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Shot a Fontainebleu I in 9.3X74R six weeks ago. A friend had been approached about importing them here, and this one was the first to arrive.

This is not the same as the other Chapuis. This rifle was a conventional single hook boxlock. It appeared pretty much as illustrated in the catalog in the link, but had a long top tang over the nose of the comb.

This rifle was really remarkably well finished for the price range. Lovely wood, single trigger, non-ejector. Petite. Can't remember for sure, but I think it was just under 6.75 lbs with 22" barrels.

We had a half box of factory Norma Oryx 286 grain, plus a half box of factory Hornady 286 grain. My friend loaded two Norma and fired both barrels at water jugs at 25 yards. As the gun opened, the spent case fell out of the right barrel, and a separated case head fell out of the left. Took a while to get the rest of the case out of the left barrel, but a tight brush finally turned the trick.

I then fired two of the Hornady rounds. Both extracted just fine. However, when I removed the fired case from the left barrel, the last half inch or so of the head end was clearly cock-eyed. Same with the right, although less so. After careful inspection, it was clear that both chambers were crooked. That was the end of the shooting.

This one obviously had a QC problem, which was surprising given the excellent quality otherwise. Disappointing, but hopefully this one was not representative.

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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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