Lot 215: French - Percussion

OE - GOOD - some minor replacement parts; metal smoothly rusted or lightly pitted in places, cleaned; principal lettering, numerals and design on metal legible; lightly scratched, bruised or minor cracks repaired; in good working order.

These unusual rifles were designed to train French cadets around the 1860s based on designs by Claude Minie, the designer of the famous Minie bullet that revolutionized warfare, and were manufactured by Cordier & Cie. of Paris. The barrel ends a little ahead of the forend tip and the nipple is mounted horizontally on the right side and struck by a rod that extends back to the hammer which is mounted to a lock mechanism contained within the stock. By moving the nipple further from the cadet's face and firing reduced charges, the hope was that it would prevent cadet from developing a flinch and allow them to learn proper marksmanship more readily. It has a traditional military style blade frons sight, notch and ladder rear sight, "C.C." on top in an oval, oval "C" and "MINIE BTE/S.G.D.G." markings below the bolster, and the matching serial number on the barrel and long upper tang. The trigger also likely matches and has "5" visible. Good with traces of blue finish in the protected areas, brown patina on most of the balance, some mild pitting and oxidation, minor slivers absent from the rod channel, and minor scrapes and dings in the refinished wood. These training rifles are rarely found in the U.S.