Westley Richards Westley Richards Monkey Tail Single Shot .45 Rifle

AN EARLY .451” WESTLEY RICHARDS MONKEY TAIL BAND & A HALF CAPPING BREECH-LOADING LONG CARBINE, CIRCA 1860, with 25” barrel fitted with blade front-sight and reversed pattern ladder rear-sight, the lock stamped ‘WESTLEY RICHARDS & CO. / 1860’, the breech lever bearing the legend ‘WESTLEY RICHARDS PATENT’. Iron mounted full walnut stock, the butt with a trap for cleaning tools, (tools missing). This is an early Monkey Tail with a three-digit serial number 528 and dated 1860 and was one of the last made in that year. It has the second type or intermediate nipple bolster and is one of the early examples of a Monkey Tail long carbine with 25” barrel and band and a half barrel bands. The first known Monkey Tail of this pattern is No 396 and is believed to have been one of 30 purchased by Lt. Colonel (Lord Wantage) for issue to the Overstone Mounted Rifles, or Lt. Col. Lloyd Lindsay’s Mounted Volunteers, also the 3rd Company (mounted) Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteers. A further 20 were acquired later and this might be one of that second purchase. In very good condition with good stock, the butt extended to suit a previous owner, barrel with fading blue finish, good action. These early Monkey Tails are exceptionally rare, especially with a mirror bore such as this one.

Ref: 043 below