King Louis XV's Magnificent Engraved Lorenzoni Rifle
France
•
7m 22s
This Lorenzoni-pattern rifle was presented to King Louis XV of France in the mid 1700s, and is an exquisite example of firearms deemed suitable for royalty at the height of the European kings. It is .38 caliber and rifled, with remarkably usable sights and a repeating mechanism with the ball and powder magazines accessible through a trapdoor in the back of the stock. The barrel is made of a gorgeous damascus steel, with the whole of the gun adorned with silver inlay, engravings, and deep wood carvings.
The gun was noted in the 1775 inventory of the French royal arms collection, but that collection was broken up in 1789 with the French Revolution. This rifle was rediscovered by an American officer in Europe in 1945, who noticed it in a pile on confiscated arms slated to be destroyed. He saved it from that fate and brought it home, where is stayed in his family until being put up for auction at James D Julia this year.
Up Next in France
-
Darne "Canardière Portative" Shoulder...
In the days when market hunting was a normal practice, hunters would use pretty huge shotguns to harvest large numbers of waterfowl. These were called punt guns, named after the small shallow-draft boats which they were used on - punts. The largest punt guns had bores of up to 50mm (2 inches) and...
-
French Rifle Markings Tutorial with P...
Patrick Hernandez is a noted collector of French rifles here in the US, and a moderator of several French firearm discussion channels - so when it comes to deciphering the markings on a French rifle he is an excellent person to ask. So today, we will go through each of the markings that is found ...
-
Overview of French Gun Laws
Today I am joined by my friend Edouard for a discussion of French gun laws, as part of our continuing series on how firearms laws vary across the world. The French system is...bureaucratic.
