[Well-Armed Lamb]

This is a weird one. I was doing a transfer at my shop, and was looking at a couple of things just for the heck of it, and another customer pointed this out as a "what the?!" Store owner focuses on modern shooters, and said, to be honest, he didn't know anything about it -- it was in inventory when he bought the shop. When I pondered, he offered to knock the price down considerably. It was weird as all hell, it had a looooong bull barrel, and its bolt was smooth as glass, so I took it home.

I did the research, and it turned out to be a Model 1874 Gras rifle, modification of 1880. With matching serial numbers. Sweet! I got a deal! ...but this is where it gets weird. It's in .22 LR. The Gras was issued in 11x59 mm, and though the French did conversions of it later, I haven't been able to find any information online about it being converted to .22 LR in any scale. [EDIT: Aha! Of course, no sooner do I post this than I see a page noting that the French converted some to .22LR trainers: http://www.oldrifles.com/French.htm has pictures of a couple.] But the serial number on the barrel matches the rest of the gun, and the joining is a beautiful job. Factory conversion? No cartouches on the stock, but I've attached pictures of some of the markings.

Adding to the weirdness, at some point some Bubba or other decided he'd try to learn stock carving by putting a design on it. Except he gave up on the underside of the stock. Way to go, Bubba!

In short, this is the weirdest gun I own, and any information folks can give me would be appreciated.

[Jim K]

Now that is interesting. It is probably a conversion done by the French, but I have seen some real odd-wads converted to .22 by gunsmiths here.

Jim

[Vaarok]

Well, the stock's ruined, but the barreled action's probably worth a small fortune. If I were you, I'd go over to the Gunboards.com French Collectors Forum and ask there, Lebel or Vonmazur or Kelt should be able to tell you a small novel worth of info about it.

[Well-Armed Lamb]

Update for anybody interested: I asked at the site Vaarok recommended, and it is a factory job; the rifle was made at the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint Etienne, in 1882, under Directeur de Manufacture Col. Robert, using steel from Société anonyme des aciéries et forges de Ferminy (formerly called The Verdié Co), Ferminy, France. Contrôleures de 3 ème Classe Monsieur Rahire andMonsieur Chardonnet also stamped my rifle. Apparently, the factory relined the guns, rather than rebarrel them, into .22 LR from the 11x59mm.