Not saying wwpete52 or windwalker_au is wrong but "BASED" could mean many things, especially to an advertising man.
The new gun may have a thicker barrel but use a cut down Zouave stock. It may indeed be a regular Zouave that was simply shortened. Notice I said "new gun".
From where I'm sitting, I would hope that windwalker_au is correct.
The Zouaves barrel is fairly thin as was the original gun. It was made for shooting minie' balls over 65 grains of musket powder.
I would think a .58 cal rifle that was designed for taking very large animals should have a heavier barrel to take the heavier charges that kind of hunting requires.
I guess I could ask folks to measure their Zouave barrels at the breech, and anyone out there with one of the Buffalo Hunters could do the same and post the results here.
Also, if anyone buys one of the newly made guns, they could also measure their barrels breech. Then we would have something to hang our hats on.
My mint condition old ARMI-JAGER Zouave ([XX8]= 1972) measures 1.120 from one side flat to the other at the breech if that helps to get this measuring underway :grin:.