M1874 Gras 12g shotgun conversion

[Tinman204]

Hi everyone,

My brother and I attended a gun show last weekend in search of more toys!! We walked in and right away I spotted 2 shotguns sitting on a table tucked into a far corner.

I went over and picked them up and right away I knew that they were either Gras or Chassepot. soon after Smellie arrived and identified both of them as Gras conversions.

They are quite an interesting conversion, their simplicity is what drew me to them. Anyhow here's some pics for anyone interested.

After cleaning one up I gave it a clean bill of health and decided to give her a test fire yesterday.
I trimmed some 12g hulls down to 2.5" which allowed them to chamber nicely. My load was a .690" round ball patched to about .710". For powder I used 70 grains of 2f powder and a milk carton wad. Recoil was nice and light and accuracy was pretty hood!!

She sure puts a good hole in a piece of 100 year old Douglas fur!!

I must say that although I spend most of my time trying to shoot tiny groups with my "modern" (modern being WW1 era) milsurps the more time I spend shooting antiques the more my brain says "you need more antiques!!"

Thanks for looking!!

 

[Pete04]

Exellent!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[smellie]

That is a very impressive HOLE, Steve!

I'm glad I got that last 300 pounds of wheelweights. Between you and Janice and the new Charleville, I think we are gonna use up most of it.

Nice thing is that "range pickup" slugs are the right weight and cast-out 1 for 1!

Slugs are 14 to the pound and you are getting 100 to the pound of powder. You are throwing 7 pounds of lead for every pound of powder!

 

[tiriaq]

Lots of fun!
If you stop and think about it, the Zulu, these conversions, and the Geha are all on the same theme, from different time periods.
I have a Mosin Nagant converted into a single shot .410, same idea as the Chassepot. The stock is really hurting, needs repairs, but one of these days, I'll get to it, and see how it shoots.

 

[Tinman204]

All I need now is a Geha, I've missed one a couple of times!! The Zulu started this madness, I bought one last year to go with my snider, now I found these!

Smellie, the best part about these is I can pull them out during a range day with my buddies when they're telling me that I need new 3000 plus feet per second cartridges to get the job done. This gun will be a great conversation ender!!

 

[tiriaq]

There was a 16ga Geha in the EE. Don't know if it is still there.

 

[Tinman204]

There was a 16ga Geha in the EE. Don't know if it is still there.

Thanks for the heads up!! I'd prefer a 12g if possible simply because I'm getting to the "I reload way too many calibers" point in my collecting!!

 

[Ballsofice154]

Very nice, so I take it this is the new shotgun for 100 year old wood defence.

 

[Tinman204]

Very nice, so I take it this is the new shotgun for 100 year old wood defence.

Exactly!!

 

[smellie]

Jan sez that you could call this "Wild Board Defence".

Those Wild Boards can be right vicious, y'know........

 

[John303]

Interesting gun, it starts innocently but in my case ended up as a collection. So far I have a Remo Popular "take down" this is based on the 71 Mauser.
In the 98 Mauser I now have a Remo, Geha, Hard Hit & a DW. The 98 Remo one could call a deluxe version of the others. I notice the barrel on yours Tinman
one of my Mausers has the same "style", literally a musket barrel. I inquired about this on another form and was told it is an "of shoot" conversion for participating
in musket shooting matches using slugs. Can't remember the name for these matches. Anyway enjoy the "start" of your new "collection". --- John

 

[Tinman204]

John,

It's funny how this whole antique thing started for me. I was mr Milsurp until I went over to Smellie's place for coffee the first time. That day I held a snider, vetterli, 71/84 Mauser and a Remington rolling block.

I asked Smellie "can you actually shoot these?"

He replied in typical Smellie fashion "what the hell else would you do with them?"

I left there thinking "wow I NEED some antiques"

The first one I bought was a 3 band snider that had a stock that was pretty much broken in half. After that I got a Zulu that had a piece of drift wood for a stock!! Then I ended up with a nice 71/84 Mauser sporter and now 2 of these GRAS shotguns. The extra one will go to Smellie, without him I'd still be firing my Ross with a string so it's the least I can do

I really love shooting black powder even if I spend more time cleaning them after then I do shooting them!!

Next will be a Kropatschek, and then who knows?