1866 Short Rifle (cut-down?)

[Tkacook]

I purchased this rifle a while back. It is a 1866 short rifle and is a good shooter. It was missing the hammer screw, rear sight and front band. The wrist had cracked at some point, but has been repaired. The is a rack number on the stock (20) and a brass marker (29) by the trigger guard. The front sigh looks original and the barrel does not look cut. As I bought it to shoot, I'm not worried about value, just origins. I think this one came from Bannerman Island at some point.



Any ideas?

Andy

[Dick Hosmer]

Technically, I believe that is simply a cut 1866 as the middle band appears to be in the original location. Real "short rifles" were made the same length as the current M1868, and bands were properly spaced. A Model 1863 type I stock was utilized, so there that there would be no band-spring filler. Rod was set back from muzzle, just like the original full-length rifles. Hope it turns out to be a good shooter.

[Tkacook]

Dick,

Thanks for chiming in. I have shot it and it shoots well for the crude sights. Being that the front sight looks original, do you think maybe something made up by Bannerman's smiths?

[Tkacook]

See if this works:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~acook/photo/Trapdoors-1.jpg

TK

[Dick Hosmer]

The top gun appears to be a standard .45-70 trapdoor, but whether rifle (32.6" barrel) or cadet (29.6"), I cannot tell from picture. If a rifle, the sight has been upgraded, as that is either an early stock or a cadet stock.

The middle gun is someone's idea of what a Model 1866 carbine might look like, if they had made one - which they didn't! :-)

The third piece is a Bannerman-style "cadet" rifle of the period, where some shortening was done (to many similar lengths) but the middle band was left as is. It is not a legitimate M1866 "short rifle". Those are all properly proportioned, and have the same 1-1/8" rod setback as the full-length rifles. They are also pretty scarce.

[Tkacook]

Thanks for the assessment. I was just seeing if picture posting was working. The middle is a fantasy piece made from bits. I purchased a 1866 barrel from a friend want wanted to be able to shoot it. Kind of in the officer's model style. The top rifle is an 1884 in a spliced together stock I did. I got the barrel, receiver and buffington sight from eBay for less than $100. I already had the other parts. Decent stocks are getting hard to find for reasonable prices. I think people are buying Al Frasca's stocks and selling them on eBay for markup. The 1884 is a wonderful shooter and I really enjoy taking it to the range. I have always figured the bottom was a Bannerman-style rifle. It has the 1866 early style breach block. I wish it has still original, but I didn't pay much for it.