doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com any ideas?

The way I read the barrel rib on mine it has nothing to do with where the gun was made. It says the barrels are of "London Laminated Steel". The only thing on mine related to where it hails from is the Birmingham proofs. This of course does not say where it was made, only where it was proofed.
Lefever H grade barrels along with those of some other makers were said to be made of "London Twist". This I take not to mean they were fabricated in London but was meant as a description of the pattern. These barrels do not look anything like those London Twist barrels, these (both mine & the ones pictured) look like regular old Plain Twist or what is sometimes referred to as wire twist. They were of course not made of wire.

The gun in question has plain 'ol "Plain Twist"

ML Twist variants



Twist and Damascus Twist variants by Joseph Juleinond de Nessonvaux



"Best London Damascus Twist" is found on Baker A & B grades and Leaders, Lefever H grades, and L.C. Smith Maker Baker guns



and a very few P grade Parkers



Any pattern labeled as "London" is almost surely of Belgian origin. "London Damascus" was a 2 Iron crolle damascus offered on Ferdinand Drissen's 1897-1898 price sheet.

Its tough to tell, looks like LP and HB, but I can see the LLB and how it looks to be overstamped with an H

Possibly Heuse-Bovy of Nessonvaux made the tubes

So Hause you think just a poorly stamped HB? The Birmingham proofmaster had quite a wide girth, as did most proofmasters, so I'm confident that the Liege makers had the Liege proof facility to send their wares in the white to the Birmingham proof facility & from there I'm sure Clabrough, etc. had a relationship w/ the proof facility to acquire the price point platforms.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

style and engraving look to me like any number of hammer guns in that style with English makers names on them.

Not high quality guns but usable, i have a heavy barreled one by ebrall of shrewsbury which i shot all last year - had to butectomy it to get usable dimensions.

Per the Banc D'Epreuves Des Armes a Feu De Liege (Proof House for Firearms of Liege)
https://books.google.com/books?id=5fxGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA52&lpg
First Obligatory Proof Load for �Double-Barreled Breech-Loading Sporting Guns� - 12g breech plugged "rough forged" tubes
21 grams = 324 grains = 11.8 Drams powder and 32 grams = 1.12 oz. shot would/should have received the script EL



It is my opinion (which means little) that "rough forged tubes" for export were very lightly stamped to facilitate filing the mark during joining and finishing. It did occasionally make it through the process however; a Lefever push opener



Tube maker's marks seemed to have been much more deeply struck

"JDH' on another Lefever



and it was common for the U.S. makers to over-stamp the maker's mark

Smith with Armor Steel over LLH of Laurent Lochet-Habran



Smith with Crown over LLH & what is left of ?ACL Acier Cockerill Liege



AND there are a bunch of presumed importer marks which I have yet to ID; RIS & Co



SO the 'LP', 'WJ', and ? 'HB' could be a Belgian tube maker, Belgian exporter, English importer, whoever joined and finished the barrels, an English distributor or small dealer, etc.

Jules Pirard-Ancion de For�t.
Joseph Bawir de For�t.
Joseph Delcour de Fraipont.
Nicolas Nicolet-Delcour de Fraipont.
Jules Delheid de Nessonvaux.
Jean Delcour-Dupont de Nessonvaux.
Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse de Fraipont.
Gilles Delcour-Herket de Fraipont.
Bauduin Doyen de Fraipont.
No�l Remacle-Hardy de Nessonvaux.
Auguste Higny de Nessonvaux.
Oscar Lahaye de Fraipont.
Albert Taxhet-Lejeune de For�t.
Gaspar Lejeune de For�t.
J. Heuse-Lemoine de Nessonvaux.
Henri Lochet de Chaudfontaine.
Edmont Mairlot de Nessonvaux.
Lambert Maquinay de Nessonvaux.
Jean Lahaye-Marbaise de Fraipont.
Fran�ois Heuse-M�an de Fraipont.
Louis-Joseph Meurice de For�t.
Servais Monthulet de Nessonvaux.
Joseph et Jacques Moray de Nessonvaux.
Alexis Noirfalise de Fraipont.
Henry Regnier de Nessonvaux.
�tienne Jo. Richelle de Nessonvaux.
Henri Heuse-Riga de Nessonvaux.
Henri Heuse-Saive de Fraipont.
�mile Tomsin de Nessonvaux.
Joseph Vandalem de Chaudfontaine.
Mathieu Waauve de For�t.
Walth�re Baltus-Wilmot de For�t.

1907 Belgian tube mechanic list.

I believe it went one step further and using an exception in the Beglian proof law, the tubes were not stamped when the components of the contraption were cobbled together.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

And even more folks at the bottom here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17yCstxftvWXpFdSru4JKbRIE1-Q8OqXgJs66tEXntqw/edit

And just a few of the yet to be ID'd presumed U.S. importer's marks:
W & R
RIS & Co.
O. and C.& J.
TD
B.J.W.&Co. (possibly Mercer, PA) has been identified on Belgian sourced but English finished and marketed non-Hunter Arms tradename guns
https://books.google.com/books?id=SXI-AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA6-PA65&lpg

WANTED-Traveling salesmen visiting stove and tinware, Hardware house furnishing or plumbing and gas fitting trade, either retaihr jobbing, will learn of something of interest by addressing B.J.W. & Co Lock Box 47, Mercer, Pa.

Hardware, July 10th, 1895 from above.

Anyone reside close to Mercer, Pa? I bet they have an archives repository there?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse