Now this is a rare gun.  It is a Lancaster's Patent, oval bore, small caliber, long range rifle.  This gun is a contemporary of the famous Whitworth Rifle, probably built between 1859 and 1862.  It was a close competitor to the Whitworth in long range accuracy at the British military trials.  It has a 36 inch barrel, two bands, checkered wrist and original brass tip cleaning rod.  It has a long range rear sight, a rail for mounting the front sight and at one time was mounted with a tangent rear sight.  Overall the gun is very pleasant.  The wood is smooth with minor dings and abrasions, the checkering is sharp and there are no repairs or refinishing.  The lock is marked Lancaster and the barrel is marked Lancaster's Patent.  The metal surfaces have a smooth brown patination with a little freckling on the barrel.  The bore is absolutely mint, brand new and gorgeous.  The bottom of the barrel has .50 bore Birmingham proofs, yet it surely looks as though it would have fired a .451 cylindrical hollow based bullet.  I suspect this is due to the oval nature of the bore.  There are two dimensions, one large and one small.  The bore is not round and is not rifled, it is an oval (ovoid), which spirals to the end of the barrel, thus imparting rotation to the bullet.  A tricky piece of work, to say the least.  I do not know what the original front sight would have looked like, but I rummaged around in my junk box and found a modern sight, which will slide on the rail and lock down (see in detail photo).  I'm sure it is not correct but it is better than nothing and I will throw it in.  SOLD!!