Not really - quite a lot of Comblains had external, non-shrouded hammers.

Re your Comblain rifle, was the action originally from a military rifle or from a sporting or target/match rifle?

The action may to have come from a military rifle, probably from a Comblain Modele 1882 originally built for the Belgian Garde Civique (Militia) units, which is the most common form of this particular style of action. The Comblain Syndicate Serial Number below the "COMBLAIN  BREVETE" stamping on the right side of the action may confirm this, although this action form was also used in a few sporting  and target rifles produced by the Syndicate.
The presence of a second "Batch Serial Number" will usually indicate a military rifle production run, while individually produced sporting or target rifles usually carry no Batch Serial Number.
Providing the serial number(s) would help in identifying the source of the action.  Jonathan Kirton, Canada

Comblain Modele 1870 for the Belgian Garde Civique with phosphorous bronze action. This particular rifle was one of the annual "Prix du Gouvernement" prize rifles which were awarded to the high scoring member of the Garde while this rifle type was in service between 1870 and 1882. The bronze was sculpted in a style known as "rocaille", and all the bronze parts were then gilded. This particular rifle, Comblain Syndicate Serial Number 9926 B was completed during 1871.
Total production of rifles using this Comblain patent action was around 138,000, the majority being military rifles.
Jonathan Kirton, Canada

Photo 2

Was a rifle like this just a trophy?  Or did someone actually shoot it, perhaps in the next year's competition?  I should not think that a member of the Civil Guard would take it along on a drill or exercise.

Thank you very much, Jonathan. I've never seen such a embellished rifle.

Frank

To: oneatatime,
Thanks for the SSN & Batch Number - which confirm that the action came from a Belgian made Garde Civique Modele 1882 rifle. These were well made and strong actions, most of which were produced by Auguste Francotte of Liege.
You can find my study on the Comblain rifles which was published in the late, lamented "The Gun Report", issues:-
Vol. 50, No. 5 of October,    2004.
           No. 6 of November, 2004.
           No. 7 of December, 2004.
           No. 9 of February,   2005.
Used copies can probably be found on the internet.
Earlier versions of these articles were also published in the UK in
"The Journal of the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association",      
back issues of which are available, and can be ordered on the HBSA website.

Another action which, like the Comblain, is operated by inserting the thumb and pulling down is the Heeren. Only the Heeren pulls back instead of forward. This one is from the 1880's and is in 6.5x58R Sauer. A modern version of these actions is still being custom made in Europe. 
The shot with the scale shows how compact they are. That's a double set trigger, sort of. It's actually an extension of the hammer which cocks on opening but if pressed forward sets the front trigger.