On a related subject , the rifle must have been brought from India to England before 1972 . After 1972 , all the fire arms owned by Maharajas were confiscated by Indira Gandhi's renegade government and destroyed to further their anti hunting and anti fire arm agendas after the so called Wild life protection Act - 1972 . Were l to guess , this rifle must have been brought back from India , some time prior to 1961 . Until 1961 , old British fire arms from the colonial period would often be seen lying around in arms shops. Many British and American visitors would come and purchase two of them at a time , to take back to their home country. The arms shops would sell them for very low prices , as ammunition for these guns were not available.
His Royal Excellence , the Maharaja of Sirguja owned 29 fire arms , most of which were made by Holland and Holland
. He also owned a beautiful double barrel rifle in Nitro Express .600 bore , also made by Holland and Holland . I have seen that rifle in an auction house in Sirguja in 1956 and have a photograph of it .
The Holland and Holland Nitro Express .600 bore double barrel rifle belonging to His Royal Excellence , the Maharaja of Sirguja . It was purchased by an American gentleman for 80,000 Rupees.
