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Original French Gras rifles have finally arrived from Africa!
The rifles are in fair condition. Metal has some patina and/or rust pitting. The wood has some dents, dings and/or cracks.
Many of these rifles and carbines have the rear sight missing. We do have several grades available. We have 4 variations available: the full length infantry rifle, cavalry carbine, Gendarmerie carbine, and artillery carbine.
Bolts are all functioning and trigger mechanism works as well. These rifles are about 130 to 140 years old. The firearms are considered an Antique and no FFL is required.
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.
Visit our friends at Milsurp Munitions, they make correct new production ammunition for C&R and Antique Firearms.
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11 reviews for B Grade Fusil Gras MLE 1874 Rifle
JASON RUSSELL (verified owner) –
Fast shipping.good packaging.better shape than I thought it would be in. Very happy with my purchase.as soon as the wife let’s go of my wallet I will be ordering from you again…..thank you.
Joshua Warriner (verified owner) –
Fast shipping and good packaging.
The rifle arrived rusty and dirty however with some evapo rust/re-bluing and elbow grease the rifle looks great. Rifling is still present and the rear sight is intact and slides. The only piece missing was the cleaning rod. I will definitely be purchasing from RTI again.
RobertLangowski (verified owner) –
Incredibly fast shipping and rifle was well packaged. It is extremely dirty and rusty,and is missing the rear ladder sight slider. Bolt functions well and there is some rifling still present in the bore.
noah.a.whitley (verified owner) –
Great rifle! Bolt functions well, cleans up well, rear sight is intact, came with cleaning rod, and probably the best functioning B-grade I received from RTI. Only disappointments are aggressive wire wheeling and one swing swivel is a bit loose. Other than that, looks and works great.
dunlapma0554 (verified owner) –
I was pleasantly pleased with the selection sent. For B Grade it is a solid rifle with no cracks in the stock. Hardware is all there except no cleaning rod and only partial rear sites as advertised. Bolt and firing pin are functional and perform effortlessly. Just needs a good scrubbing and cleaning. Should display nicely.
t0r0scorpio (verified owner) –
Well…not bad. It’s definitely a lot rougher than my other two RTI purchases. Cleaning it up made it look a lot better. The Red oxide was a lot harder to deal with this time. No more or less dirt than usual. Rear sight assembly was chewed off, which was expected. No cleaning rod and most interestingly, no M80 mark/groove. I also really liked that the stock was an original as it had the plug hole (Something I might fabricate for it) though it did have some weird holes in it, and other marks were kind of a bonus (Tulle instead of the common St Etienne), and that it is a late Chassepot made in 1873 and changed to a Gras in 1879. Functions are smooth. the Bolt was in pristine condition with a strong spring. the bore has rifling but looks…are better left unsaid. But it’s cool. I’ll just pretty it up like the other one.
TrumanTempleton (verified owner) –
Received a Chatelleraut manufactured rifle, with rear sight intact so very happy about that. Missing the cleaning rod but I saw RTI had them so I ordered one of those as well. Cleaned up very nice and looks great now. Read online that these Gras rifles were very popular with Ethiopian guerrilas even as late as WW2, very cool to think about.
Nathan Michaud (verified owner) –
First purchase with RTI and I’m very pleased. Rifle is in good condition as far as milsurps that have crossed my work bench, complete with a rear sight, functional, cocks, fires and has good dark bore with sharp rifling. Stock only has a bit of minor wood loss underneath (easy fix) and couple very minor, old & primitive repairs of 2 small cracks near the tang (repairs are solid and add to the charm, imo) but is still well fitted on the rifle. The finish is almost gone but it has a nice patina and wasn’t wire wheeled anywhere except the surface where it’s import stamped and the serial # (which is understandable) but even those are small and not that bad. I’ve definitely got a great addition to my collection. Thanks guys!
roberthouse2400 (verified owner) –
Mine is dirty, grime and rusty like everybody else’s. And just like everyone else, it should clean up and be presentable and shootable if I can just find some brass. Shipping was fast with the standard RTI packing. Overall it is exactly what I expected. The only three things missing is the rear sight slider, barrel band spring and the ( of course ) cleaning rod. But I did get one with art work on the butt stock in the form of a cross on both sides.
DarrenLeung (verified owner) –
I bought two of these B grade M1874 infantry models in the past, and I was honestly pretty pleased with the results. The first time FedEx accidentally left the Gras at a local distribution center and send it back to RTI without even attempting delivery. RTI customer servive, much to my surprise, resolved the issue within a single business day and shipped it again without even asking me to cover the re-shipment cost. The antique was in surprisingly good shape, with no missing parts aside from the missing rear sight (which was accurately noted in the item description.) The furniture itself was absolutely solid, with no cracks in the stock or any other component. Markings and the piece itself cleaned up extremely nicely. The bore was heavily pitted, as to be expected, but otherwise, RTI has earned a repeat customer here!
I got another one shortly after, and once again, the piece came intact and cleaned up easily. This one even came with an intact reat sight assembly. Aside from the expected pitted bore, my only other complaint was that the stock had a slight chip behind the receiver. Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with both B grade Gras that I got, especially at the given price point!
Aidan Guidici (verified owner) –
My feelings were initially mixed. The description mentions having artillery carbines available so I called and asked, they said to put it in the order notes. I did so and about 3 and a half weeks later I got a very long box and knew it was a full length rifle. I was ready to send it back but took a look at the bore. Light pitting but pretty excellent rifling, one very minor crack in the front end of the stock, and it came with a cleaning rod. Didn’t have a rear sight of course but that’s to be expected based on the description. The barrel had some pretty severe rust under the wood line but most of visible areas cleaned up beautiful, as did the chamber and bolt. I may sell it as I would prefer a carbine and have since ordered one but overall it’s a pretty great rifle.