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Winning Bid US $150 First bid $150 Quantity 1 # of bids 1 Time left Auction has ended   Started 2025-07-28 00:00:00 Ended 2025-11-21 22:35:25

ST. Etienne- France, MLE 1840T, Cal: 18mm (.708), MFG: 1820's-40's, converted 1860's to rifle, S/N: 3869, Percussion rifled musket, 35 '' barrel.

HISTORY: This rifle started life as MLE 1822 .69 Caliber (17.5mm) smooth bore flintlock musket. After France adopted the MLE 1840 which switched from a flintlock Charleville style action to the percussion ''Back Action''. France would in turn start converting older flintlocks with the new Percussion system, converted rifles are noted by having a ''T'' for Transformed added to the model on the gun. These systems were all .69 Caliber smooth bores. In 1846, French Military Instructor & Inventor Claude-Etienne Minie would invent the Minie Ball Which allowed Rifles to be loaded as quickly as smoothbore musket, but retain their rifle accuracy. France would later issue their first Rifled musket for the mainline infantry the MLE 1857 & the older smoothbores were rifled, making their bores 18mm, these would be marked 18mm & have a T added onto it model. Frane went through many small updates & changes during this time with their muskets & rifles so there are a lot of small variations of markings & style from surviving guns. Large numbers of these French muskets were imported just before & during the civil war for both the Union & Confederacy. People had mixed opinions on them because the rifles were a mix of perfectly fine rifles, & some which were unsafe to shoot. France was starting to switch to a breech loading rifle at this point so saw the Civil war as the perfect opportunity to off load all their unwanted older muskets, leading to them being in different states of disrepair, some being smoothbores, some being converted rifles, some older flintlocks, & converted percussion guns. France would later convert many of their muzzleloaders to a breech loader with the Tabatieres system. These would see use with France during the France Prussian war of 1870 alongside the MLE 1866 Chassepot. Many of these were converted to shotguns mostly in Belgium but some were done in France, & then sold on the US market around 1880's-1900 as cheap trade shotguns usually under the name ''ZULU'' or ''HUNTER''. This rifle here appears to be a Mle 1840 that was later bored with rifling, but the barrel & barrel tang markings are illegible.

CONDITION: The original straight wrist wood stock has been cut down, & rates good as being sanded & re-finished. The forend tip has a large crack on the right, a large chip on the left with some smaller cracks. Metal is slightly proud to the wood around the lower tang, lock plate, & spots around the buttplate. a couple grain pops at the butt end of the stock. The French property Box wood plug in the stock has been removed & filled, no remains of the roundel cartouche. The metal has worn to a gun metal gray with spots of darker patina. Light roughness across the metal with concentrated roughness near the breech from use. Most markings have faded from wear. The lock plate is marked with French script, ''A ST.ETIENNE'' & above that is two more French script markings, one is partially faded, & one more ''M'' stamp. The left side of the chamber is marked with a lined out ''1000'', ''3869'', the ladder marking appears deeper/newer than the former. On the chamber flat above those markings is two heavily worn French proofs. The right side of the chamber has one worn illegible marking. The barrel tang has one worn but visible French script letter, other markings for the model are worn away. Barrel band marked with a faded ''PM''. Lower tang marked with French proofs. Two ramrod guides have been attached to the bottom of the barrel, the forward guide is missing but base is still on barrel. The bore is poor. Dark with rust & pitting, has visible four groove rifling that's worn smooth at the last couple of inches of the muzzle. The barrel holds a bead front sight. The stock carries a steel buttplate, had dark patina & roughness. Rifle has no sling mounts. Hammer is stiff but does pull all the back into full-cock, solid click into half-cock, soft click into full-cock & needs force. Trigger drops hammer freely with no binding. A Unique rifle that served with France & with the US in the civil war, then appears it lived on as someone's shotgun after its military service. Antique/Muzzleloader, No FFL Req. - Value: 300 to 900

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Price

ST. Etienne- France, MLE 1840T, Cal: 18mm (.708), MFG: 1820's-4... Item # 4425 This auction is over. No new bids can be placed. Price: US $150

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