Guns International #: 102331412
Seller's Inventory #: 227845

Category - Antique Rifles - Cartridge - Spencer Rifles

Category
Antique Rifles - Cartridge
Spencer Rifles

SUPERPOSED REVOLVING CARBINE LeMat Billinghurst 1866 .52 Spencer 38 Antique Martial Type Repeater DA/SA SS CW

Description:
SUPERPOSED REVOLVING CARBINE LeMat Billinghurst 1866 .52 Spencer 38 Antique

Martial Type Repeater DA/SA SS CW

Here we present an antique Superposed Revolving Carbine manufactured circa 1866. This possibly one-of-a-kind longarm has a rifled single-shot upper barrel chambered for .52 Spencer rimfire and a rifled lower barrel for the revolving cylinder with its 9 shots of .38 rimfire.

This carbine has a hinged and latching breechblock that swings to the left side of the gun. This piece includes the hammer that will fire the single .52 Spencer cartridge from the top barrel, and which operates with a single action pull of the lead trigger. The cylinder has its own smaller loading gate that flips to the right in the open position. A pull of the rear trigger is double action: it both revolves the cylinder to the next position and fires an internal hammer so that the .38 cartridge will fire through the lower barrel.

This carbine is set up for martial purposes, not particularly for hunting or for sport. It features a military type of tangent rear sight. Given that both cartridges are rimfire, we estimate that this was designed no later than the late-1860s, when the Spencer carbine and the cartridge were in their height of use—right at the end of the American Civil War (1860-1865), the renewal of the Indian Wars, and even during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). In addition to Spencers, Warners, Tripplet & Scotts, Gallagers, Joslyns, Balls, and Starrs also chambered the cartridge.

There are some well-known longarms in history which include those by Samuel Colt from both his Paterson, New Jersey and his Hartford, Connecticut days, the Remington, LeMat, and the Roper. There are also some that are lesser known such as the Collier, which Samuel Colt studied and reportedly used in his designs, the Pieper Model 1893 used by the Rurales in Mexico at the turn of the century, and some prototypes by the French maker Perrin for the French Army around the time that we believe this one was made, circa 1865. Even Jonathan Browning, father of John Moses Browning made a revolving rifle that in almost all other ways is a Kentucky long rifle. One common trait of all these is that they were made in extremely limited numbers due to their intricacy, expense, delicate nature, and because there came to be much better forms of repeaters—think of how the Henry soon gave way to the Winchester Model 1866 or how robust and dependable the Spencer was, not to mention that box magazines and bolt actions would soon arrive in the late-19th Century.

As far as this carbine goes, it certainly calls to mind the LeMat as well as the Billinghurst “Buck and Ball” revolving combination rifle/shotguns, both of which used superposed barrels of different calibers in similar manner, one a large smoothbore to be used with shot. Unlike those, this carbine features two rifled bores. The smaller bore, which is associated with the cylinder and the double action trigger, might have been intended to be used for sheer firepower and volume, while the single-shot .52 caliber bore fired by the single action trigger would have been used to take a longer shot or for a larger target to take down a horse. In any case, all of these various makes are rare and highly collectible.

The overall condition is fair to good. The metal surfaces show use and weathering, dark and lightly textured throughout. We can make out no markings on this piece aside from the graduation numbers on the rear sight. The actions are functional. We believe that the band between the back of the rear sight and the front of the cylinder should be flipped around so that the aperture (which would have once held a simple ejector rod) would line up with the cylinder where the loading gate is. It appears to have been soldered in place at the bottom as you see it now. The bores are dark with visible rifling. The wood has been refinished, probably in the late-20th Century and there is a stable split along the bottom of the butt stock. This is a rare opportunity to own such a piece.

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrels: Upper - 21 inches; Lower – 19 7/8 inches

Caliber: Upper - .52 Spencer Rimfire ; Lower - .38 Rimfire

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns

$8400

#227845
 

SOLD

Antique: Yes