Stevens - Ideal “Range Model” No. 45 - single shot Schuetzen rifle - .38-55; heavy 30” octagon/round barrel, 1” diameter at muzzle. - Condition is excellent plus. - Extremely crisp metal, with frame retaining brilliant, striking Stevens ripple case colors on 44-1/2 action.  Barrel gives impression of 95% original soft blue, but under strong light front round portions of barrel is thinning to maybe 80% actual coverage.  Softly mottled crisp gray lever & Swiss style buttplate.  Excellent markings, mech & bore.  Excellent wood w/ a couple light handling marks.   - Front sight dovetail has filler block.  Sight blocks mounted on octagon portion of barrel.  Forend has holes for removable palm rest. - s/n 8976 - C&R - item #RS-8976 - $3,500

Very rare Colt Berdan U.S. commercial - Model 1868 - serial number 2 - .45 cal.; 32.5” barrel. - Fine condition. - Crisp metal; top of barrel & action has aged to dark mottled plum, with bottom of barrel under the wood retaining about all of the soft blue. -   Very rare English language barrel address is very light & only partially visible: “COLT'S PT. FIRE **** Co., HARTFORD CT”.   - The number 2 is stamped strong & distinct at the rear of the bottom of the barrel.  Previous cataloger reports number 7 stamped on the top of the chamber area, presumably under the rear sight / breechblock assembly, but I was unable to remove the assembly to confirm.  Fine mech & bore.  Sound stock has numerous small nicks & dings, with nearly all finish remaining. 

Designed by Berdan of Civil War Sharpshooters fame, a sale of 30,000 of these rifles to Russia helped keep Colt afloat in the lean years after the Civil War.  These contract guns were made with Cyrillic Russian language markings on the barrel.    Those are very rare in this country, but this is NOT one of those.  A very Berdans few were made as production or design rifles with English language markings, and this is one of those.  It is estimate that fewer than 100 of these were made.  Standard chambering for the Russian purchase was .42 Berdan, with at least some of the English marked guns known to be in .45-70. - This rifle has a bore that seems to be correct for .45 caliber, and was sold to me as .45-70.  However, neither .45-70 nor .42 Russian cartridges seem to chamber in this rifle.  Assuming it is indeed serial number 2, perhaps as a pre-production piece it is chambered for some other round?   The gun is operated by first cocking the hammer by pulling it straight back.  This pulls the rear part of the bolt out of the breech area, allowing a trapdoor type breechblock to be flipped up & forward exposing the chamber for loading.  The breechblock contains the front portion of the bolt & firing pin.  After closing the breechblock the gun is fired by pulling the trigger which releases the cocking piece / rear bolt straight forward halfway through the breechblock (providing a lock for the block), and driving the forward bolt & firing pin to strike the primer.   - The Berdan is sometimes called a “bolt gun”, & I'd always pictured it as some type of early bolt action.  In fact, I guess it's closer to a “straightline trapdoor” type action.  A rare & significant gun in early cartridge military rifle design.  An interesting Colt that's rarer than a Walker. - antq - item #RV-7CB - $6,750

Winchester - Model 1885 High Wall Single Shot rifle - rare barrel length - rare 34 barrel. - .38-55 cal.; 34 oct. barrel. - Fine condition. - Crisp metal, barrel an even blend of plum patina & very thin blue, frame case colors darkened & speckled. Fine markings. Working; light roughness in generally good bore. Excellent wood slightly shrunken, stock possibly refinished long ago. - Winchester factory records letter from Cody shows this guns shipped Sept. 4, 1891, work order 10443, in .38/55, 34 oct. barrel #3, plain trigger. 34 is even rarer than 36. - s/n49360 - antq - item #RS-W295 - $3,750

EFB - Luna Buchel - dropping block scoped schuetzen / stalking rifle - .22 LR - 29" half ribbed round barrel. - Very good condition. - Maybe 80% blue blended with plum/gray patina; some scattered very light roughness. - Excellent mech & bore. Excellent condition custom Pope-style stock w/ cheekpiece & schuetzen style buttplate (original stock included). Replacement Swiss diopter metallic sight, post in globe front. Pecar scope w/ good optics. Per consignor ok for modern .22 & shoots fine. - [rjtx-ksf08] - C&R ffl - item #RS-RJTX - $875

Stevens - tip-up rifle - .25 RF; 24” oct/rd barrel. - Probable restoration; excellent plus appearance. - Crisp metal; 98% plating on frame, t.guard, & buttplate, with pinpoint spotting on the flats of the frame; light striations suggest this is a possible replate, or cleaning with light abrasive. Barrel retains most of soft original blue, thinning evenly for an overall coverage of maybe 70%.   Good markings with “J. STEVENS & CO” wording on barrel address.  Good mech; usual bore.  Excellent appearing wood probably sanded & refinished. - s/n 2618 - antq - item #RS-2618 - $685

“The Needlegun” - early bolt action - with Indian style tack decoration - 12 ga., 23" barrel. - Good condition as primitively adapted. - Seems to be an 1870's vintage European military rifle (bolt mark seems to be “Atlliers de la Buire / LYON”) crudely adapted to single shot shotgun configuration (square head bolt for a disassembly latch ) and marked “The / Needlegun” on breech over chamber, using a cutdown percussion or flint musket stock with the lockplate cutout filled with wood splicing.  Stock is decorated Indian style with brass head, ferrous shank, tacks.  Tacks form cross on one side & snail spiral on the other. - Shows heavy use; mottled gray metal; wrist of stock broken & repaired with wood screws.  My sense is to accept this at face value as a late 19th Century Indian gun, but more readers opinions & observations would be most appreciated. - antq - item # RS-SSNEDL - $450