doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Old Percussion SxS Shotgun--Where and When Made?

Most muzzle loaders were cylinder bored thus not apt to find the
NON POUR BALLE stamp regardless of when made. Firing ball was a common practise & the NON POUR BALLE mark came in practise as choke boring became common in breech loaders. With a muzzle loader if the ball could be loaded through the muzzle it could be fired, thus little need for the mark on a ML'er. A solid ball could be fired safely through a choked breech loader if a size of ball was selected which would pass through the choke but a bore size ball was apt to "Lift the Choke".

Glad you enjoyed your visits. Hope you had a chance to visit Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement while y0u were here.

My wife and I did a 14-day coach tour of the British Isles and Ireland in May 24 - June 7 that we really enjoyed. Hope to get back again someday.

Yes, did Jamestown too. Soon after visiting there I was walking around the fields near home and came across a James I silver sixpence dated 1609. It is in good condition to say that it had remained buried in the soil and ploughed over many times for four hundred years. If I ever get back to Jamestown I will see if they want it for their museum there as it is contemporary even if not found on site.

I hope that you enjoyed England and the rest of Britain as much as I enjoyed the trip to the U.S.A. I recall being in Ballater, Scotland which is close to the Queen's house at Balmoral. She was doing a walkabout to re-open a bridge there when a coach load of American tourists rolled up by chance. I think it made their entire trip as it was such an impromptu moment. It's good to travel and experience other places. Lagopus.....

The Belgians produced these muzzle loaders for the "Africa trade" with their colony in the congo. They also sold quit a few as trade items in South America.

The photo is circa 1936....

Pete

The side plates on those later guns are a different design than on my gun.

Did a little more research on line, and I think the initials VC followed by a serial number on great granddad's gun (see above) indicates his Belgium gun was made by Victor Collette. The following photo of a SxS hammer gun with a similar VC and number was found on: http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20c/a%20colette%20gb.htm



According to the web site the "mark V. COLETTE BREVETE, it acts of Victor COLETTE manufacturer of weapons quay Saint L�onard, 60 in LIEGE which was registered with the proofhouse of Li�ge of 1836 to 1909."

According to this list of proof marks, starting in 1893, the ring containing E over LG and a star had a crown on top of the ring. So, based on this information I think that great granddad's gun was likely made prior to 1909 and possibly prior to 1893.
http://shotguns.se/html/belgium.html

Not relevant to your gun, but this ad was in the 1959 American Rifleman and Golden States Arms was still offering percussion MLs