear identical in configuration.  Bolt holes, pin and screw hole patterns are identical.

I have had the carbine for about 20 years and have never seen another in this same configuration until I acquired this Express rifle.  The only exterior difference of the actions is the shape of bolt head and locking nuts.  I have not been inside the Express rifle yet. 

Winfer in his volume 4 British Single shot rifles has a lot of details on these guns.  He notes specifically that there are a number of different variations of these gun.

About shooting.  I will indeed shoot this rifle before going down the road of trying to get a new Whitworth liner.   Lapping of course would be part of the process.

What's that old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't don't fix it!"  It may look nasty down the bore,  but it may not be broke.

Have you ever used evapo rust remover? I plugged and filled a Remington rolling block barrel for a 1 1/2 in 38-40. Looked good after and shot well. It has to be standing not wipe on. Might be worth a try as a last resort. It's available at car part stores.

There's a lot out there. Maybe it was in this one: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)