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Mle 1874 Fusil Gras Cavalry Carbine
Chassepot Fusil Gras Calvary Carbine


 
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Our Price: $349.99

Quantity in Stock:9
Product Code: GRAS0002


OPTIONS: 		Hand Select - All Matching Numbers [Add $200.00]
Hand Select - Best Rear Sight Condition [Add $200.00]

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Description
 

Original French Gras rifles have finally arrived from Africa!

The rifles and carbines are in fair condition. Metal has some patina and/or minor rust pitting. Most of the finish is worn on these rifles. The wood is will have the typical dings, dents, scratches, etc of military used firearms. The stocks may be cracked in some spots such as the wrist area, but generally they can be repaired with some effort and time. Don't miss this chance to get a Gras carbine at a huge discount! Please look at detailed pictures and the video below.

Please note: the rear sight may missing on the standard price Gras carbines.

The firearms are considered an Antique and no FFL is required. Photo ID required for age verification. Please send a photo of your ID to ffl@rtifirearms.com along with your order number. Thank you for your business!

New to RTI! We now have All Matching Serial Number Gras carbines available! All metal parts will be numbers matching with this option. We only have a select few rifles in this rare condition, get yours today before it's too late!

We do offer a Hand-Select fee for $599.99 total to get the most intact rear sight assembly we have available.

Bolts are all functioning and trigger mechanism works as well. These rifles are about 130 to 140 years old.


A Brief History of the Chassepot Fusil Gras rifles:


The Chassepot (pronounced "shas-poh"), officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a bolt action military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It replaced an assortment of Minié muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1864 to breech loading (the Tabatière rifles). A great improvement to existing military rifles in 1866, the Chassepot marked the commencement of the era of modern bolt action, breech-loading military rifles. Beginning in 1874, the rifle was easily converted to fire metallic cartridges (under the name of Gras rifle), a step which would have been impossible to achieve with the Dreyse needle rifle.
RT-Imports Video on the Chassepot-Gras Rifle Variations

Average Rating: Average Rating: 4.5 of 5 4.5 of 5 Total Reviews: 10 Write a review »

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
4 of 5 French Fusil Gras calvary carbine January 1, 2023
Reviewer: JimBo from Lawton, Oklahoma  
I am stoked! I received a very nice example with no cracks in the wood. The metal is in the white, no pitting or rust, good rifling and a shiny bore!. Everything seems to function fine.  I wish I could find some ammo! Great peice of History! Has Ethiopian markings on the barrel and receiver. No cleaning rod or rear sight as expected. Non matching numbers. Worth the $350.00 price tag! Ships to your home, no ffl needed.

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Great piece for your French milsurp collection November 1, 2022
Reviewer: Darren  
I bought mine during the sale, and I was overall very satisfied with what I got.  Absolutely no cracks, minimal wear and tear (fixable with a little TLC), no loose parts, mechanically functions with snap caps.  No looseness in any of the remaining components.  Operates smooth as butter.
The only missing parts were the cleaning rod and the rear sight, as expected.  The bore is... not great not terrible, but exceeded what I was expecting for such an old piece.  Fun collector's item, highly recommend, especially during a sale.

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
4 of 5 Worth it for the price October 2, 2022
Reviewer: Julian T from NC  
I bought this during the labor day sale. Rear sight is missing, non-matching. The metal is in good condition as is the bore. Cleaning rod is missing, and there appears to be broken wood as if someone pushed the cleaning rod in too deep. The wood is in rough shape and very dirty. Cool Ethiopian stamps on the receiver, and an etched cross on the bolt which is neat. Overall for the price I am satisfied and would recommend.

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
3 of 5 Wasn’t quite what I expected. September 23, 2022
Reviewer: Shane from KS  
I purchased one of these during the flash sale. It was missing the rear sight and cleaning rod, which I expected. Bore I would definitely give it a solid 8/10. Metal was all good and had roughly 50 percent of  bluing left. The bad to this is it appears to have a cut down rifle stock. And the stock is so worn worse then I have ever seen a stock. There was so much wood missing that the channel for the cleaning rod was almost completely worn away. It’s honestly probably missing 30% of the wood from wear forward of the rear barrel band. I’d give it 5 stars for the metal parts but definitely not for the condition of the wood. But I can’t really complain too much. I’ve bought 10 rifles from here and out of 10 this is only really the second one that was real bad.

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  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Excellent bore! 9/10 an interesting piece! September 20, 2022
Reviewer: Gabriel P from michigan  
I want to write this review so you can make an informed decision! Please pay attention.

I am very pleased with the overall condition of the rifle I received. The bore is amazing! Bore is shiny and new. I would rate it 9/10. The stock has a small crack probably from the cleaning rod pushed in too deep. The crack is easy to fix with some JB weld brand wood patch. Mine sample did not have a rear sight and is rounded almost like it was meant not to have a rear sight. Perhaps it was not fully converted. It is like the one pictured above with 3 brass bands. Green stuff underneath and in the brass bands. The stock also has many dents. The circle in the stock is missing whatever was there which I will fill in with the wood weld product I purchased. The crack should not affect the performance. THE BOLT HANDLE IS THE ONLY LOCKUP TO THE BREACH! Please understand this and reload accordingly.

The  rear sight is non-existent and there is only one example of this rifle I have seen that was on Forgotten Arms. Definitely an interesting piece! The rear sight does not seem to have a place to mount so I am perplexed. I may fire this like a shotgun front bead only. Most of the examples shown only have 2 bands. I understand that these maybe converted from full size rifles. That does not mean cut down! The modifications are professionally done presumably at an armorer adding to the history and provenance.

A word of caution: ammo is NOT available for this rifle! you absolutely must be a reloader to shoot this rifle. The dies are expense and the one source for brass sells them for $5 a piece! Not a poor mans gun if you want to shoot it.

That being said the .348 Winchester brass can be converted to 11x59mmr fairly easily. Simply anneal the neck and load a dummy charge (blank) and fire. The brass will form to the chamber and you will have something to work with. The dies are a bit pricy through RCBS. I was able to find an obsolete LEE die set in England that will be shipped to me.

This is all theoretically as I have not tried it yet. The bullets must be cast and are in limited supply. Cast bullets are available from 1 seller I found.  Molds are readily available and are also pricy. Again not a poor mans rifle.

After seeing the bore I had to source the components to shoot it! It should be loaded with Black powder or similar propellant. There are reports that some use smokeless such as trail boss to run reduced smokeless charges. This rifle also has some beautiful Ethiopian writing that makes it look amazing and adds to it's provenance. Load data is limited as well. The challenge and joy of bring back a "dead" cartridge is a plus for me though. YMMV If you are looking for something with more ammo availability I would suggest the Carcano carbine. The Carcano will need an Enbloc clip which can be purchased here (best price on the internet with shipping calculated).

Information on how to disassemble the bolt is nonexistent. Very little information is documented on the internet. However it is possible to figure out. A hint is the firing pin must be pushed in AFTER the bolt face is easily removed. The extractor is a simple design and can also be removed from the bolt.  

Again not a cheap shooter but a ton of fun with an amazing amount of history. I find it to be a true pleasure and the crown jewel of my vintage collection.

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