Guns International #: 102904887
Seller's Inventory #: 244405

Category - Antique Rifles - 1500-1850 - Double Rifles - English

Category
Antique Rifles - 1500-1850
Double Rifles - English

RARE 1859 GENERAL JACOB’S MARTIAL DOUBLE RIFLE SWINBURN-SON British Antique

Description:
RARE 1859 GENERAL JACOB’S MARTIAL DOUBLE RIFLE SWINBURN-SON British Antique

1 of 900 Issued to Special Unit of INDIAN RAJ SOLDIERS

Here we present a rare antique Swinburn & Son “Jacob’s Rifles” Side by Side Percussion Double Rifle. C. P. Swinburn was a gunmaker located at 16-17 Russell Street in Birmingham, England, beginning in the 1840s. Manufactured by Swinburn & Son in 1859, this percussion double rifle was invented by British Indian Army Brigadier General John Jacob for firepower and accuracy using a special conical bullet that fit tightly in the bore’s rifling. It was also capable of using a special explosive bullet that could detonate upon impact, useful for potentially detonating stores of black powder and munitions of the enemy. This played into his idea of what war could look like in the future, where two skilled riflemen could wipe out an entire artillery battery in mere minutes.

An order of 900 of these rifles were commissioned, possibly at his own expense, from Swinburn & Son, and were only issued to a special unit of Indian soldiers he raised named “the Jacob’s Rifles”. These would have been much shorter and handier than the rifle-muskets in use at the time and had a two-shot capacity rather than one, making them powerful and versatile weapons against enemy personnel as well as dangerous animals that would be encountered in India such as tigers and elephants. Sadly, General Jacob died before the rifles arrived, but for a brief period the unit used these before they were retired and sold for hunting use while the troops were again issued standard weapons. A few of these rifles found their way to the United States and were used by at least a few marksmen in the Civil War while others were bought by Bannerman's and advertised as elephant rifles.

Jacob spent most of his career and life as an officer in British India and what is now Pakistan. He was a cadet at Addiscombe Military Seminary and, upon his 16th birthday, received a commission into the Bombay Artillery. He sailed at once for India in 1828 and never returned to England. He fought in the First Anglo-Afghan War at the head of the Sind Horse Regiment as of 1841, and was placed in charge of the Cutchee frontier in 1842. He was tasked with recruiting a second Sind Horse Regiment that would be known as the Jacob’s Horse in late 1846. The first and the second regiments would later become the 35th Sind Horse and 36th Jacob’s Horse and would remain in active service under those names until 1921 (even seeing service in France during the Great War!), whereupon they were combined and called the 14th Prince of Wales’s Own Scinde Horse.

Regions that Jacob helped administer in his lifetime are said by some sources to be notably more prosperous than nearby parts that were not under his jurisdiction. Jacobabad, a city (formerly Khangurh) in Sindh, Pakistan, still bears his name. In fact, he conquered the various marauding tribes that limited the potential of the area, designed and had built a wide and extensive road, then excavated the Begaree Canal which brought water from the Indus River to the arid land, making the land arable.

Jacob, then a Lieutenant-Colonel, would be made Acting Commissioner of Sind in 1856. He would ride to war with his cavalry for the Anglo-Persian War (modern Iran) and was made Brigadier-General and was appointed to be Queen Victoria’s Aide-de-Camp. He returned to Jacobabad and raised the 130th Baluchis (1st Regiment Jacob’s Rifles) and the 26th Jacob’s Mountain Battery, and it was apparent that he had big plans for them, but would fall ill and die in his namesake city on December 6, 1858. His simple grave was made more elaborate by the locals who admired and even revered him. Locals still visit his tomb to this day.
This example has “SWINBURN & SON/1859” marked locks, and “JACOB’S RIFLES” marked on the patchbox door. It has a bayonet lug on the right side of the right barrel. The end of the ramrod has a generous palm swell for ease of loading the rifle due to the very snug fit of the bullets in the rifling.

The overall condition is near fine. Patina throughout. The actions are excellent and strong. The bores are shiny bright with sharp rifling. The stock shows use and remains solid throughout. A fantastic martially purposed double rifle!

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrels are 24 inches.

Caliber: .524

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns

$7400

#244405
 

Price: $7,400.00                     Buy Now

Antique: Yes