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Manufacture Francaise de Armes et Cycles de Saint Ettienne, Saint Ettienne, France. Manufrance was the trade name of Manufacture Francaise d'Armes et Cycles de St.Etienne, a French company which was situated in the manufacturing town of St. Etienne since 1888. The history of this Company goes a long way back and its first activities within our time frame appear to have been the production of pinfire revolvers of the cheaper type. The first French mail order company, it mainly specialised in shotguns (Robust, Falcor, Ideal, Simplex) and bicycles (hirondelle); however, they covered other products, ranging from fishing rods to household items, such as wall clocks. Most of the products sold by Manufrance were made by third party manufacturers, then labeled and retailed by Manufrance. This is a single barrel pistol with a hinge frame, standing breech. The centre fire cartridges are set off by an external hammer. This is a development of the single barrel pin fire pistol that was manufactured in large quantities. The task of tracing these weapos are very difficult. Many of them are made by ‘the trade’ and was sold through gunsmiths and mail-order houses and thus carries no identification marks. It is classified as an antique in the USA. (Ref. ‘Pistols and revolvers’ by JE Smith p94, )

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