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Rare Investment Opportunity to Own a Bira Gun
Turning the handle crank moved the bolts back and forth to fire the action as well as extract the spent case. The carriage is iron with brass wheel hubs, traversing and elevating wheels, and receiver clinometer without degree markings, and teak spike wheels. The diameter of the wheels measure about 36 1⁄4 inches. Total production is estimated at 50. These last of the hand crank guns arrived at
a time when fully-automatic machine guns like the Maxim were being adopted. The first Bira guns arrived in the United States in the late 1970s through the importer Interarms, and in 2003 it was said that a limited number were found in the ancient palace of Lagan Silekhana in Kathmandu, Nepal, and arrived in the U.S. via International Military Antiques. A very rare gun to encounter in the U.S. CONDITION: Very good with a classic as found appearance. The gun retains 70% period applied paint mixed with some areas of light surface oxidation. The carriage, including the wheels, retains half
of the period applied paint. The feed tray is absent, as is common with early imported examples. Mechanically functions, but is very stiff and
the mechanism is slightly out of time. A rarely
encountered example of Victorian era firepower.
Estimate: 18,000 - 27,500
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