Need expert Identification

M

Mike Irwin

Staff
That's not a .22 per se, it's a Flobert parlor pistol.

It was never meant to be fired with cartridges with powder in them, primers powered only.

Very likely European manufacture, most seem to have been made in France or Belgium, although considerable numbers were made in Germany, as well.
 
J

James K

Member In Memoriam
It is German, one of many thousands of such "parlor pistols" made from the late 1800s to the WWI period. Some were of very high qualilty; others, like that one, were inexpensive "plinkers". They were turned out by many small shops and by "guilds" where one shop made, say, barrels, another hammers, etc. Few have any maker's name or any known history. Most arrived in this country in duffle bags after having been taken from German homes by American GIs.

The barrel should be rifled; the gun has the standard "BUG" proof marks, and the crown/G indicates a rifled barrel. It is a modified Flobert action, as a true Flobert action has no breechblock, so I suspect it was made to fire a cartridge with a small powder charge, not the "primer only" Flobert round.

Value? There seem to be a lot of them around and there is little collector interest. Maybe $100 as a novelty.

Jim
 
W

Wild Bill Bucks

New member
Thank you for the info. An employee of mine picked it up in a garage sale, and I told him I new a place where we could find out anything he wanted to know about it.
As always, we were not disappointed.
I think he gave $20.00 for the thing.

Thanks again.
WBB
 
J

Jim Watson

New member
It is not a real Flobert design, maybe old enough to be a patent evasion.
But in those days in Europe, about ANY single shot rimfire was called a "Flobert" just as any autopistol was called a "Browning" or any lever action rifle a "Winchester." They had become generic terms kind of like Kleenex or Xerox.
 
M

Mike Irwin

Staff
No, it wasn't a real Flobert. Like Kleenex, which was once a proper name, it became a noun in short order.

Just about every German "flobert" gun I've ever seen has had some type of breechblock mechanism, which is rarely seen on either French or Belgian floberts.

I think, personally, that that just might have been Kraut sensibilities.

"Ist einen schotzenboomer! Ze musten have ein breechenblock!"

I sincerely doubt if they were meant to be fired (at least regularly) with cartridges with powder in them.

As with the French and Belgian guns, they were seen primarly as methods of indoor amusement, and even a pinch of black powder would quickly foul the air indoors.
 
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