One of 5000?

[villiers]

`Tis all part of the adventure of getting to grips with a new "old" gun.

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[Patrick Chadwick]

Well, after trying out the Boer carbine, I cleaned the barrel and the chamber, until I was sure that there was not a speck of dirt in there. Feeling virtuous after the cleaning, I decided to put a drop of Sherrell's gunstock oil on the shaft. Literally one drop. OK, maybe two. Previously it had looked good. Now it looks beautiful. But while i was admiring this, and turning the carbine round to make sure every last corner was oiled...

- the backsight ring fell off.

Utterly gobsmacked, I took a closer look with the watchmakers eyeglass. It appears to have been GLUED, and the glue had cracked. Either that, or someone had tried to soft-solder it, and had achieved a solderless joint held together by hardened flux.
Whichever is true, I am pretty sure that this would NOT have been done by the original Boer user. The foresight bead was hard-soldered (brazed) on, a really good professional job, but to glue in the backsight ring must have been a later "fudge" improvement.

Anyway, I am leaving it like that, as it now looks a lot more plausible as a serious military firearm. And the ring would have invalidated it for service rifle competition.