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Winning Bid US $3587 First bid $1500 Quantity 1 # of bids 15 Time left Auction has ended   Started 2023-05-06 00:00:00 Ended 2024-03-01 22:05:02

Captain Selden Allen Day Collection & the Electric Rifle:

We start our May 2023 auction of firearm offerings with a fascinating & very unique collection. The 5 rifles featured in the next 5 lots belonged to Selden Allen Day, a man as interesting as the firearms to follow. The first Rifle being an extremely unique Electric ignition Remington Hepburn Rifle. But first a bit about the man who once owned these fantastic rifles.

Captain Selden Allen Day was born in Ohio, July 22nd, 1838. Not much is known about his childhood, there than he was extremely bright, inquisitive & was able to fix or repair most things. In his early 20's his military career began on June 20th 1961 when he enlisted in the Civil War as a Private in Company ''C'', 7th Ohio Infantry. His military career last until his retirement in 1902. In the pictures below we have included a military bio & some highlights of that exemplary career for you to read in more detail. There is also much more to read about this special man as found on the internet.

During his military service 1874 he graduated from artillery school & became involved as a military sharp shooter. It was during this period which started his fascination with sharp shooting target rifles & the Creedmoor Shoot. Between 1876 & 89, he became involved with the Creedmoor Shoots in New York, both representing the military & maybe later as a civilian. Sometimes the snippets of records refer to him with rank & others simply by name. The shooters logs, contained in this collection, & this lot, support that he typically competed in ranges from 200 to 600, but also a few longer range shoots. They are a detailed account of dates, times, weather conditions, distances, cartridges & loads, shot placement, along with the guns he used during competitions. Interestingly, several firearms included with the logs are not included in these auctions. The construction of his shipping crate, as included in this lot, indicates that it held many more rifles than are currently in the collection. The crate also has certain adaptations which indicate that there were typically more than five rifles in it. Also, from the combined evidence in the shooters logs and the crate, he had many different rifles over the years. It was during this period of his life that he experiment with rifles, cartridges & likely tinkered with the Electric Rifle being offed in this first lot.

In one article there is a snippet of S.A. Day being put in charge of a few army forts in the U.S., during which time he was involved in the development of the dum dum bullet. He graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1880 & was known to practice as a physician & a surgeon, even caring for Jefferson Davis, the ex-president of the Confederacy. Shortly before retirement & at the opening of the Spanish War, he was commissioned major & ordered to Cuba. At the promulgation of the peace protocol he, as commandant of the artillery, hoisted the American flag over El Morro Castle at San Juan, Porto Rico, & fired the national salute on the day of occupation, October 18, 1898.

In 1902 he retired & married Helen Hamilton Gardener & spent five years travelling the world. Helen herself was also quite the figure of the early 20th century & Colonel day spent much of the later part of life in her support. She was appointed to the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1913 & was elected as a vice-president of NAWSA in 1917, serving as its chief liaison with the Wilson administration. In 1920, President Wilson appointed Gardener to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the highest federal position occupied by a woman up to that time. She served in that position until her death on July 26, 1925.

During the years of travel with his wife shortly after his retirement, he also became fascinated with the means of travel & particularly airplanes. His inventive nature lead him to be an aero inventor, with occupation Patent US-1908-875787 (English title: Flying or air car, Filing date: 1906-05-16) Patent FR-1907-385023 (English title: Airplanes, Filing date: 1907-10-22).

Colonel Selden Allen Day died at his home at the age of 80 on December 22, 1918 & was buried with full military honors in Arlington Cemetery, where his wife later joined him.



CUSTOM ELECTRIC RIFLE CONVERSION, Remington-Hepburn No. 3 Military Long Range Creedmoor Rifle. CAL: 45-70, MFG: Antique, SN: 3673, Falling Block Single Shot Rifle, 34'' round barrel. This is a very unique due to the modifications Day implemented in his attempt to develop a more accurate target rifle. It was his contention that the means in which most rifles instigated the firing of a cartridge caused movement, which compromised the accuracy of the shot. He felt that it would be preferred if an electric current could activate the internal explosion of the cartridge without the need for a falling hammer, which was typical of most target rifle of the period. He set out to develop the first electric firing target rifle to prove his theory. This is that very rare & special firearm.

The standard full length straight grip walnut stocks are excellent, with nice grain & excellent finish. There are very few minor contusions & scrapes. The barrel carries the makers address ''E. Remington & Sons, Ilion N.Y.'' No caliber marking. The metal finish on the barrel is excellent, retaining approximately 90% coverage, with a couple of splotches where the finish has worn or rubbed. The case-hardened receiver & drop lever display fabulous & strong original case-colors. Bore is excellent & bright, with crisp rifling. Due to the electric firing system, the rifle no longer has a hammer spur. It also carries the addition of a safety lever on the left side of frame. The barrel carries a military style level spirit ladder rear sight & a box small blade front sight. The barrel has an additional original threaded rear sight hole. The upper tang is factory tapped, with two sight hole provisions for potential mounting of a tang sight. The lower lang has two open holes. There is the original cleaning rod secured within the forend & under the barrel with two forend barrel bands which aid in securing it to the rifle. Buttstock carries a widows peak metal buttplate. We have included below pictures & a diagram of the modifications done to the rifle & to explain how it works. There is also a YouTube video made by the consignor which talks about Captain Selden Allen Day, his rifles & goes into greater detail the modification & functionality of this Electric Rifle. It is titled ''Creedmore Rifles owned by Col. S.A.Day, 1879 & 1897'' *& this is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pytmB0dTi8. We highly recommend watching the video. This is a very unique piece of custom engineering, on an extremely nice condition Remington-Hepburn rifle. Antique, No FFL Req



WOOD CRATE & ACCESSORIES:

Being sold with the Electric Rifle in this lot is the wood crate that S.A. Day used to store, carry & travel with his target rifles & accessories to the various competitions & particularly The Creedmoor. The crate is 55 1/2'' X 17 1/2'' X 11''. It is set up with dowels & slat dividers on the bottom of the crate which held his various rifles. On the front of the crate is stenciled ''CAPTAIN DAY''. This is the crate which held the five rifles in this auction, which S.A. Day pack the last time.

How the consignor obtained the collection. The story as told by Kim Kimball, who is the person I bought them from is that S.A. Day came to San Francisco by ship & he had the crate with him. He books quarters in a boarding house near where he arrived, which was owned by Kimball's relatives. They assumed that Day was a seaman. He stayed for a period. When he left, for parts unknown, he gave the owner of the boarding house some cash & told her that he would send a letter with an address soon & would she ship the crate to that address for him. That's where that part of the story ends... the boarding house owner never heard from him again. Fast forward, the crate & its contents passed from the boarding house owner to her sons & ended up being held by one of two brothers. The brother who kept them passed some years ago & his wife gave them to Kim Kimball as a gift, to be sold to pay for part of her college education. Kim Kimball couldn't sell them, so she just hung on to them. Fast forward many years later, the crate now ends up in Flagstaff Arizona & Kim Kimball is moving into a house where she has no room to store the crate & its contents, so she shoves it underneath the porch of the house. Outside! I stumbled on the crate a couple of weeks after that & told her that she couldn't just leave it out like that! So, I took it home & put the rifles in my gun safe, where they have been for 20 years. Ten years go by & I started to talk to her about buying the crate & its contents. We arrived at a price.

It is at this point that the consignor starts his research & discovers both the history & prominence of S.A. Day & the existence of the special converted Electric Rifle.

Within the crate was also a large assortment of his records books & various part & accessories. Included are 7 ''SOLDIERS TARGET RECORDS'' books, with the hand written notation of his various shots, placements & sores. There are also two Kneelands Score Books, one with scores from 1878 & the other one signed & dated by Capt. S.A. Day at Fort Hamilton New York Harbor 1884. There is also an official Creedmoor leather bound score book from 1879, with lots of advertising of Target firearms, local hotels & of course records of shot & scores. Coincidentally, The featured rifle advertised was for the Remington, No. 1 LONG RANGE ''CREEDMOOR'' TARGET RIFLE & the expert Creedmoor shooter who used them, which is the third rifle being offered in this collection. There is an additional black leather bound scores book & a tab of score sheets. There is also a '' Programmed'' from the 1889 matches at the Creedmoor. Also included is a 1880 U.S. Cartridge Co. CARTRIDGE catalog. These is a large bag of empty brass of various calibers, most of which match the rifles being offered. There is a pile of various rifle parts & sights. There is also a checkered forearm from a Spencer arms 1882 shotgun. There are several old wooden cigar boxes, in various states of completeness, which once held the accessories & parts.



This collection of Captain Shelden Allen Day is a fantastic piece of history. The Electric rifle is extraordinary, & both rare & special in its nature. The additional rifles which follow in the next four lots are also wonderful original examples from the era. We hope that the entire collection with peak bidder's interests & that it might stay together, but in the end, each rifle with find a special home with an enthusiast which recognized their value in the history of Captain S.A. Day & the Creedmoor. We apologize for the photos & information being out of order, we have attempted to correct the issue multiple times, but have been unsuccessful in doing so. Please copy & paste the link below into your browser to view the video history of these rifles.

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pytmB0dTi8 - Value: 3000 to 20000

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Payment Details See Payment Instructions and item description, or contact seller for more information.

Payment Instructions See item description or contact seller for more information.

Price

Captain Selden Allen Day Collection & the Electric Rifle: ... Item # 4010 This auction is over. No new bids can be placed. Price: US $3587

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