Ansonia rifle

Ansonia rifle

With thanks to Frank for these pics. This is what Dennis Hiller had to say about this rifle in 1986:

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ANSONIA Air Rifle.

Model: ANSONIA.

Maker: Mayer & Grammelspacher, Rastatt, Germany. Date: 1901-1905.

Details: Almost the same model as was advertised in 1905 by Osborne as their model 1340, the "IMPROVED HEAVY DOLPHIN" except for the safety. The model I handled has a breech lock lever on the L.H.S. of the cocking arm. Length 43 4/5 inch,weight 4,3 lbs. Walnut stock with pistol grip and chequering and metal butt plate, adjustable trigger and a octagonal barrel.

This gun has a .177 rifled barrel. On the L.H.S. of the breech block is stamped M-G-R in a circle, and some other letters which are barely visible. In England a lot of the products of Mayer & Grammelspacher were sold by many British companies who sold M&G's products under their own banner, and just stamped their own name on it, and even"BRITISH MADE"!!.

This one was sold by E Anson, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, England. Sometimes these guns were marked "THE ANSONIA RIFLED BARREL".

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Well, this rifle is 41 3/4 inches long, same stock, trigger and barrel as the above. No visible stampings on the breech block, but they compensated for that on the rest of the gun. On top of the barrel is "The Ansonia" rifled barrel.

The barrel release catch on the L.H.S is stamped with "Anson's bolt action". Both sides of trigger block are stamped "THE ANSONIA" and on the L.H.S. side of the stock it mentions "E. ANSON & Co 14 STEELHOUSE LANE BIRMN" So they wanted to make sure everybody thought it was "British made". LOL LOL. For comparison I have taken pics of the Ansonia together with my early MGR "Dolphin". Main differences are the barrel block and the trigger housing ......... ------------------------------------------- Frank