The wife of my old hunting buddy who is now in the happy hunting ground has tasked me with selling a combo 9mm shotgun with a 5mm rimfire rifled barrel. It is not one on my friends guns, but one she inhereted from a friend. The ATF Form 6 (Import Application) list it as a Folbert 9mm double barrel shotgun with a serial # of 47 104 Mars. I believe the clerk who filled out the form got things a bit confused, as the marking on the top rib is "MARS" and the bore is for the 9mm Folbert shot cartridge, and the rifle barrel will accept the little 5mm european extra short rimfire cartridges as well as .22 Shorts. This is a weird looking duck of a thing, it is mounted on a typical rifle stock, the action is opened by depressing a plunger located on the left side above the trigger area, and breaks open like a typical double. It has an exposed hammer that the firing pin can be shifted left or right to select the barrel to be fired. I have pictures if anyone has any idea what it is and needs to see them for further verification.

All help will be greatly appreciated.....

Jim Berry

Free,

Should read FLOBERT vice FOLBERT.

Flobert's were/are 4, 5, 6, & 9mm cap & rimfire chambered European version of US "Gallery Guns".

Do a Google search on Flobert and have at it.....

Thanks Gerry, I did the Google thing and could find no reference to a combination SxS Mars.

Jim

With a Flobert cartridge it is probably French or Belgian made. The 9mm is probably good for game up to and including rats.

I don't have any information on the MARS marking but in France many gunmakers had "Manufacture d'Armes......" to start followed by the name of the city where they had their factory or shop. RS was what was normally found on the gunmakers from Rennes (a city in Brittany) so it could be a Manufacture d'Armes de Rennes. But this is pure guessing on my part.

You need to take the barrels off an look for proof marks and maker's trade marks. These guns were used for a long time. They were also known as parlour guns, because they used them indoors shooting targets for recreation. There were a number of gentleman's pistols chambered for these rounds.

If you have pictures, post them. Some one will be able to help.