doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian Hardware Store Special- 12ga 32" BLE

I picked up a Belgian 1930 vintage 32" ejector 12ga. Barrels seem to measure full and cylinder, which seems to match the metric dimension markings. Barrels, ribs and ejectors seem to be in nice condition.

It is marked Raxa Model on the top rib and Made Expressly for Rolfs Inc. on barrel. That seems to mean nothing as far as I can tell.

What think ye about the barrel and water table marks? Manufactured by?











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Glof'
I think the cursive looking i on bbl flats is for around 1929 or '30.
franc

Choke all depends on what the bore size is now. 18.2 would be .716 and 18.0 would be .708.

Good luck with it, looks like a nice shooter.

PeteM's list of maker's marks does not have a Crown over LJ (?). He lists Baltus-Wilmonte for 'BW'
You could chalk or wax pen the marks to be sure.
Interestingly, marks under a 5 point crown are usually French, though obviously the other marks are Belgian. I checked the LittleGun site under both French and Belgian makers and didn't find any matches.
You might spend some time looking around the links here
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=295608

Drew,
Thx for the reply. I had looked at PeteM's listing and have searched quite a bit elsewhere. I think that the "i" clearly is a 1930 build date. Any idea what the q with asterisk above it means just below the "i"?

I thought that the BW was probably an inspection stamp, possibly someone's initials, but that LJ with crown was mysterious.

I will chalk the marks and repost a photo. Will also look at the links you suggest.

The spangled small letters are inspector's marks.
I believe the 'BW' is likely the barrel maker's mark.

Walth�re Baltus-Wilmotte of For�t was a member of Syndicat des Fabricants de Canons de Fusil de la Vesdre in 1907, but I don't know if his concern survived the Great War.

The choke combination of cyl/full isn't common in guns meant for the American market but is pretty common in guns made in Europe for export to "the colonies" in Africa and Asia. An OK pairing for upland and rough shooting and allows the "ball and shot" combination for big game and "emergencies" that required a big ball.

A 12 guage soft lead ball at close range is pretty devastating; the one I used in my great grandfather's Rem 1889 on a boar was spectacularly destructive.

These sites will be fun for you to travel

http://www.shotguns.se/html/belgium.html

http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html

Mike

I believe the 18.0 & 18.2 marks are what the bore diameters were at provisional proof. Apparently the left bore was enlarged by .1mm (.004") to 18.1 prior to definitive proof. The word choke on both barrels should indicate they had at least .2mm (.008") of choke each. I forget the cutoff date now but earlier Belgian guns were marked with both bore & choke diameters, but later ones carried only the bore dia & the word choke if it had at least .2mm of choke. none of the dimensions would indicate a full choke, only the word choke which does not denote the actual amount of choke.

As close as I can measure the bore with my Skeets gauge, it looks like both barrels are the same at 0.718" or 18.24mm.

LH choke is .036" (.91mm) and RH is .005" (.13mm)

I'm pretty sure that they will both bust sporting clays.... I'll find out soon.