I purchased this rifle in March of 2007 at the Baltimore Antique Arms Show from Scott Duff during the Friday setup. My original intent at this show was to look for a nice early 1903 Springfield, but then I spotted this rifle on his table. Scott told me the story of the rifle and then a voice from behind me said "it'll be very hard to find a better one". I turned around and it was Tom Pearce. That's when he told me that the gun was reported in Mallory's book. I told Scott that I might be interested in it, but he hadn't established a price on the rifle yet. It was later that day when he told me the price, and I thought what the hell - I bought it.
This is one of the 341 completed rifles made by Springfield. Unique to this rifle is the cartouche. It is a very heavily scripted JFC (J.F. Coyle). Rifle retains much of its original finish, stock is in the same condition - very nice. The only U.S. Martial Springfield .22 I am missing is the Model 1870 rolling block .22 Navy rifle. I tried going after the one in Bill Rutter's collection but I was outbid, because I really wanted the BoO&F rifle coming up later, and I was holding back on my funds.
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