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ULTRA RARE NATIONAL ARMS & AMMUNITION COMPANY 11MM GEWEHR 71 EXPERIMENTAL MAGAZINE RIFLE.

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Firearms & Armory Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
ULTRA RARE NATIONAL ARMS & AMMUNITION COMPANY 11MM GEWEHR 71 EXPERIMENTAL MAGAZINE RIFLE.
SN 5742E. Cal. 11mm. Prototype Gewehr 71 rifle made by NA&A Company in 1875 with provisions for rare Ludwig Loewe patent horseshoe magazine with a similar but variant magazine for the French Gras rifle. This particular rifle is formerly of the Henk Visser collection and is one of 75,000 made on contract by the English firm National Arms & Ammunition Company for the Prussian Government, a handful of which were modified experimentally to use Loewe’s patent horseshoe magazine. Receiver in the white has turned a pleasing shade of light brown. Bears the manufacturer's triangular logo on the top receiver flap. Left receiver marked 5742E with numerous imperial proofs. Mechanics and action are crisp. Full-length stock bears most of orig finish and very nicely crown proofed with crown/FW as well as an additional crown/L. Bolt handle is heavily modified to actuate the system of catches and levers of the Loewe magazine which wraps around the action body, relying upon a trap-door cover to retain the cartridges, opened and closed by the bolt movement to release a single cartridge which is fed by gravity from the top of the magazine into the bolt feedway. Made for Prussian Army trials in the early 1880s to develop a magazine for the Gew. 71, this design was most impractical, failed the trials immediately and is consequently extremely rare. PROVENANCE: Collection of Dr. Geoffrey Sturgess, ex-Visser collection. CONDITION: Overall very good. Bore is dark, strong lands and grooves; should clean up. Stock has occasional scratch and handling marks, but overall very good condition. 4-53167 DW61