Photo 4
Digest is actually an over/under chambered for 9mm/22, but it is not clear how one selected the relevant barrel. Other than it’s odd double barrel arrangement, it appears to exactly the same as my gun. Frankly, I have never seen or heard of another of these guns in any chambering, so if anyone has such a gun, please let me know, so that I can add to my meagre pool of knowledge.
The bolt is released by pressing the trigger forward, and the extractor fits - with difficulty - into a slot in the forward bolt extension. Overall, it is in excellent condition, and the case hardening is still superb. I refinished the stock when I first bought it and again it has stood up well to years of being shoved into odd corners of the cabinet.
Apart from the bolt actions, No.3s were made as break-open shotguns and even as doubles. I recall some years ago, a new over/under being available in this bore.
Photo 4 shows a Warnant Flobert in No.3. bore. This works on the same principle as the trap-door
Springfield, but without any
sophisticated locking device. Photo 5 shows the action open, but it is not quite as flimsy as it looks. Although the breechblock is just held in by two screws, when closed, it is protected
Photo 5
by the section at the rear, forming effectively a solid block, since the pressure is rearwards. Additionally, a protrusion below the hammer engages the breechblock before the hammer hits the firing pin, thus preventing the block from rising ,much in the same way as the hammer protrusion on a Remington rolling block prevents that block from rolling.
I have
no idea who - if anyone - now makes guns in this odd chambering, but there must be a fair number still use, because ammo is not hard to come by.
It is a pity in a way that the No.3 cartridge is still in production, and therefore not obsolete; it would be interesting to collect the various examples of these curios, but hardly worth cluttering up your Shotgun Certificate.
No sooner had I finished writing this article than a most detailed and erudite treatise was published in Classic Arms by Jan Paul Loeff on combination guns chambered for .22 and - you guessed it - 9mm Flobert! He describes in detail two guns, one an over under and the other a Warnant side by side chambered for .22 long and 9mm short. It uses a single trigger and hammer with a sliding bar to select the barrel to be fired. It would be a pain to try and own one in this country since it would need to be on Shotgun certificate and also need a variation to the Firearms certificate, even though both cartridges are pretty hard to come by. A fascinating article which adds greatly to my meagre knowledge of No. 3 bores.
20
Target Shooter
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