The rook rifle was designed to be light enough to be carried for a walk in the country, accurate and powerful enough to take small game and usually elegant in balance, fit and finish.

[2] The first rook rifles fired .295 in (7.5 mm) calibre 80 gr (5.2 g) bullets,[3][4] although subsequently a number of cartridges were developed for this purpose ranging in calibre from .22 to .38 in (5.6–9.7 mm) and firing 40 to 145 gr (2.6–9.4 g) bullets at the usual black powder velocities of 1,200 to 1,500 ft/s (370–460 m/s).

[2] Rook rifles were used extensively both in Britain and throughout the British Empire with large numbers being exported to many Commonwealth countries and colonial territories.

In rural Britain it was previously the practice to hold rook shoots where the juvenile birds, known as branchers, were shot before they were able to fly.

[1][5] A rook rifle features prominently in Agatha Christie's short story The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor.