What kind of gun is this?

Question

I have a gun with very little marking on it, it says in very small letters on the bottom of barral "FLOBER" and a stamp of a lion and a box on top of barral, gun looks to be a 22 cal, Hex barral, looks like a 1850's dueling pistal or target gun, fancy engraving in wood with silver but on bottom of handle, looks to take rim fire ammo, barral meassures 8-3/4", pistal is 15" from tip to but. If you have any info on what kind of gun or value I would be much appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

FLOBERT is a rimfire 'cap' ammunition, sometimes in .22 and also in 9mm. It can also be called a 'bb caps' or 'cb caps' in the UK. Not exactly a cap gun, they could shoot a small projectile but are not very powerful. What you have is likely a late 1800s European 'garden gun' or 'parlor gun'.

Hard to price these with out pics and more info, they range from a hundred or so into the thousands, depending on maker, quality, age, interest, etc.

Answer 2

This sounds exactly like one I looked at locally about 7 years ago. It had Cherry wood, engraved silver furniture, and in about 98% ccondition. Even had a partial tin of the original Flobert cartridges. I could not talk the woman into selling it to me for $400.00. I did as much study on it as I could. It appears these guns( originally Flobert's patent) were also made by any number of makers. Some very cheaply made almost derringer like and up to the fancy " Parlor Pistols"

This woman is long gone now and don't know where the pistol went. There was no maker name visible on the one she had but she did not want me to disassemble it to check for a maker under the barrel. Her husband was told, in the early 1960's, that the gun was worth the price of a college education.

JD is way ahead of me on this so I would get an appraisal. You can still get Flobert cartridges but I am sure they would be expensive. The nicer parlor pistols seem to be so nice because it is unlikely they would have been used outside. Maybe after dinner, the men would have their cigars and brandy in the parlor and target practice. They were used in this way probably from the 1860's to 1915 era. Good luck on the value. In the Sherlock Holmes books, his land lady was alwasy after him for shooting at targets with his parlor pistol.in his apartment

Answer 3

Without a photograph at the very least it would be virtually impossible to give you an accurate value. As a Firearms Appraiser, I can give you the following information on your pistol...

In all likelihood, The writing on your pistol is actually "FLOBERT" and not "Flober". Your gun is an antique single shot pistol designed by Louis Nicholas Auguste Flobert, a well known French Gunsmith who designed the "Flobert" action in the late 1840's. The action design has a Breech Block attached to the pistol in the rear of the barrel, which swings up to open the chamber (To load or unload a cartridge). This Breech design was copied by the British, Germans,the U.S, and in Belgium, between 1850-1932 respectively. They were hand made and produced in 22LR caliber, 32 Short Rim Fire caliber,9MM Short & 9MM Long caliber.
They were designed to fire bird shot or single round lead ball ammunition. These are a great find and have high collector's value depending on overall condition. The markings you describe help authenticate the weapon but little else without being able to see it up close visually. This is without doubt a gun worth having appraised professionally and would be worth the money invested, regardless of condition. I wish I could be of further help, but your information and description is "limited" at best. I can only give you the information listed here. Do yourself a great favor and investigate this further. You will be pleased with the results, you own a piece of history....

Answer 4

Winchester model 94, probably .30-30 or .32 special. Nice furniture! I'm jealous of the scope setup - it's an old Redfield FrontIER 2x scope with a 3/4" tube. The mount replaces the rear sight. When you adjust the scope, be careful, I think each line is an inch at 100 yards.

Answer 5

I can't answer your question on what kind of gun it is but I do want to warn you NOT to use modern .22 ammo in it even if it will fit in the chamber. Guns made in the 1850s were made to shoot black powder cartridges. Modern smokeless cartridges could severly damage your gun and possibly you as well.

Answer 6

Take it to an antique dealer and they may be able to tell you. I would not attempt to fire the gun with modern ammo.It could be very dangerous.

Answer 7

It's auctually probably a custom or one of a kind! Flober's probably the cunsmith who made it!
(unique guns were much more common in the 19th century)

Answer 8

gotta pic?