I knew you were going to ask that. I'll have to check my gun rags to see if I can find the references. I read about wildcats, don't shoot 'em.
I did find that a German by the name of Gherlich invented the principle in the 1920s. Apparently more than just the Germans were fiddling around with this idea. Hotchkiss was even working with the French on a taperbore cannon. Most applications that I have ever read about were for anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery.
I have also read about modern rifle makers using a micro-taperbore. Probably just an adjunct to a true taperbore that tapers ~30% of bore diameter.
...now the other experiment might have been gain twist rifling. But that's another story.