Voltigeurs Rifle Mle An Ix

Breech tail marked Mle 1777, left side of the barrel marked B 1814, the B corresponding to the punch mark of Daniel Bouissavy, 1st controller of the Maubeuge Manufacture in office from 04/01/1808 until after the fall of the Empire. As Jean Boudriot recalls in his reference work, if the regulations of the Year IX do not mention a rifle for voltigeurs, the production records of the factories mention the manufacture of rifles for voltigeurs. Lock engraved "Maubeuge Manufacture Impériale" and punched R and I. All the fittings are punched with the D under star of Philippe Delmotte, controller from 1808 and some also bear the B of Bouissavy. The stock bears the wooden mark (the B in a shield) of controller D Bouissavy, behind the counter-lock and behind the reception stamp. The name of the stockier appears on the back of the trigger guard. The reception stamp is dated Fr (for February) 1814, during the French campaign. It bears the letters BY of the first Controller Bouissavy and the S, initial of Inspector Jean-Baptiste Schouller, Director of the Manufacture from 03/28/1811 to 06/30/1814. This rifle is presented with its bayonet stamped with the starred B of Inspector Borson at the Klingenthal Manufacture in 1814, that is to say during the same period. Excellent wood markings allow us to read the history of this weapon, which is a witness to time. The owner of the weapon left his name clumsily engraved on both sides of the stock (Lecull?).