doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Just when you think .........

......... you've seen it all, regarding sleeving, here's a Pieper sleeved on both ends, and in reverse of how I might normally think of it being done.

Fluid steel breeches and muzzles, with damascus tubes in between!

http://www.hallowellco.com/pieper%20side-cocking%20toplever.html

SRH

>>Le Rationnel<< Modèle 5000??


https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=604663&Searchpage=1&Main=47685&Words=+Mod%C3%A8le&Search=true#Post604663

Maybe steel @ the muzzle to accommodate chokes??

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

If we reserve the term “sleeved” for the replacement of defective barrels, the beautiful gun you show here is not, in my view, “sleeved” but a monobloc built as such as an original.

If you want to see a really unusual sleeving job, have a look at Holts current Sealed Bids catalogue at the Greener BLE that has been “bat sleeved”. Who did them like that? And Why??

It seems very strange, but I almost feel like it was built that way originally as well. I’m not sure what the advantage would be of such a barrel design, but it is pretty neat!

My opinion, and it's only that, is that since Pieper's patent papers are included in the photos of this gun (scroll to the bottom), Pieper built this gun as a "showcase" platform for what could be done. Either that, or an eccentric client specifically wanted a gun built this way to be different.

I agree, Parabola. My usage of the term sleeving, was perhaps improper.

I actually think it was typical for >>Le Rationnel<<??? I believe there are other such examples floating around.


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I have seen the muzzle figure 8 bridge in another Pieper. The work was so fine most gunsmiths who saw it declared it an engraving embellishment. In that particular gun the monobloc incorporated the rear rib and barrel hook into one unitary piece.

Pieper was a pioneer in barrel construction. He made monobloc barrels where the tubes are fitted into the monobloc from the front, he also made monobloc barrels where the barrels are inserted from the breech end and are located by a step on the tubes. He also pioneered the true demibloc system with vertical dovetailed joints between the barrels, a feature borrowed by the BSA and model 21.

The combination of damascus tubes and steel monobloc is also a known Pieper feature.

This is not a sleeving repair, it is a manufacturing method.

For a few years in the first decade of the 20th Century the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. made both hammer and hammerless doubles with Twist or Damascus tubes screwed into a steel mono-bloc.

Thanks for posting the link Stan. Hollowell does a great job with images and I took the liberty of enhancing 3.
It is a 1881 Patent Pieper "Original Diana" barrel



This tiny ad from Forest & Stream in 1882 indicates that the tubes were inserted into the monobloc from the rear. The "Modified Diana" tubes were screwed in from the front and did not have the step.



I have probably not been paying attention, but have not seen the muzzle steel segment before. The damascus pattern is a very nice 4 Iron "Turkish"



Interesting stuff on the flats. The gun was proved with "Schultze" which, like "E.C." was a 42 gr = 3 Dr. Eq. powder. The Belgian proof house started marking the powder (also using Mullerite) after 1891. The load was often marked 1897-1903 and most of the guns so marked used "E.C. No. 3", so I suspect the gun dates to pre-1897.
No idea who 'HB' was unless the barrel joiner/finisher.
The crowned "JL' is interesting. Pieper of course had his own tube production, but likely sourced from other Liege makers. 'JL' was probably Jean Lejeune of Nessonvaux.

Stan

I have a Pieper sidelock with barrels like that. The stock is a mess but I love the barrels.