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Winning Bid US $270 First bid $250 Quantity 1 # of bids 3 Time left Auction has ended   Started 2025-05-07 00:00:00 Ended 2025-11-21 22:35:25

Sundari Royal Arsenal Kathmandu Nepal, Model: Gahendra Rifle Improved Model, Cal: .577/450 Martini-Henry, MFG: 1911, S/N: 420, Lever action single shot rifle, 33 3/8'' barrel.

HISTORY: The Gahendra rifle is a Nepalese copy of an 1869 Westley Richards patented design, which was a improvement of the British martini-Henry. They were made under the direction of General Gahendra Rana in the 1880s. to were made to provide Ghurka regiments with what looked like the British just adopted, the Martini-Henry. It has some improvements over the Martini, like the Westly Richards rifles, the action was completely removable in one contained unit, making it easier to clean & service. Because of logistical problems production would be slow & by 1894, the Ghurkas were dangerously short of .577/450 Rifles, as threats from the East were growing. The British would relive this problem by shipping several thousand short lever, Mk.2 Martini-Henry rifles in 1894 to Nepal. Another large shipment of long lever Mk.4 Martini-Henrys, would be shipped in 1908. The more complicated & obsolete Gahendra Rifles went into storage until they were sold on the surplus market. Following the first shipment of the Mark 2 Martini-Henrys, a Improved model of the Gahendra was designed to supplement these rifles & bring the Gahendra up to snuff of the Martinis. The standard Gahendra worked fine with the poorer quality Nepalese ammo but could not handle the more powerful British made .577/450 that was imported with the new rifles. The Improved model has a V leaf main spring & a Monotube barrel to handle this more powerful ammo. The V Spring is far stronger than the original main spring in the standard Gahendra. The barrels on the standard Gahendras were formed on a Mandrel by Twisting straps of iron around the Mandrel & then welding them together. The improved model is made from one piece of tube making it far stronger, it was still made from iron & not steel. They might not have been fully successful at making the improved model handle the more powerful ammo as they still have some design flaws & are still made from iron. Proper research, gunsmith inspections & handloading should be done before firing this rifle. The easiest was to spot an Improved model is to look at the position of the forward receiver screw. The improved model is located just above the mounting point of the lever, the Standard rifle had the screw above the trigger. There are a Few more subtle differences with the trigger & receiver hump. There is no concrete records of how many were made but researchers believe around 10,000 total were made. These rifles were all handmade & assembled with most parts not being interchangeable. Less than 1% of the thousands of Gahendra Rifles that were imported to the US from the Nepal Royal Armory were the Improved Model, far fewer of them were made as they supplemented the British made Martini-Henrys they were given. Only 1,000 or fewer of these improved models were made.

CONDITION: The two-piece straight wrist, walnut stock is very good with some nicks, dings, & scratches. the stock has darkened from added oils/grease over time. The wood has shrunk over time leaving the metal proud to the wood around the buttplate & lower wrist tang. The right cheek of the stock is marked with two Nepalese characters that appear to read ''13'' in English. The right cheek appears to have the same markings but more worn. The metal has mostly toned to a chocolate brown patina with some remains of thinned blue on the receiver flats & protected areas. The Rear of the receiver is marked with four lines of text in Nepalese. The top one is the full name of Gehendra in Nepalese Nagari characters. The second line is the manufacture date which reads ''1968'', minis the 57 Year gap between Nepals calendar & the current used one brings the MFG date of 1911. The third line translates to ''NO'', the fourth line is the S/N. the bottom of the lever is marked with the Arsenal name where it was made in Nepalese & translate to ''SUNDARI RIFLE''. The bore is very good near excellent. Its bright with light roughness. The barrel holds a small barleycorn front sight with a tangent ladder V-notch rear sight marked 100 to 400 on the base, & 5 to 13 on the ladder, all in Nepalese. The stock carries a metal buttplate, toned to a brown patina. rifle has both sling loops & has a cleaning/clearing rod. Rifle comes with a triangle blade socket bayonet, no visible markings. either a scrubbed British bayonet or Nepalese made. FFL or C&R Req - Value: 500 to 1500

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Price

Sundari Royal Arsenal Kathmandu Nepal, Model: Gahendra Rifle Imp... Item # 4452 This auction is over. No new bids can be placed. Price: US $270

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