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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1882 CHAFFEE-REECE .45-70
Maker/Manufacturer:	CHAFFEE-REECE
Date of Manufacture:	1883-1884
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 8232
Measurements:	OL:124.4CM 49" BL: 71.1CM 28" 9 lbs.

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1882 CHAFFEE-REECE .45-70
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1884 - Standard Model 1882 Chaffee-Reece bolt-action 5-round tubular magazine rifle. Blued finish. Two bands. Ramp and leaf sight graduated to 1200 yds. Muzzle velocity 1300 fps. Weapon has an overall length of 49", a barrel length of 28" and weighs approximately 9 lbs. 753 Model 1882 Chaffee-Reece rifles were manufactured at Springfield Armory from 1883 to 1884.

Markings:
Receiver: US SPRINGFIELD 1884.
Barrel: (P)
Stock: SWP/1884. SWP = Samuel W. Porter

Weapon donated to the Springfield Armory NHS by Russell Chojnacki on 22 December 1986.

Springfield Republican, July 9, 1892 - "The magazine gun board tested the Chaffee-Reece gun yesterday morning, and the fire-arm stood the tests well until that of endurance arrived when a portion of the breech-bolt broke and the trials were suspended."

Notes: Designed by Reuben Chaffee and General James Reece of Springfield, Illinois. The weapon was patented in February 1879. Tested in 1882 against the Hotchkiss and Lee, it finished second with the Lee coming in first. The Chaffee-Reece was then issued for trial in the field. Here again, it would compete against the Hotchkiss and the Lee. In field trial tests, the weapon finished last. The rifle was never recommended for adoption. A .30 caliber version was made for the 1892 trials, but here too the weapon was dismissed. Francis Bannerman & Sons acquired most the Chaffee-Reece rifles and was selling them as late as 1907.

"The Chaffee-Reese rifle was another one of the candidate bolt-action rifles that found favor with the Ordnance Department. The invention of Reuben Chaffee and General James Reece of Springfield, Illinois, some 753 of these were produced for test purposes. The five-round magazine was a tubular magazine located in the rifle's buttstock. The magazine was loaded through a trap door located in the buttplate. As the bolt was cycled the cartridges were fed forward by means of ratchet teeth - one advanced each cartridge as the bolt was cycled and another kept the cartridges from sliding backwards down the magazine. As one cartridge was pushed into the chamber another was pulled forward to take its place. This rifle also could be fired as a single-loader and as such possessed a magazine cut-off. Albeit the Chaffee-Reece rifle seemingly was a serious candidate for the service rifle, much of its support may have come from General Reece's influence with the Ordnance Department. Additionally, the promise of Colt interest in the rifle may have added to its luster. No matter, Colt abandoned the project sometime before 1884." - Dr. Stephen C. Small, Ph.D., Gun Report, October, 2003

"The bolt-action system was designed by Reuben Chaffee and General James Reece of Springfield, Illinois. It was patented in February 1997. The feed mechanism relied on a special oscillating double-rack unit, operated by the bolt, instead of a conventional magazine spring. Retracting the bolt pushed the mobile rack down the magazine until special retainers slipped behind the cartridge rims; the fixed rack simply field the cartridges in place. Closing the bolt lifted the mobile rack, pulling the cartridges forward, until the bolt face caught the rim of the first cartridge and pushed it into the chamber.
Unlike the competing Hotchkiss rifle, which had a conventional tube magazine, the Chaffee-Reece system separated the cartridge noses from the primers of the preceding rounds." - John Walter

DISPOSITION OF OTHER M1882 CHAFFEE-REECE RIFLES THAT WERE IN MUSEUM COLLECTION:
Army #0407 - M1882 CR - Transferred to Chief of Military History 4/24/57
Army #2912 - M1882 CR - Transferred to Aberdeen on 4/3/56.