Mystery Spoon Identity - Help?

[Mo_Gearhead]

I purchased this at an estate sale on Saturday. It’s a single-shot .22 long rifle, with octagon barrel ( a barrel length of 22/˝ inches), wood stock and a smooth, plain steel butt plate.



The trigger guard is sort of unusual and rather decorative for such a simple firearm.



It has a simple brass-blade front sight with rear “V” - very standard for these old guns. The large hammer tang is offset to the right to clear the sights.



I would term this action as a “semi-falling block” type. The sear is two-position. At its first notch, the hammer is cocked, a round knob on the right hand side of the receiver is pushed upwards with the thumb, which allows the round to be inserted, then the block is lowered and the hammer fully cocked (second sear notch). Once fired, the hammer is again cocked and the same movement (by pressing the knob even farther upwards) causes the lower half of the receiver to retract the spent case. There is no ejector, so I assume you either rotate the gun 90 degrees and let gravity do its work on the spent case - or reach in and remove it manually?



* It is missing its trigger spring so I will have to fabricate one before I can actually test fire it.

What has me puzzled is - it has no manufacturers mark, anywhere? It has proof marks and all the parts (the wood stock, barrel, receiver, trigger, hammer, etc.) are all stamped with what I assume is the lowest serial numbered spoon I ever have owned … #14.

The proof markings are shown here:



“R” - with a crown above.
“Y” -with a star above.
A bomb(?) with the letters “ELG” ( which I think may be a German proof mark? )

The underside of the octagon barrel is stamped - ”Belgium 886” and also has the letters “BK” or perhaps “BR“.

I have never encountered a spoon with no maker/manufacturers name.

Your comments/thoughts appreciated.

[sc_rufctr]

Can't help with the maker but that's a nice spoon. I bet "targa911S" (David) will know.

[KFC911]

Very cool! If Dave (Targa911s) doesn't see this and chime in, shoot him a PM. He sent me some info (re proof marks, etc.) which shed a lot of info on an older shotspoon I had a few years ago. Great find...

[id10t]

The Oval w/ Crown and ELG indicate Belgian...

[oldE]

Maybe a Flobert?

Flobert .22 parlor single shot rifle,Late 1800's : Antique Guns at GunBroker.com

Best
Les

[Mo_Gearhead]

Good eye Les!

After a little Googling I see I do have a Flobert from the 1800's. A so called "gallery gun" that shot a .22CB or .22BB Cap round. Much less smaller and less powerful that modern .22 ammo - that is good to know.

The falling-block breech is not very strong, so a modern .22 round might cause much mayhem/damage if fired in this rifle.

Just an interesting addition to my spoon collection.

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

[azasadny]

Beautiful spoon and some very clear pics! Thanks for sharing those!!

[targa911S]

see you guys got it all on your own! Les hit it on the head. Flobert.

[oldE]

Glad I could help!

id10t pointed the way with the information on one of the proof marks (Belgian), from there it was a quick Google search and I got lucky with a quick refining of the phrase words.

Truly a co-operative effort.

Thanks for posting the pics and the question. I had fun learning about the piece.

Best
Les

[fred cook]

Belgian Flobert parlor rifle. Used a cartridge that was basically a round lead BB in a case with primer charge only. I once had a similar pistol which used the face of the hammer as the breech block! Probably would be limited to short range cockroach shooting for safari purposes.