Buckshot
04-09-2005, 05:16 AM
..............Back 7-8 years ago before I moved to town and gave up my 01FFL, I was cruising Auction Arms one evening and found a nice looking 1902 Rem RB in 7x57 so I bid on it. Somehow or other I also bid on a Belgian made military Carbine made for Brazil. I'd never ever heard of such a thing but it was cute and didn't seem to be getting any action, so I bid on it too.
http://www.fototime.com/727CA3D11B5EA61/standard.jpg
As it turned out I forgot about them but ended up being high bidder on both! All of a sudden I had to come up with about $600 all at once! As it turned out I already owned a nice 1897 Rem RB in 7x57 so I pedeled the 1902 to a shooting buddy and we both made out.
http://www.fototime.com/022CFD7381B30B6/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/4A280AA9B475B9D/standard.jpg
As it turned out, there really was only one place on the web I could get any information on a Comblain, Brazililan or otherwise. That was Keith Doyan's Military BP Cartidge rifle website.
The action is a falling block type. The breechblock doesn't have a connecting link like a Sharps but is connected via a screw to the triggerguard, which is the action lever. You hook your thumb through it and push down and slightly forward. The mortice in the action is machined at such an angle so as to allow the breechblock to merely drop down on a simple hingescrew.
As you can see in the upper left photo, it kind of puts me in mind of the old TV commercial about having it's "Works in a Drawer". Everything follows the lever down. In the upper right photo, you are looking at the back of the breechblock in the closed and locked position. The hammer is shrouded. At first I thought it was striker fired.
This seemed rather odd to me. This is a Model of 1873 and at that time and in fact until 1890, in Brazilian military service it fired a Boxer type coiled brass foil cartridge. With this and the early primer technology with less then 100% performance, it seemed odd they'd shroud the hammer? If the first hit didn't fire, you had to lower the lever again to recock the hammer, which it automaticly does.
There were Comblain contracts produced for a couple other countries, Belgium included, which is where the carbine was made, carrying Liege proofs. A couple other contracts did spec exposed hammers. Brazil was rather berserk in thier military rifle contracts over the years, even into the 1930's. The Comblain was used by them in a few different types and styles with 4 different cartridges, including the 7x57!! The Comblains were first line rifles/carbines until 1892, but were used by rural officials into the 1930's. Indiginous drawn brass cartridges were produced beginning in the late 1880's.
Another design feature is the lack of a safety. All you could do would be to slightly lower the action lever, or carry it empty.
http://www.fototime.com/7A12618D703BEC8/standard.jpg
Here you see the entire firing mechanism out of the action. In the previous upper left photo on the side of the action you can see 3 screws. The upper larger screw was added by the government of Brazil as a 'keeper' or safety screw. Kind of like the Mauser guard screws in some triggerguards.
Otherwise, to remove the action you removed the screw below the guard screw, and the action comes out. The screw to the rear of it is the hinge for the extractor to rotate on. The entire design is very elegant, compact and it works like a champ. The machinework is typical of the era, meaning first cabin all the way. There is not a machine mark to be found anywhere. All the protected parts inside he action still have their bright carbon bluing. You can see remnants of blue on the sides of the action.
As an idea of the machinework, the hammer shroud you see attached to the breechblock is milled from solid, and has a dovetail on it's front, which slides into a matching dovetail machined on the rear of the breechblock. A further very interesting thing is that the firing pin on the hammer is replaceable and not a solid part of the hammer.
In the bottom photo, if you were to push the breechblock forward, the shroud would uncover the hammer and expose the flush screw in the side of the hammer which retains the firing pin. Unscrew it and remove and replace the firing pin. I doubt they encouraged the peasant soldiers to do this type work, though. The extractor works very similar to the Martini, being very positive with 2 arms reaching up on either side of the rim.
BTW, the trigger on this rifle is a delight. VERY crisp with absolutely zero creep. I don't know if they were all this way as a design or just this specimen, but it's match grade.
................Buckshot
On to part II
http://www.fototime.com/727CA3D11B5EA61/standard.jpg
As it turned out I forgot about them but ended up being high bidder on both! All of a sudden I had to come up with about $600 all at once! As it turned out I already owned a nice 1897 Rem RB in 7x57 so I pedeled the 1902 to a shooting buddy and we both made out.
http://www.fototime.com/022CFD7381B30B6/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/4A280AA9B475B9D/standard.jpg
As it turned out, there really was only one place on the web I could get any information on a Comblain, Brazililan or otherwise. That was Keith Doyan's Military BP Cartidge rifle website.
The action is a falling block type. The breechblock doesn't have a connecting link like a Sharps but is connected via a screw to the triggerguard, which is the action lever. You hook your thumb through it and push down and slightly forward. The mortice in the action is machined at such an angle so as to allow the breechblock to merely drop down on a simple hingescrew.
As you can see in the upper left photo, it kind of puts me in mind of the old TV commercial about having it's "Works in a Drawer". Everything follows the lever down. In the upper right photo, you are looking at the back of the breechblock in the closed and locked position. The hammer is shrouded. At first I thought it was striker fired.
This seemed rather odd to me. This is a Model of 1873 and at that time and in fact until 1890, in Brazilian military service it fired a Boxer type coiled brass foil cartridge. With this and the early primer technology with less then 100% performance, it seemed odd they'd shroud the hammer? If the first hit didn't fire, you had to lower the lever again to recock the hammer, which it automaticly does.
There were Comblain contracts produced for a couple other countries, Belgium included, which is where the carbine was made, carrying Liege proofs. A couple other contracts did spec exposed hammers. Brazil was rather berserk in thier military rifle contracts over the years, even into the 1930's. The Comblain was used by them in a few different types and styles with 4 different cartridges, including the 7x57!! The Comblains were first line rifles/carbines until 1892, but were used by rural officials into the 1930's. Indiginous drawn brass cartridges were produced beginning in the late 1880's.
Another design feature is the lack of a safety. All you could do would be to slightly lower the action lever, or carry it empty.
http://www.fototime.com/7A12618D703BEC8/standard.jpg
Here you see the entire firing mechanism out of the action. In the previous upper left photo on the side of the action you can see 3 screws. The upper larger screw was added by the government of Brazil as a 'keeper' or safety screw. Kind of like the Mauser guard screws in some triggerguards.
Otherwise, to remove the action you removed the screw below the guard screw, and the action comes out. The screw to the rear of it is the hinge for the extractor to rotate on. The entire design is very elegant, compact and it works like a champ. The machinework is typical of the era, meaning first cabin all the way. There is not a machine mark to be found anywhere. All the protected parts inside he action still have their bright carbon bluing. You can see remnants of blue on the sides of the action.
As an idea of the machinework, the hammer shroud you see attached to the breechblock is milled from solid, and has a dovetail on it's front, which slides into a matching dovetail machined on the rear of the breechblock. A further very interesting thing is that the firing pin on the hammer is replaceable and not a solid part of the hammer.
In the bottom photo, if you were to push the breechblock forward, the shroud would uncover the hammer and expose the flush screw in the side of the hammer which retains the firing pin. Unscrew it and remove and replace the firing pin. I doubt they encouraged the peasant soldiers to do this type work, though. The extractor works very similar to the Martini, being very positive with 2 arms reaching up on either side of the rim.
BTW, the trigger on this rifle is a delight. VERY crisp with absolutely zero creep. I don't know if they were all this way as a design or just this specimen, but it's match grade.
................Buckshot
On to part II