–Thanks for the information, and I’ll certainly review all the back-issues.

I am particularly interested in this gun because of my interest in a famous Canadian Officer who served during the Boer War:

Major A.L. “Gat” Howard was an intrepid and colourful member of the First Contingent of Canadian Mounted Rifles who arrived in South Africa in 1899.  His background was very interesting, as he was originally American.  He was a Union Army Officer who went on to become Colt’s Gatling Gun foreign sales representative.  He accompanied the NW Field Force during the 1885 Rebellion, where he demonstrated the Gatling Gun to the Canadian Militia in winter conditions.  Afterwards, he remained in Canada, eventually becoming a commissioned Army officer.  He continued to have a great interest in the use of machine guns.  During operations between 1899 and 1901 he rose to the rank of Major, eventually becoming the C/O of the Canadian Scouts (later the Royal Canadian Dragoons).  While on a recce mission, he and his CSM were ambushed and captured by the Boers, who apparently executed them after discovering their identities as amongst those who had caused them so much grief.   It would be no surprise if an officer like Howard would favour American personal arms, as many in the First Contingent privately purchased their own.  It would also be no surprise if the Boers would have captured the weapons, only to have them eventually fall into the hands of the Cape Government. 

I certainly agree.  Colt exported something like 4000 1878 Double-Action Frontier handguns in 44-40, a large percentage to “Africa,” so I would expect the same would be true for Winchester.  Having a rifle and handgun in the same calibre would have been appealing, even though this cartridge had limited use against more than medium game.  A similar Winchester 1873 was carried by Henry Morton Stanley on his epic search for David Livingstone, and was recently auctioned–off by Holts.  Stanley recounted that the Winchester saved his party from hostile natives on a number of occasions, where it was appreciated for it’s rate of fire, which gave the impression of multiple rifles shooting.

In the period from 1880 to about 1895 there were many adventurers importing foreign-made firearms when they arrived equipped from their own countries.  Henry Morton Stanley is perhaps the most famous.  One of his Winchesters was recently auctioned-off in the UK;  he attributes the survival of his expedition to find the lost David Livingstone to the firepower of his Winchester rifles, which ended a number of hostile attacks by local African tribesmen.  Frederick Burnham was another prominent American adventurer who added to his fame as an Indian Scout with his adventures in Rhodesia.  The Boers were inflamed by the influx of “Rooineks” (red-necks, or settlers) during the Transvaal diamond rush of the 1880s. 

Pictured above are Stanley’s M1866 in .44 Rimfire and his M1876 in 45-75.