Warnant Flobert Gallery Rifle
J. Warnant Frères · Rifle · Discontinued · 1880
Also known as: Warnant-Flobert Rifle, Flobert Gallery Rifle, Flobert Parlor Rifle, Warnant Saloon Rifle
Overview
The Warnant Flobert Gallery Rifle is a single-shot rimfire parlor and gallery rifle built around the low-powered 6mm Flobert cartridge, using the Warnant action patented by the Belgian gunmakers J. Warnant Frères of Liège. Its defining feature is a vertically swinging U-shaped breech block with a separate flip-over firing pin that both locks the action closed and drives a sliding extractor as the breech is opened. Chambered for the mild, near-silent Flobert bulleted-breech-cap ammunition, the rifle was quiet and gentle enough to be fired indoors in shooting galleries and parlors. Largely unmarked and built of soft, inexpensive steel, Warnant-Flobert rifles were mass-produced in Belgium and exported by the ton to the United States between about 1885 and 1910 as cheap boys' and gallery rifles.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 2000 g (70.5 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1015 mm (39.96") |
| Barrel Length | 610 mm (24.02") |
| Action Type | Falling Block |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Muzzle Velocity | 213 m/s (699 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 27 J (20 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 15 m (16 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Rifled |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Walnut |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .22 BB Cap (6mm Flobert) · primary — also known as .22 BB Cap, 6mm Flobert, .22 CB Cap, Flobert
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Single-Shot
- Safety mechanisms: Half-Cock Hammer Notch
- Features: Warnant Vertically Swinging Breech Block, Separate Flip-Over Firing Pin That Locks The Action, Sliding Extractor Operated On Opening, Exposed Spur Hammer, Long Round Or Octagonal Target Barrel, One-Piece Walnut Stock
Production
Production years: c. 1870-1920
Produced in large but unrecorded numbers by J. Warnant Frères and many Liège makers copying the Warnant breech; exported to the US by the ton c. 1885-1910.
Origin
Country of origin: Belgium
Designer: J. Warnant Frères
Discontinued: 1920
Notes
The Warnant is one of three classic Flobert breech patterns and is the type most commonly found in the United States. Barrels were made in round or octagonal profiles and were either rifled or smoothbore; also chambered in 9mm Flobert and .22 Short. Considered antiques today, and unsafe with modern ammunition due to soft steel and corrosive-primer erosion.
Background
Louis-Nicolas Flobert's 1845 bulleted breech cap created the first self-contained metallic rimfire and, with it, a whole class of quiet indoor guns. The Warnant brothers of Liège gave the Flobert rifle one of its most successful actions, a simple swinging breech block cheap enough to arm every parlor and shooting gallery in Europe and America. Sold for as little as $2.50 around 1920, these rifles taught generations of youngsters to shoot before smokeless small-bore rifles displaced them.