Bowkett multi-shot air cartridge rifle

Bowkett multi-shot air cartridge rifle 

With thanks James, who says:

John Bowkett used to make a working jig to develop various valving, trigger etc. ideas and when he had got all he wanted from the jig made it into a rifle or pistol for his own amusement. The rifle... started as a jig to test some valving he had developed for a multi shot air cartridge. When finished he built the rifle shown around it. He used good quality quarter sawn French walnut for the stocks but his "prototypes" were usually plain grained, what he called fencepost quality, reserving the fancy wood for customers if they wanted to pay for it. He made some development cartridges which were shot in his S&W custom house 44 magnum 686 and also one the same size s aa 2 1/2" 12 gauge which with a barrel screwed on the front was used in his Cooey shotgun. The latter gave 4 equal shots with one more dropping 10 fps. This was at over 11 ft/lbs and was charged to 2500psi.