.............My first post . I've had one of these things for about 5 years now. I was the only bidder on it at Auction Arms, and also got a M1902 Rem RB 7x57 at the same time. Turns out the same guy was offering them. I'd just bid more or less for something to do and a couple days later had to come up with $650 in untraceable, un-noticed, slip it past the radar type dollars. 

Sold the RB as I already had one, and so far as the Comblain was concerned I'd never even heard of them before. Having had an 01 FFL from 1981 to 2000 (we moved), and according to my wife I was a member in good standing of the rifle a month club so it struck as odd that I hadn't. Especially since they were somewhat popular. It's a Brazilian contract and a carbine. After searching for all the info I could glom onto, and some articles sent to me by others I have a pretty good grasp of their history.

According to what I've found out, my carbine was one of the last batches that Brazil had ordered and that was for 3,000 carbines. It's chambered for the  11.4x42R carbine cartridge, and was made by Emil Nagant in Belgium and probably delivered to Brazil in the late 1880's of the first of the 1890's. 

One of the 1st things I found out was that the chamber had no neck:

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I found that rather odd, ya know?  . It has 4 lands and grooves with a 16" twist. The grooves at the breech are .465" and at the muzzle they're .452". The bore is a constant .433". 

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Not a very good photo of it, but all I have at the moment. It's a falling block type action, and a fascinating one at that. It reminds me of the old Zeinith TV's that touted the "Works in a Drawer", as you pull one screw and the whole innards, with the exception of the extractor comes out the bottom. The extractor has it's own screw to pivit on. 

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Here it is with it's insides, out. To operate it you hook your thumb through the front of the lever ahead of the trigger and push down and forward. The hammer automaticly cocks, and there is no safety. Another oddity is that the hammer is shrouded. Seems strange to have done that back when primers weren't always 100%. You had to operate the lever (triggerguard?) again to re-cock it.

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That rounded deal behind the breechblock is the hammer shroud. It's dovetailed into the rear of the breechblock. Other then the chamber having no neck, and the shrouded hammer the action is a pretty neat piece of engineering. The breechblock has no toggle link like a Sharps. It's pivited on the lever with a simple pin. The firing pin is seperate from the hammer and is retained by a screw so it's easily changed............ or lost?

The carbine is all matching, having it's serial number repeated on the barrel bands, and the last 2 digits (the serial number is 963) on the workings including the screwheads. As per usual with firearms made in that era, the workmanship is just an amazement to me. How they did it without even HSS is mind boggleing. There are no tool marks to be found and all the internal parts still retain a bright cobalt blue. There are a couple screws which pass through the works, and their heads are inlet flush. They are so well done all you can see is the slot. The seam around their heads is practicly invisible. 

I've only fired it maybe 50 times to date. The cartridge case is short but fat. About the closest I can get is with the Mag-Tech (CBC) 32 ga brass shotshells, suitably shortened. At first I used all manner of dies in attempting to mangle some cases enough to chamber. And I did fire some of those, but it was VERY ugly. As a testament to the Mag-Tech brass, they were mangled, fired and re-mangled 5 times and never lost a one!

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I finally broke down and made myself a set of dies and a shellholder. I made the dies out of a front axle strut from a '87 Chevy Celebrity. HA! Gotta have carbide to thread those puppies. At the time the brass was Berdan primed so they'd been converted to use the 209 shotshell primer. 

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In the left photo are 2 ready to fire. The address label paper is to take up a bit of windage in the chamber do they'll expand evenly. Usually by the 2nd firing the paper can come off. The bullet is the 292gr Lyman, as cast and hand lubed. In the right photo, on the left is a fired unsized case. On the right a sized case. 

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The above was the result of the only real range test I'd done since owning the thing, and this was maybe 3 years ago. Bullets undersized .005", unfired necked cases in a chamber with no neck and loads pulled outta my ...............nose. These were all 10 shot groups at 50 yards with the exeption of the Blue Dot as I used 3 of'em to get on paper. The sights are a little nub up front and a common 3 step and elevator job at the rear. The trigger is superb. Appears to like SR4759, eh? 

One of these days when I get a rountuit I need to bore a mould to fit this wild child 

Rick

I have a Comblain that looks almost indentical to the one in your photo (but mine is not in as good of condition) I got mine about 30 years ago. It is chambered for the 11.4x54 Montigny cartridge. Bore .437, groove .461, both constant, barrel is 23.3" long. I had a set of dies made in England back when I obtained the rifle. I make my cases from .378 or .460 Weatherby by putting a steel rim on the cases. I use .458 cast bullets and it shoots fair. But it is unusual. BTW mine is made in Belguim.
Hope this might be of some use.

.............Richard, what cartridge are your 2 Comblains chambered in? Yours are different models then mine. The top one looks like a Belgium model. My cartridge is the 42mm Brazilian carbine. Measured from the chamber cast it is:

Rim OD: .680/.682" 
Base: .584" 

Are those close to what you have, other then maybe length?

Thanks, Rick

I have seen a baby Comblain, much smaller action, as best I recall it was built into an English rook rifle.   Kinda cute.