(edited title) Museum's inventory: Snider-Enfield Cav. Carbine, Portuguese Contract

[dauph197]

Hi Guys,

Here an unbelievable found I just made. Or maybe not... At the very beginning, I thought it was just a normal cavalry Snider-Enfield but when I was reading on this website,

http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/Sing...bine/Portuguese Contract Cavalry Carbine.html

I found out it was pretty similar to the pictures shown.

If the information given on the website is true, this mean we have another rare carbine in the collection. There is a reference of Skennerton book.

What you guys are thinking?

I'm wondering why this carbine is now in Canada? I'll have to dig in the Museum's archives to learn a bit more about it.

 

[JP]

Yes it is a Portugese contract carbine, not rare quite a few are floating around on the US market. I have owned several Portugese Snider 3 band Infantry rifle also over the years. In Canada, they are actually less desirable than actual canadian issue carbines.

 

[dauph197]

I would like to know why these carbines are now here in North America. Were they sent here to resupply a unit or mostly by the hobby? I look forward to read the archives about this one.

 

[Corps]

Unless you can find some Canadian proof marks (DC, Canadian Broad Arrow...), it's probably the hobby. Maybe it was a private import; maybe it was from an importer. Who knows, really.

 

[JP]

Imported by Interarms a large surplus arms dealer in the 1950's up to the 1970's. Sam Cummings the owner brought guns from all over the world. If you look up old gun magazines from that period, you will see many adds by Interarms and their subsidiary Hunter's Lodge.