Original French Model 1866 Chassepot Needle Fire Rifle Dated 1873 - Matching Serial No Q 9550 Japanese Helmets The serial number stamped on

The serial number stamped on the left side of the action is 5961 which is repeated on the left side of the barrel

The wood stock is profusely inlaid with horn (stag

so I "make do" with my French original

numbering in the hundreds of thousands by this point

Original French Model 1866 Chassepot Needle Fire Rifle Dated 1873 - Matching Serial No Q 9550 Japanese Helmets The serial number stamped onOriginal Item: Only One Available. Despite the fact that the French needle fire Chassepot rifle was far superior to the needle fire Prussian Dreyse rifle, the French took a swift and decisive beating in the war of 1870 71. In fairness to the French, the defeat was due to Napoleon III's foolhardiness in allowing himself to get captured at the Battle of Sedan and the show was then over. The Chassepot rifle of 1866 was a single shot bolt action rifle and