Hi all,
Mentioned this in another thread and wanted to share some pics.

This rifle, though decently photographed, was criminally under-described by the auction company.

In fact, it was listed as a Russian Berdan rifle  ::)
I won't be able to keep it (I have a strict "no rifles more expensive than my Ford Ranger" rule) but it will be an honor to handle it for a while!

I don't have it in hand yet, so here are some pics from the auction.

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And some more:

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Very nice - That's one complicated bolt-action!

I have Dorsett's book "Development of the Krag Jorgensen Rifle for the US Military". He has a short section on this rifle and a few pictures. I see it is tube fed from the butt plate. Interesting specimen you have. (How new is your Ford Ranger?)  ;)

If anyone is interested, there is a complete chapter, with numerous illustrations, operating cautions, etc. on the Chaffee-Reece ("Reese" , though widely seen, is incorrect) in my "More .45-70s" book.

For example, do NOT put ANYTHING other than full-length .45-70-500 rounds into the magazine! The toothed feed system will - sooner or later - jam with anything else.

That's a pretty damn scarce item. Now that you have it, I'd keep it, and sell something you could be sure of replacing if a $$$$$$ squeeze occurred.

Side note, the bayonet, assuming it fits snugly and properly, might be rarer than the rifle!!

The bayonet is not properly attached and locked into place in the auction company photo.

Thanks for the input, all!  This is definitely the rarest I’ve found so far.  I’ve had an M1C Garand and a Winchester Spruce Gun but they made 10 times as much of those.  Amazing. 

Knute, the Ranger is just a 2004  ;).

Dick, thanks for chiming in.  I’ll have to pick up a copy of your book.  I collect standard issue US arms so this doesn’t exactly fit my collection, unfortunately.  I buy and sell as a “side hustle” and this one will make up a few others that I should have sold haha.
I gather the inner diameter of the bayonet is specific to this rifle?

BR, I’m excited to get it in my hands!  I watched the Forgotten Weapons video on this and he basically said, “Yeah, I’m not taking this one apart.”  Pretty complicated indeed!

I am an experienced rationalizer.  It obviously the time to buy a new Ford Ranger!!

olderthansome wrote on Sep 16^th, 2019 at 1:04pm:

I am an experienced rationalizer.  It obviously the time to buy a new Ford Ranger!!

Now that does make sense!

Seriously though, I love this little Ranger.  Just a 4 cylinder to get me to and from work and anything that goes wrong on it is cheap and easy to repair.  I only paid $3,000 for it a couple years ago and it's just trucking right along.

I'll buy another when this one kicks the bucket.  Maybe one that only single-digit-old  ;D

Rcat7147 wrote on Sep 16^th, 2019 at 10:22am:

Dick, thanks for chiming in.  I’ll have to pick up a copy of your book.  I collect standard issue US arms so this doesn’t exactly fit my collection, unfortunately.  I buy and sell as a “side hustle” and this one will make up a few others that I should have sold haha. I gather the inner diameter of the bayonet is specific to this rifle?

You're very welcome.

You do NOT want to fool with the mag until you understand how it works! Another tip, the bolt must be open before attempting to open the butt trap, but should be closed while operating the cutoff!!  It's a goofy system - in fact many specimens have had parts of the mag assembly broken or removed.

Gun looks to be complete, and just in need of a little TLC. The cleaning rod is of special length, and, yes, the bayonet has a slightly larger socket to fit the 28" barrel. The one in the pic is most likely incorrect, but, it's a Benjamin towards keeping the rifle! :D

Book, signed and postpaid, is $25 to POB 1367 Colusa CA 95932. Others welcome, too! :)

Dick Hosmer wrote on Sep 16^th, 2019 at 3:33pm:

Book, signed and postpaid, is $25 to POB 1367 Colusa CA 95932. Others welcome, too! :)

I'll take you up on that.
I ordered it earlier on Amazon before this post but was able to cancel just now.  I'd rather give the money straight to you!

Check is in the mail!

R-cat - I hope your bayonet is the correct one.

I merely noticed, it is not fully on and locked into place. It looks like it will fit. The 'Lock-Ring' needs some oil.

We’ll know soon enough!  This company runs a tight ship and I suspect I’ll have the rifle in hand early next week.

The rifle is in!
There is a touch of pitting on the receiver and the bayonet does not fit.  The big uh-oh is the extractor isn’t hooked into the magazine actuator (??) so it doesn’t work the way it should.

Anyone know where I can find some instructions on disassembly?  Or, for that matter, is this even something I should fool with before selling?  I’m confident I can do the work, with some disassembly tips, but if it won’t impact the selling price much....

So now for the good!  The bore is in great shape, the wood looks great all over, and the bayonet (that’s in good shape) looks really nice on my trapdoor  ;D

Pretty happy with this buy!  It’s a good feeling rifle..feels more natural than the trapdoor but maybe that’s just me.  It’s a shame the magazine system was so funky.

I’ll get it listed this weekend and let you guys know what it ends up going for.

Figured it out. 
The extractor has an extension which fits into the bar that actuates the magazine.  The extractor is fastened to the bolt by a bar along the top.  This bar has, what appears to be, a release lever on top of it. 

The bar and lever are held to the bolt body with a pin.  I simply drove out that pin and the whole thing came apart.

I gather the release thing is supposed to, well, release this assembly without removing the pin but I don’t see how.

Anyway, with the extractor off, I simply placed it inside the magazine actuator bar and reassembled.  Everything seems to be working fine now.  Looks like someone else had it apart and just didn’t put it back together correctly.

Nothing wakes ya up like taking tools to a multi-thousand dollar rifle!

Wait.  Now it makes sense.
The release lever must have been gummed up with 135 years of gunk.  Now that it’s loosened up, the lever is easy to lift with just a fingernail and the bolt is a breeze to disassemble. 

Hopefully someone, one day, will thank me for writing this down  ::)

Thank You!

Maybe you should make a assembly/disassembly YouTube video.

Here's a SPRINGFIELD MODEL 1882 CHAFFE-REECE 45-70 that a local gun shop has for sale on Gun Broker:

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Hmm, probably won't do a video but a couple pictures wouldn't be a bad idea.  I think I'll do that.  Good idea!

And thanks for the GunBroker link.  Nice to know I'll be underpricing at least one other seller!  I'm thinking I'll list it at $3,000 to start.

Sorry for the delay.  I tested the magazine with a couple of snap caps.  It works quite well though I can see it jamming pretty easy.  Still, a very neat mechanism from a design standpoint.

Here's some pics of the bolt disassembly.

Step 1: Make sure the magazine disconnect is in the forward position.
Step 2: With a really thin blade screwdriver, get under this little lever.
Step 3: With the release lever in the upright position, the connector can be lifted up.
Step 4: With the connector lifted up, the extractor can be lifted off the bolt and out of the magazine bar.
Step 5: Withdraw the bolt from the rifle completely by holding the trigger down and pulling the bolt out.

That's all there is to it.  The Forgotten Weapons video on this firearm says he found some directions for disassembly and he referred to them as "scary."   ::)

The only thing even a little scary about this is the fact you're working on a $3,000 rifle...of which maybe only a few hundred exist.  Other than that, this is no more complicated than any other rifle.

Images attached.

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Good pics - apparently yours is OK internally - some aren't.

My cautions came from the late Bob Hill - who had forgotten more about such guns than I'll ever know. He said that, even if you have the instructions (which I do - think they are available on line) you really do NOT want to ever take one apart. Fortunately, mine is complete and in about 95% condition, beyond some loss of blacking on the receiver.

Unless you're in an absolute panic for the money, I'd start higher than $3,000. They are rare, even if slow movers, and the true value, even with some rust and pitting, should be more. Remember that you can ALWAYS take less.

Dick,

I definitely don’t think I’d dive any deeper like taking the magazine out.  I can see that being scary!

I’ll take your advice on starting higher.  I agree it should bring a pretty hefty price.  I don’t want to brag about what I paid but it’s so disproportionate to the value that I don’t have to unload it super quickly.  If it has to sit for 6 months, that’ll be just fine.

I’ll definitely update everyone once it passes to the next caretaker.

Book mailed today - I don't get by the PO as often as I should. Thanks!

Thank you!

Ryan - please email me.

richardahosmer@comcast.net

Thanks.

PLEASE IGNORE REQUEST - ISSUE RESOLVED

You're welcome to contact me anytime - but no longer needed now :) :) :)

I was hoping you found me a buyer!  ;)

No, but I'd suggest you offer it on Al Frasca's site

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Hello all,

Just thought I'd give an exciting update on this item.

I sat on it for a good while and finally decided I wasn't going to be able to move it.
I reached out to Rock Island and they gave me an estimate I liked so I've sent it off.

It will be in their premiere auction in April...and I think that is REALLY cool.  "MY" rifle will be selling alongside record breaking firearms..pretty neat!

I'll let you guys know what it ends up going for.

Hey all,

This auction finally happened this past weekend.  It was delayed for a long time due to COVID.
Maybe not the greatest time to sell a rare firearm like this but that's the way the hand was dealt.

This sold for $2,000.  Fees were 18 or 20% so I'll come away with about $1,600.

This is not as much as I had hoped but I still did very well on it.  And still it was neat that a rifle I was selling ended up in a Rock Island Premier Auction.  It's just a little validation that my side hustle is a serious endeavor.

Good stuff!

Congrats on the sale. RI gets some tremendous prices on their firearms, so, your commission to them isn't that bad.

Great side business. I agree. Keep it up!

Holy Hand Grenade!  I was really off on this one.

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11.5Gs  The chaffee Reese would have been a real deal.

Thanks guys!

Yes, I believe the buyer did get a good deal.  If I can make more than double my purchase price in profit and the buyer still feels like they got a good deal, that sounds great to me.

This keeps everyone out there on the hunt and energized to share in our hobby!

Now to go find more guns to spend some of the profit on  ;D

Glad you are happy. I'm just sorry to see such a great (even if obscure) rarity in US military arms going so cheap. Wouldn't let mine go for anywhere near that - it is one of my core "keepers".