An interesting 1866 Allen

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

No one has pointed out that your M1866 has a single cartouche-- that means it was one of those assembled for sale at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. It never saw issue in the U.S. Dealers Hartley & Graham bought and brought back several hundred in the late 1890s, and sold them to Sears Roebuck and other retailers. They had been in storage in Europe for over two decades.

Edatbeach, I want to thank you again for sharing what you know about this old rifle! I don't know where I'd ever be able to find that information!
Thanks again!

[Edatbeach]

The complete story of the M1866 & M1868 rifles that the SA assembled in 1871 is in the April 2001 issue of The Gun Report.

[Fred]

Thank you Very much for that information Edatbeach!

[Kragrifle]

Note the lack of the fancy script N behind the trigger guard seen on most 2nd Allins.

[Fred]

Yes. Is that N on the Issued 1866's? The script N Is however on my early #6 1868 Rifle which has a converted 1866 stock.

[Dan Shapiro]

Dick Hosmer advised me that the script "N" indicated that the weapon had been issued with a new stock, rather than the one it had originally come with.

[Fred]

Thank you Dan.

[Fred]

That explains it being on my early 1868 with its converted 1866 stock. Neat! Thanks!

[Kragrifle]

Having only seen less than 100, very few I have seen did not have the script N which makes me think the original stocks were marked with the N.

[Fred]

That sounds reasonable to me. I'm open to any and all ideas and knowledge you guys have!

[Fred]

Here is a photo I just now took of the bore on this 1866. The light source is the reflection of the morning sunlight off of the Ejector.