A RARE .700 CALIBRE PERCUSSION BREECH-LOADING UNDER-HAMMER SCHEEL PATENT MILITARY RIFLE, KONGSBURG PROOF MARKS, NO. 2909, DATED 1852 of regulation type, with sighted barrel retained by a pair of brass bands, fitted with standing back-sight ahead of the breech, tip-up breech operated by a lever on the right (now fitted with a modern nut), under-hammer action incorporating a lug for cocking, regulation walnut full stock, brass mounts including butt-plate and trigger-guard, steel sling swivel (the forward sling swivel missing), and matching numbers throughout 77.5 cm 30 ½ in barrel Frederick Wilhelm Scheel, a Norwegian army officer and gun designer read of the American Hall rifle and adapted it into his own patent incorporating the under-hammer design of the Danish Löbnitz patent. In 1838 it was presented for tests by a Royal Commission, and one hundred of these rifles were tested by an infantry battalion in 1842. In the same year it was adopted by the Norwegian army and thus became the first breech-loader to be adopted as the single standard military firearm for a nation. See Blair 1983, pp. 242-243.