FR Boeckle single shot, 10.3mm, martini action

[Mario Giberti]

Anyone every seen one of these? Being sold by an estate. They were bought via phone and internet at a German auction, and then imported into the U S. , martini action, Fr Boeckle single shot 10.3mm. There are two for sale. Going to look at them Tuesday. These are the only photos I could get.

I could not find anything via internet search under Boeckle. Bet I could if I used a German search engine! Wish I spoke German!

[Axel E]

The name of the town? Below "Fr.Boeckle"? Both the rifles and the name look very "Swiss" to me. At least, there is no gunmaker "Fr.Boeckle" listed in Germany.

[mike ford]

Also, the caliber( if 10.3x60R) is typically Swiss, which lends additional credence to Axel's opinion

[Mario Giberti]

Axel and Mike
Thanks for the information. So what you see is what I know of the guns. No idea of bore condtion, or mechanical condition. This collectors other guns are immaculate, except for the walther tybe b 30 06 rifle with bad pitted scope glass. Need to figure out if the actions are tight, mechanics are good, bore is good. They are asking about $1000 each. Any idea how rare a gun like this is? I wrote a swiss gundealer I imported a p49 sig from, to see if he has heard of this name or gun.

[Mario Giberti]

I got a little more info from a Swiss dealer, and wikipedia.

Franz Boeckle was a gunsmith in Glarus (1858-1937). He was the 1899 rifle world champion
(all three positions).

(Glarus is in eastern Switzerland)


And then per Wikipedia
Franz Böckli (March 15, 1858 – February 14, 1937) was a Swiss sports shooter who competed in the early 20th century. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and (won) a gold medal with the Military rifle team for Switzerland.

Still trying to find a value.



The martini action was sold to gunsmiths for builds. They made guns in .22 to .5 as this rolling block type action is very strong.

[Mario Giberti]

Got some more info on swissrifles. Hope it is appropriate to post this here. I know the Germans and Swiss are cousins, right?


Your rifles appear to be fine examples of one of the large number of variations of the Peabody/Martini action that enjoyed great popularity in Europe as both a military and sporting target/stalking rifle. Its more of a "wedged hinge-block" than a "falling block", or a "rolling-block"; and that whole type are known generically as "martinis".
The actions vary a lot with differing cross-pin and screw arrangements, the diameters of the main thrust-bearing crosspin. Some have small side levers that are safeties or cocking indicators. Though they were made to accommodate cartridges from the 22 rf through large Harpoon-guns for whaling most are best suited for low pressure loads. Some are moderately stronger than others depending on arrangements of thrust bearing surfaces and cross pin strengths and size and the specialized single-shot gunsmiths here in the US rate them as "intermediate-strength" actions with a few exception. Yours appear to be pretty much the classic sporting/target type martini. As you say the actions were produced in large numbers by several industrial scale gun manufacturers and furnished to regional gun builders who built schuetzen/stutzen and sporting rifles with them.
The recently acquired rifle I have been posting about looks very similar and is probably from the same low pressure black-powder cartridge era. I shoot a 22 rimfire German martini schuetzen in competition here in the US. it was originally a 8.15x46R rifle. however in the post WW I era when Match grade 22 rimfire ammunition became available it became popular in some of the more conservative parts of Germany to convert the older schuetzens to the .22 cartridge by relining the barrels I also have one of the much later post-1900 Hammerelli stutzen/free-rifle martini that is chambered for the late high velocity K-31 rifle cartridge. I believe it dates from the 1920s. From what I have learned it is one of the few martini-type actions suitable for cartridges of that pressure level. In the post WW I years he US government purchased some of these same Hammerelli high power actions and the US arsenal at Springfield MA and rebarreled them in the US .30-06 cartridge for use by the US military in international match competition.