WHAT is this "inline" mini caplock???

[rfd]

peering into the .212" bore i can't see any rifling. from breech end to muzzle the barrel measures 21-3/4". the only markings on the rifle that can be seen is a "404" stamped on the barrel undersides, next to the forestock. haven't attempted any disassembly yet.

[bubba.50]

has the classic look of a Flobert but, never seen one with a percussion action before. maybe someone recycled the original 22 into a muzzler?

[Buckshot Bill]

has the classic look of a Flobert but, never seen one with a percussion action before. maybe someone recycled the original 22 into a muzzler?

My thoughts exactly, some of those were smoothbore too so that may explain the lack of rifling

[StolzerandSons]

Looks like a classic Parlor Rifle to me. Parlor Rifles were typically small caliber and were used to shoot at indoor targets at Gentlemens Clubs. As mentioned above Flobert made quite a few Gallery Guns and Parlor rifles but they were all cartridge rifles. Many English, French and German companies produced parlor rifles both in the caplock period and well into the beginning of the cartridge era.

[JeffinNZ]

I agree with Bubba. Recycled .22RF.

[Earlwb]

They were pretty much calling all of the single shot gallery guns "Flobert" at the time. A number of different companies made them. But the European .22CB cap rounds are more weak than the American made .22 CB cap cartridges. So you cannot shoot American ammo in the European gallery guns. The more rich well to do people with large homes used to have social shooting events in their homes at the time. Thus they also call them parlor guns too. The gallery gun name tended to come about in the USA with the carnival shooting galleries that sprouted up all over in the late 1800's to 1900's. But here in the USA the gallery guns were special made .22 pump action rifles made to shoot the USA .22 CB cap rounds.

Yes your example looks to be where someone couldn't get the correct Euro .22 CB cap ammo anymore, so they converted it into an inline muzzle loader so that they could continue to use it. It is a pretty good idea as far as I am concerned. It probably fired the little .22 balls or .22 air gun pellets really well with just the percussion cap and no black powder. Thus like that the barrel wouldn't foul up quickly and one could probably shoot a hundred or so shots no problem.

I think as to value, it is hard to say. Years ago these guns weren't really considered guns and collectors weren't interested. Many were poorly made and most were used and worn out when imported into the USA. Now some people collected them, but they tended to be really cheap. I do not know about today though, maybe it has changed.

[JSnover]

Love it!
Looks like some sort of insert dovetailed into the hammer.
Also what looks like a 'modern' phillips head screw in the trigger guard. Probably a replacement for a lost original but it could mean someone was still shooting that rifle as late as the 1930s.

[pietro]

.

IMO, it's an 1880-1914 Belgian/Flobert pattern (made by several different makers) "Garden Gun", usually found in 9mm RF shot (smoothbore), and occasionally in 4.5mm & 5mm ("Parlor" gun or "Saloon" gun) bore sizes.

Quite possibly (as noted above) it's an old conversion of one of the smallbore smoothies from RF to percussion - maybe during WWI, when black powder & caps could be had, but not RF ammo.

Here's a Flobert-type reference website: http://www.littlegun.be/

If you pull the stock off, there might be some maker's mark/etc in the underside of the rear end of the barrel - but most guns of that type went unmarked, as they sold for around $3USD, just before the turn of the 20th Century (of course, about $50 in today's money ).





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[bedbugbilly]

Parlor Rifle

[Mk42gunner]

Looks like a classic Parlor Rifle to me. Parlor Rifles were typically small caliber and were used to shoot at indoor targets at Gentlemens Clubs. As mentioned above Flobert made quite a few Gallery Guns and Parlor rifles but they were all cartridge rifles. Many English, French and German companies produced parlor rifles both in the caplock period and well into the beginning of the cartridge era.

I think this is the correct answer. Looking at the pictures, there isn't any place for a missing breech block to be and I see no signs of a fixed firing pin or bar on the hammer.

I wonder if a cap alone is enough to get a round ball out the barrel and across a twenty foot room?

Robert

[John Taylor]

As near as I can tell there were three different models of Flobert. The first model did not have a breach block which is the one pictured, someone added a nipple. The second model had a breach block that was sort of a rolling block which was held closed by the hammer. The third model had a swing up breach block pictured by pietro. This one had two screws on the side of the barrel that the breach block pivoted on an may have been the strongest of the three. I have one of the third models in 32 rim fire and have worked on several that are 22.