Unusual .22 LR-St. Ettiene

[Katana]

I was over at a dealer yesterday when he pulled out an unusual .22 LR bolt action rifle. He said it was of Finnish make but closer examination revealed it to be manufactured by the St. Ettienne arsenal. Now the unusual part is that it has 3 barrels contained in a shroud, giving the impression of a 'bull barrel', with even 3 ejectors. On asking if each barrel could be fired individually or if all 3 barrels fired at the same time, he replied he was not in the know as he had just acquired it.

The following is inscribed on the action - " Buffalo - Mitralle cal 22lr Epreure arme Finie " and " Manufacture Francaise d'armes et cycles de St. Ettiene ". On the right of the action where the bolt lever rests is the word "Finie" with an arrow inscribed through it followed by the serial number and proof marks.

.22St.Ettiene 001 (Small).jpg

.22St.Ettiene 002 (Small).jpg

.22St.Ettiene 004 (Small).jpg

.22St.Ettiene 005 (Small).jpg

.22St.Ettiene 006 (Small).jpg

.22St.Ettiene 007 (Small).jpg

[hvj1]

Hello Katana,
Very interesting weapon, thanks for posting, incidentally, arms dealers around your neck of the woods seem to hold interesting weapons, wonder if any of them have a single six ruger, with 6 inches barrel (.22 LR/WMR convertible).
Regards

[Katana]

hvj1: Let me snoop around for the Ruger, the last I saw was a Webley and Scott .22 target model with a 4 inch barrel.

[Vikram]

Katana,

That is surely an unusual and most interesting rifle.Many thanks for posting with clear pictures. I wonder how the sequence of firing the chambers works.


Best-
Vikram

[Sakobav]

Wow Katana to my eyes this is looks like inspired by gattling so how does it fire simply pull the trigger three times ...one of the most unusual rifles I have seen for a while
Thanks

[Katana]

I tried finding out, but couldn't see clearly. I am presuming that it should be selective fire. I guess I'll see it properly when I visit the dealer next.

[hornet]

nice post.v v intersting indeed.once i remember seeing an unusual rev with eleven chambers over and under double barrell ;two firing pins ;means firing two .22 shots at the same time .interesting isnt it but at the same time i found it too heavy to carry it with twenty two .22bullets.i declined the offer not knowing i was missing a inique offer at areasonable price.it was about thirty yrs ago.since ihad a pb bore lic. iwent for a ,45 rev which i later found was not fit to carry .finally settled down on a .38 snubbie .

[farhan.lateefi]

this is an unusual rifle, i wonder how it works, can you pull the trigger thrice like 1 2 3.. if yes then it will be real nice thing to fire. nice find Katana!!


FL

[The Doc]

Definitely French .

épreuve - (sports) event, heat, (typography) proof
finie - Finish

Do the barrels revolve by any chance ? Any picture of the action from the firing pin side ?

best,
Rp.

[Katana]

No, it's not a Gattling gun clone! The barrels are fixed.

[The Doc]

I will wait eagerly for your next visit to the dealer, Katana . By the way how much is the asking price ?

best,
Rp.

[Katana]

Dunno, didn't ask him if he was even selling. I had gone over to pick up some S&B .30-06 ammo. He knows I like firearms and anything interesting that comes up he shows to me. Anyway, I'll find out.

[prashantsingh]

Never seen anything like that before . Unusual indeed.

[Bespoke]

Interesting.

The company manufactures both bicycles and arms in St Etienne. St Etienne was famous for its gun industry with names like Charlin,Darne etc. and one comes up with a lot of unusual and interesting designs from there.

http://manufrance.wordpress.com/1-manuf ... t-etienne/

[TwoRivers]

No sequential firing. All three at once. These multi-bore rimfire rifles were made for shooting large game birds, such as geese, bustard, and such, at longer ranges than a shotgun would allow. I have seen them with seven bores, built on rolling-block actions, French and Belgian made.