A Special Cape Gun

THIS IS THE story of a Cape gun which, after more than 140 years, still does duty, protecting hearth and home, and bringing home meat.

I do not know how a beautiful Charles Pryse Cape gun, chambered in .577 Snider and 16-bore shotgun, found its way into my family. I do know that it was owned by my great-grandfather who was born in the early 1860s, and I presume it was acquired by his parents who, in 1858, arrived from Germany to settle in the Eastern Cape.

While information on the maker is scarce, from my research it appears this particular combination-gun was made sometime during the 1870s, or possibly earlier, at 230 Piccadilly, London. How it came to the Eastern Cape cannot be determined.

The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a single-shot, breech-loading military rifle used from 1866 to 1874, when it was superseded by the