Scarce Pre-1899 Schmidt-Rubin M1896/11 Rifle, 7.5 Swiss

PENDING SALE to Jeffrey C.: A scarce Pre-1899 Swiss M1896/11 rifle. This 7.5×55 Schmidt-Rubin straight pull long rifle is in particularly nice condition. The wood is in unusually good shape for a M1896/11 and the metal shows 90%+ original bluing. The bore is bright with strong rifling. Wood shows typical handling marks.  The brown “beer keg” charging handle caps show some wear, but original ordnance spares are available inexpensively on eBay. All of the serial numbers match — even the magazine! This rifle’s serial # 21580X places its date of manufacture in the last few months of 1898! (They must have a serial # under 236,500 to be legally antique.) I found this rifle advertised for sale in Texas. The seller did not realize the significance of its low serial number.  (Less than 3% of these rifles were made before 1899.) Of all of the various Schmidt-Rubin straight-pull rifle variants, it is only the Model 1896  that is both Federally antique, yet also rated to safely handle the high pressure 7.5×55  GP11 cartridge and modern commercial cartridges. I’ll leave the treasure hunt for a possible soldier’s name tag under the buttplate up to you. (CNGC-189) POSODOS 21 July 2021: $25.20