Beauty, one of our kittens, has not been shot But she insisted on attacking my feet while I was photographing the rifle and so has ended up in the picture.

In mitigation, I should point out that Ive been a strict vegetarian for forty years and do not even kill annoying things like flies or mosquitos.

In 1866, after working in the family business, he obtained employment in the gun trade in Birmingham.

By the turn of the century his business was well established.

The rifle sights were inferior to the German Mauser used by the Boers.

But the main problem was that the Boer forces, though heavily outnumbered, comprised farmers who had been using rifles since young.

Their stalking, hunting and shooting skills eventually forced the British into peace negotiations.

The airgun was ideal for this purpose, but the airguns available were not accurate enough for serious target shooting.

In 1903, Lincoln Jeffries offered his Lincoln Air Rifle as the most accurate airgun sold.

But Jeffries realized that improving an inefficient design was not the solution, and he worked on a new design of airgun.

He had already been secretly developing and testing various prototypes and, in 1904, he patented a new design of air rifle with fixed barrel and breech and an under lever system for cocking.

After completing their final batch of 41,000 Lee Enfield Mk 2 rifles, government orders declined, and the Empires largest arms manufacture was looking for work.

A contract was signed in 1905 and both Lincoln Jeffries and BSA produced the new air rifle.

Bsa Cadet Serial Numbers