Item Description
Original Item: Only One Available. Despite the fact that the French needle fire Chassepot rifle was far superior to the needle fire Prussian Dreyse rifle, the French took a swift and decisive beating in the war of 1870-71.
In fairness to the French, the defeat was due to Napoleon III's foolhardiness in allowing himself to get captured at the Battle of Sedan and the show was then over.
No sooner had the defeat occurred the French started fighting among themselves specifically with the forming of the "Paris Commune" in 1871. It was a disaster for France with Frenchman fighting Frenchman and is the basis tale of the theme for the Broadway musical "Les Miserables". The fighting was basically all done in 1871 culminating in the "Bloody Week" when as many as 17,000 Communites were slaughtered. The rebellion spread to many cities in France and everywhere was ruthlessly put down over course of the following 18 months.
This Chassepot rifle actually dated 1872 may well have seen action in this great tragedy in that the underside of the wood forestock bears several scars that may very well have been inflicted by parrying saber cuts.
Otherwise the rifle is in great display condition even retaining the full-length needle firing pin as well as a complete cleaning rod. The left side of the received marked St. Etienne. Mle 1866 and this comes complete with a St. Etienne marked brass hilted saber bayonet and all steel scabbard.
The Chassepot rifle of 1866 was a single shot bolt-action rifle and was among the best of its kind in 1866. It was quickly surpassed, principally by the British Martini-Henry, and was obsoleted in 1874 with the introduction of the metallic cartridge Gras Rifle that was in turn superseded in 1886 with the Lebel Rifle.
This is a wonderful example of a rare ignition system with battle marks making it a rare and sought antique rifle.
- This product is not available for shipping in US state(s): New Jersey
This product is available for international shipping.
- IMA considers all of our antique guns as non-firing, inoperable and/or inert. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 921(a)(16) defines antique firearms as all guns made prior to 1899. This law exempts antique firearms from any form of gun control or special engineering because they are not legally considered firearms. No FFL, C&R or any license is required to posses, transport, sell or trade Antique guns. All rifles and muskets sold by IMA that were manufactured prior to 1899 are considered Antiques by the US BATF (United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). Therefore, all of IMA's Antique guns may be shipped to all US States and most nations around the world.
These antique guns are not sold in live condition. They are sold as collector’s items or as wall hangers. Any attempt at restoring an antique gun to be operational is strongly discouraged and is done so at the risk of the customer. By purchasing an antique gun from IMA you thereby release IMA, its employees and corporate officers from any and all liability associated with use of our Antique guns.
Pre-1899 Manufacture, no licenses required, allowed to ship to almost any deliverable address across the globe.
- Not eligible for payment with Paypal or Amazon
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