Interesting rifle

[kragnut]

El Colonel model.

I assume the sellers price is in pesos, not American dollars?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=148796758

[Dan Shapiro]

He's also wrong about it being necessary to ship to an FFL "because there are readily available cartridges for it".

[kragnut]

The spanish barrel address is what caught my eye. The checkering on the grip looks close to correct, no way Springfield Armory did that half ass job on the forearm checkering though.

[Bill D]

I wonder if he really believes he has a $43,000 Officers Model. What he has is a reproduction worth about $150 on a good day. There a number of glaring errors on that thing.

[Dick Hosmer]

First thoughts; subject to review after more study. It will be around for awhile at that price!

Main thing - you guys need to look sharper. Pictures 2 and 3 ARE NOT OF THAT RIFLE!!!!! Trust me - so, the entire "Spanish thing" is a red herring.

I believe it IS a real OM, BUT, the condition sucks - NO way is it "excellent". And, it is NOT a "First Model". Actually, the narrow receiver with filled-arch block dates it very closely to the 1878 period, which agreees witht the model of tang sight. Hammer is pre-1880. Now, the tang sight DOES contain some - perhaps all - non-SA (Looks like H&R) parts, which isn't good. The overall aging/patina is either genuine or VERY well faked. SA was noted for their crude checkering.

A $10,000 rifle, maybe. It will be interesting to watch it.

Just ran through the pics again. There is NOTHING wrong with the checkering quality on the forend. Well, let me re-state that - the QUALITY is poor, but perfectly "normal", from the point of authenticity - NO loss of points there.

[kragnut]

Oops...your right about the pics. Missed that.

Dick, why is the checkering on the grip so fine and the foreand so amatuerish?

[Dick Hosmer]

Can't say, other than that is just how it is. MOST OMs seem to show better checkering at wrist than forearm. I have always assumed that one person did all of the checkering on any given stock. One thing I find slightly disturbing on this one is the amount of open space around the tang sight base - usually the "bare" area is somewhat smaller. There are three distinctly different sight bases, which, once inletted and checkered, CANNOT be altered to one of the other types.

The pictures look VERY much like those from Trapdoors Galore. A lot of "funny" guns come from that source, but, so far, I believe this one is basically "real". An awful lot of minor points appear - from the photos - to be "right".

The price, of course, is, IMHO, totally ridiculous for what you would be getting.

[Bill D]

Dick, look at the last photo in his series - the one of the heel of the butt. His looks like it was engraved and THEN the U S was stamped on it. Not at all like any 1875 I've ever seen. Usually the engraving totally avoids any proximity to stamps, screw holes, etc.

And you are certainly correct - this rifle is NOT in excellent condition.

Bill D

[Dick Hosmer]

You're absolutely right - I knew something was bothering me about that photo, and I finally wrote it off to the fact that the the US usually occurs ABOVE the screw. That one DOES look odd, and it really does look like it was applied after the engraving. Well, I wasn't going to be buying it anyhow!

[musketshooter]

I will try and go down and take a look at it before it closes. It's supposed to be -22 degrees tomorrow, but I will get a look at it. Years ago there was a local gunsmith that made officers model carbines to order for a local dealer. I suspect this is one of his examples.

[kragnut]

Werent the blocks on OMs engraved too? That one looks plain to me.

[Dick Hosmer]

Yes, but not up around the date stamping. Usually there is just one large scroll, which trails up the comb towards the hammer. Picture #20 shows this clearly - at #21 you need to know what you are looking for, but there is some faint engraving visible there. WHY it is that faint, compared to the main scroll, is an issue that only a physical inspection would settle.