Kropatschek Rifles
Portugal moved into breech-loading rifles in a strange way. Initially, a single shot falling block design by a Portuguese army Lieutenant Luiz Fausto de Castro Guedes was adopted and Portugal ordered 40,000 rifles to be produced by Steyr in Austria. Due to manufacturing problems and the fact that the rest of the world had moved onto repeating rifles this order was cancelled halfway through and an in house Steyr rifle design of the Kropatschek was chosen instead. Chambered in the 8x60r cartridge, the Kropatschek action design was heavily influenced by the Mauser Model 1871 but with the addition of a Winchester style tubular magazine first appearing as the 1886 model.
Most Kropatschek rifles are chambered in the now obsolete calibre making them legal to own without a licence in the UK under Section 58 (2) of the firearms act. Because of this, there is a strong demand for these rifles amongst collectors and we always find they sell well with us at auction. Should you have a Kropatschek or any other antique or modern firearms you wish to sell we would be delighted to talk to you about entering it into one of our specialist auctions.
Please contact Chris Large on 01270 623878 or email chris@peterwilson.co.uk. Alternatively, use the valuation form below to obtain a free valuation.
