laststandonzombieisland

With my recent acquisition of a Francotte-style rifle (my poor beat down Nepalese 1878) I have spent some time researching other Francotte firearms. One of which is among the oddest ducks I have ever seen:

The Model 1910 La Francotte-Automatique carabine

This Edwardian era little 6mm centerfire had an 8-shot detachable magazine but still used a modified Martini short-throw lever action, just like the old-school Francottes of the 19th Century.

However, once you loaded the first round into the chamber via the lever, each reload came semi-auto from the box mag. You could also lock out the self-loading feature and cycle the weapon manually via the more traditional lever.

The Liege, Belgium-made gun weighed in at 4.5-pounds flat, was 37-inches long overall, and cost 150 francs in pre-WWI France.

Further, it was a take-down design, meaning it could be easily broken down into two pieces each about 17-20 inches long for easy carry. It was marketed as a light but effective small game and target rifle to the modern velocipedestrienne of the day in the same vein as the Marlin Bicycle rifle.

They are pretty rare as few were made.

I found one that was valued at a Rock Island Auction (where many of these images come courtesy from) a while back at $1500-$2500.