There are two books regarding MF shotguns exclusively--The Robust and The Ideal and neither discuss the Simplex .The reason you were the only bidder on the gun was because I wasn't aware of the listing.
Superficially it appears to have the same "break action" of the Ideal, but in reality it is different. To open the Simplex, the "stub' on what at appears to be on the trigger guard is pulled away from the action to open the action whereas on the Ideal, there is a trigger guard apart from the stub activated barrel release which must be squeezed towards the grip to open the action with its rising bite. While I've never seen one in hand, the single shot most likely doesn't have a rising bite and is far simpler, hence the name. While the photos show wear, I doubt if the wear was the result of much handling in the field as there wouldn't be the same amount of case coloring left on the action as appears in the photo. As has been noted by others with more knowledge than I have, MF could care less about marketing its guns outside of France and its territorial possessions and somehow that gun made it over here--possibly in a GI's duffle bag after WWII. Gil
PS: I missed Gene's description of the third MF book by Mournetas on the Simplex. Duly noted.
