Designed by Claude Minie and made by Cordier and Cie. Claude Minie is famous for designing the minie ball. Cordier and Cie existed in Paris, France, from 1850 to 1870. The gun is a Minie-Cordier rifle and was patented by Cordier in England, No. 1051, on 11 April 1862. It is designed for shooting reduced charges in a rifle which has the size and configuration of an actual infantry rifle. It has an overall length of 49 1/8". The barrel itself is 16" long. The barrel is screwed into a fitting at the very front of the wooden stock. A percussion nipple is attached to the right side of the stock and a long metal rod extends from the hammer to the percussion nipple. The barrel is round and has a stud style front sight which presumably would accept a socket bayonet. The bore is about .50 caliber and is rifled. The bore is excellent. Externally, the barrel is smooth and mostly brown and gray with no pitting present. The barrel is attached to a metal fitting at the front of the stock. Long metal straps extend along the top and the bottom of the stock. A flip-up ladder rear sight is attached to the upper metal strap about 3" ahead of the hammer. The upper metal strap is stamped with the manufacturer's trademark "C.C" enclosed in an oval along with the serial number 855. The action works perfectly. Sling swivel is located on the bottom strap just behind the barrel and another sling swivel is located on the bottom of the buttstock. The buttstock appears to be made of walnut and is very dark in coloration. It shows very little use although it has quite a few light dents and bruises and also several worm or insect holes in the butt area. It is mounted with a typical military musket style steel buttplate. Overall condition is fine.
