While the manufacturer of this shotgun is unknown it has the hallmarks of an English manufactured weapon which would have been used some time between the 1850s and the 1870s. It is the sort of weapon that was used for settler home defence or by Maori during the New Zealand Wars. The double barrelled muzzle loading shotgun was the most popular Maori firearm during the wars as it could be fired twice after each loading. While they were ineffective at long range it was devastating in hand to hand fighting.