Guns International #: 102713944

Category - Civil War Rifles - Antique Rifles - Percussion

Category
Civil War Rifles
Antique Rifles - Percussion

Fusil Mle 1822 T Bis Dragoon rifle St. Etienne (civil war 69 cal. rifled Musket)

Description:
Here I present a French Fusil model 1822 T Bis Dragoon rifle. in excellent condition. Bore is in excellent condition with very strong rifling  (french pattern 1857 rifling, progressive depth with 4 lands and grooves) and shoots very accurately. metal and wood are in very good condition too. there is some pitting around the lock and at the front end of the bore. The action is strong and works perfectly. no cracks, no heavy wear or other problems. a perfectly shootable civil war era rifled musket.

IMPORTANT: The rifle is currently located in The Netherlands (Alkmaar). shipping to the USA is no problem whatsoever for an antique gun like this. however it will take some time as upon selling i need to acquire an export license for this particular gun from my government (this is no trouble but can take between an hour to a full week, depending on how irritating the clerks decide to be). after that the gun will be shipped to your home. no FFL required (unless you live in one of those states where FFL's are required for antique firesarms like New-York). Do keep in mind that you might have to pay import duties.
I do however have the ability to video call with the rifle. payment via an escrow service is also possible.

This particular rifle:
here we see a dragoon 'short' rifle of the french imperial guard produced in 1833.  (67 texier on the bottom referring to the 67 regiment lead by Colonel Texier de la Pommeraye). although still quite large compared to rifles from the anglosphere (it's about the same length as a 3 band p53 enfield) by french standards this would have been a rather short rifle. intended for mounted infantry use. other than its shorter length compared to the infantry rifles it also has a unique ramrod (which is present). a small ring around the ramrod latches onto the nosecap which prevents it from falling out when riding on horseback. this would not be present on any non cavalry arm. Also of interest compared to the regular rifle are the bronze barrel bands and nose cap. these would have been regular iron on the 'normal' rifles.
The sights of this rifle (and all 1822's for that matter except for the chausseur ones) are set to a fixed distance of 200m. at this range this particular rifle shoots superbly. accurate hits at lower or higher distances requires a bit of trial and error to get right due to the fixed sights combined with the extreme bullet drop from the very large and heavy minie ball.

Little history lesson:
The 1822 series of muskets started out as flintlock smoothbore muskets when they where first made. from 1837 onwards most of them where converted to a percussion musket by any of the 4 french major arsenals. This would result in the 1822 T series (T for Transformé aka. transformed). it was in this capacity that these rifles saw service in the crimean war (1853-1856). starting in 1857 a new modernisation program was set up for these muskets in which they would be converted to rifled muskets using the new Minié Ball ammunition. The now rifle would be called the 'Fusil Mle.1822 T Bis'. bis standing for the second official modification done to this rifle. it saw service like this in the Austro-French war of 1859, the Franco mexican war (1861-67) and finally in the franco-prussian war of 1870-71. In the latter as an emergency arm by the French government of national defense.
During the American civil war these rifles would have been imported by both the union and confederate armies. as far as my research goes between 30-60 thousand of these rifles went to the union armies and half of that to the confederates. used almost exclusively in the western theatres. the very large 17.2mm single groove minié balls fired by these rifles do still pop up at battlefields such as shiloh and stones river.

Closing notes:
Here you have the unique opportunity to buy an exceptionally rare civil war era firearm. hard to find in europe and practically impossible in the USA. with the right care this gun will give you great performance on the range and will be a proud part of your collection for years to come. 

For any subsquent questions feel free to call or text me at +31 640099231. do keep in mind that my time zone is UTC +1...... (aka midwestern time +7hrs).
i can send you live videos with this gun. give you much more historic information about these guns. what ammo to use, where to get the molds etc. etc.

I look forward to your busines,

Jeff

Contact Info:
Jeff Leegwater
+31 640099231
Jeff 'at' officeroom.nl



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Enfield 1851
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C.S. Richmond
Fayetteville
sharps
rolling block
Smith
Dreyse
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Podewils
Linder
wuerttembergische
Vetterli
Waenzl
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SOLD

Antique: Yes
Manufacturer: Saint Etienne
Model: 1822 T Bis
Serial Number: 1160
Bore: 17.8mm
Condition: excellent
Metal Condition: excellent
Wood Condition: excellent
Bore Condition: excellent
Butt Pad: Bronze (not brass)
Finish: metal
Manufacture Date: 1833
Item Location: Alkmaar (NL)