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Scratches on the barrel show that this is a working gun and was used as intended.

The flip-up rear sight leaves, made to TR’s directions. Express-caliber double rifles are meant for close-in work onbig animals; a 300-yard leaf (especially for a man who admits “At long range...I never was really good for anything”) is pure optimism on someone’s part! Note also the barrel inscriptions. The Field was an important sporting publication of the day.

The elongated tang of TR’s double rifle, intended to strengthen the stock against the battering of the .450/.500 round. Note the cast-off of the stock, which brought the barrel group in line with TR’s right eye. (TR was blind in his left eye, the result of a recreational boxing injury he incurred while President.)

Working through the office of the Honorable Whitelaw Reid, Ambassador to the Court of Saint James, and with Mr. Buxton acting as liaison to H&H, President Roosevelt placed the order for the rifle in the Spring or Summer of 1908. It was, of course, stocked to fit his personal measurements, which had been taken in America in August of that year and sent to the firm. A copy of the original order is present in the Frazier’s records. It specifies: