Page 128 - Auction84-Book3

Absolutely Stunning & Rare
The half stock forend is fitted with a German silver end cap. The nicely figured select walnut straight grip stock features multi-point checkering and a crescent buttplate which is numbered to the gun. These Model 1855 rifles saw hard use, and when these scarce Colt longarms are encountered, they are generally found in rough condition. That is not the case here as this high condition example is befitting of the most advanced private or public collections. Certainly one of Colt’s finest revolving rifles we have cataloged. Per an included letter from noted firearms historian R.L. Wilson, this rifle was formerly of the famed collection of American firearms designer and entrepreneur William Ruger (1916-2002), is pictured on pages 4 (item 6) and 65 in Wilson’s “Ruger & His Guns,” and was exhibited in the William B. Ruger Gallery at the National Firearms Museum, May 1-December 31, 2000. In 1949, Ruger partnered with Alexander McCormick Sturm to establish Sturm, Ruger & Co. and had a hand in designing nearly all of his company’s firearms, from the semi- automatics to the single actions, up until his death in 2002.
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