doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dating early 20th Century French Shotguns

I'll add a couple of observations to Tom's commentary above:

-- "Acier Martele Extra" on the action = Extra hammered steel (on the action). All the gun makers and barrel makers seemed to have their favorite descriptions of steel. I haven't seen this one before but so far can't associate it with any particular gun maker.


-- "Acier Spécial" on the barrel flats = Special steel; Never seen the motif and it does not look French.


-- "Acier JOMPc" on the barrels = who knows (possibly JOMPxxx & Cie?) but this is a world record for three different steels advertised on the gun. And this gun lacks the usual lower oval of advertising ("Non pour Balle" or something else).


"prouvé poudre pyroxyleé" - presumably "proofed for smokeless powder" but I believe the French term is actually "poinçons d'épreuve" - put perhaps without the poinçons (stamps) - "prouvé" (past tense of prouvér - to prove) can be used (though I have never seen this stamp on a Saint-Étienne gun).


-- "Choke Rectifie Fanget & Cie"?): Chokes bored by Fanget - well-known barrel maker in Saint-Étienne. See below post from a different gun with that stamping:



-- "Helice Depose der Iriele" or "Helice Iriele per Depose?": The word "Helice" was never actually patented by Verney Carron so many firms used the word. Dépose of course means "registered." "DER IRIELE" is beyond my ken. Why a German preposition on a French gun; "Iriele " isn't a word (might it be an abbreviation of some sort?).


-- The gun's serial number is 679. This maker did not produce a lot of guns apparently.


-- Traditional French stock with half pistol grip and sling rings.

There is a certain crudeness about the engravings and stampings.

Ron - look at the bottom plate of the gun just in front of the trigger guard. Many French guns had the retailer's name stamped there.