This is a stunning example of the Civil War Remington Zouave Rifle with its original bayonet and scabbard.  This gun was discovered in an out-building and it was completely black, as if it were painted.  Now you old timers are going to know what I'm going to say next.  The gun was completely covered in the original grease, which had dried as hard as baked on paint.  We used to see quite a few like this, many decades ago, but they don't show up much anymore.  Many years ago, people referred to it as being in the original Bannerman grease.  For those of us who have lived long enough to have seen it, we know that underneath that black coating, is a brand new, unfired gun.  In most cases, you cannot take it off with paint remover, it is so tough.  And many guns have been destroyed with sandpaper, buffing wheels, etc., etc.  The correct way to clean it is to disassemble it carefully and drop the parts in lacquer thinner.  The large parts, such as the barrel and stock, have to be cleaned with a terry cloth that is moistened with lacquer thinner.  No steel wool, no abrasives what-so-ever.  You just slowly dissolve the grease and rub it with a terry cloth rag.  If you do it that way, you can lift the grease off the wood and retain the original oil finish.  The third photo down, in our detail photos of this gun, gives you an idea of what it looked like before it was cleaned.  The brass has not been polished, the grease has simply been lifted off it.  The wood is as good as it gets.  There are virtually no dents or dings in this piece of wood.  The lock assembly retains 100 per cent of the bright case colors.  The barrel is at least 98%+ bright blue.  The gun was stored in the out-building with the bayonet fixed to the barrel.  There is slight roughness, where the ring of the bayonet surrounded the barrel.  This is because it sat there for decades probably and the dissimilar metals, brass and iron, tend to create a subtle corrosion.  The bore is .58 caliber, seven-groove rifling and is brilliant new.  The bayonet is virtually new.  The only thing that did not survive sitting in that out-building for years, was the leather on the bayonet scabbard.  It dried, cracked and flaked.  A superb, excellent/new condition Remington Zouave.  SOLD!!