British P-1864 Snider Two Band Short Rifle- Cleaned & Complete Original Items

Original Item: The Two Band Short Snider Rifle was used by Gurkha Infantry Mountain troops, issued in .577 caliber and fitted with an original 26.5″ barrel secured by only two steel barrel bands. Correct short pattern includes a ladder back sight with the brass furniture, overall length only 45″. These scarce short infantry rifles were issued exclusively to Gurkha Mountain units in small numbers.

We have just two examples that have been expertly restored by master antique gunsmith Norm Sutton. Each is sound, with no known flaws, and has been brought back to life to appear how they must have looked the day they were issued. In the entirety of the Nepal cache find, fewer than 40 short snider rifles were ever discovered, out of 55,000 guns making these simply stunning rare rifles.

History of the Snider-

Jacob Snider, an American from New York, developed this breech loading system for the P-1853 Enfield, the most prolific imported Percussion rifle in use by both the North and South during the U.S. Civil War. When the British Board of Ordnance appointed a Select Committee in 1864 the snider system was swiftly adopted with the first breechloaders being issued in 1865 to British forces. Improved in 1867 by the use of Colonel Boxer’s center fire brass bodied cartridge, the rifle was used very effectively in the Abyssinian Campaign of 1868. The system utilized a hinged breech block with an internal firing pin assembly that permitted the use of a self contained cartridge of lead bullet in cardboard, and, after 1867, brass casing. This highly efficient conversion system prolonged the active life of the P-1853 rifles up until 1871 when the Martini System was adopted. Snider rifles saw continued use throughout the Empire but were officially obsolete by the late 1880s.