rifle, breechloading, falling-block, Guedes-Castro, 8 mm, rifle, breechloading
Accession Number
NAM.1963-11-97-1
Description
Guedes-Castro Model 1885 8 mm breechloading single shot falling-block rifle, 1886. Used by F Labuschagne, Boer Army. Made at the Steyr works in Austria and adopted by Portugal; forestock shortened; receiver stamped with the arms of Luis I, King of Portugal; breech stamped ‘Z.A.R.’ (South African Republic); carved on butt: ‘F. LABUSCHAGNE’. Associated with Boer War (1899-1902). The name carved on the butt is the same as that of a South African official at Sharpeville at the time of the massacre there. The rifle was possibly sold to the Boers and captured during the Boer War by a British soldier who brought it home as a souvenir.
Campaigns
Boer War (1899-1902)
Units