French Gras

[nrobertb]

Here is my French Gras rifle, manufactured at St. Etienne in 1881.

I am part of the group buy of dies from Lee's custom shop, which has been dragging on for months. Hopefully they will be delivered in the next couple of weeks,

[les1234]

Nice Gras! I'm waiting for the same run of dies to come through for mine. My Gras is made up of two rifles, I bought one years ago that had a really bad, near un-repairable stock, and missing front sight and bayonet bar, and then last year I ran across a parts gun, and bought it- had a nice stock and barreled receiver, and nothing else. I put all the small parts and bolt from my old one and- viola! a complete Gras for only 1 1/2 times the cost of what I could have gotten one already complete!

[nrobertb]

The group buy of Gras dies from Lee finally came through after 9 months. I tried them out yesterday and they work great. At the range today using Trail Boss powder and Buffalo Arms .446 340 grain lead bullet, I got a 7-shot 1 1/2" group at 50 yards. Good enough to put a smile on my face..