For sale here is my very much 'been there, done that' Gras Carbine.

This rifle is in its original, live state. It has not been de-activated in any way and can be owned without a license due to its age and calibre.

This Gras carbine was made in France, its the model of 1866-74 and was later upgraded by the French millitary in 1880 (indicated by M80 on reciever side). This modification was to add a gas release port should a round become ruptured when firing, much safer for the soldier as it would act a lot less like a bomb in his hands!

This modification also shows it has seen service in the millitary, and would have been returned after this modification.

It is French military property marked (hardwood disk inserted into one side of the stock). It is a bolt action rifle which is in approx. 11mm calibre.

The rifle has seen a lot of hard use in its life (probably a war veteran), there is some rifling present in the bore (might clean up with a lot of scrubbing!), the wood has been repaired in an interesting fashion utilising lead bands wrapped incredibly tightly around the wrist area, and a repair on the fore stock using 19th century wood nails. They all give her charicter!

The bolt works well, trigger feels good .

Under the woodline there are an awful lot of stamps to the barrel and reciever. These include numbers, crowns (crown with E under) and many proofs ('pf' in an oval, 'B' in a circle with jagged edge, 'D' in a diamond along with a whole lot of other marks)

Definitely an interesting piece of history.

Whilst looking at this I noticed even more stamps on the underside of the tang. Hours of fun!

Plus..... 'S 1873' and 'C 1878' to one side of the barrel.

Thankyou for looking, I also have another obsolete caliber rifle listed (in near perfect condition!)