doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Please tell me about this Bayard Hammer 16

Yeah, the 10 bore was either a Bayard or a Pieper and we had to have the lumps brazed becuase it was used as a market gun. Then after some filing, using some RSTs and a few Remington Express Extra Long Range Kleanbores in the mix, we had a sack full of ducks.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

The minimum wall thicknesses on this one are 0.038". There is 0.110" minimum wall thickness at the end of the chambers. I reload 16 gauge low pressure shells (8,000 psi or less).

j0e when I first saw it I dismissed it and took it down to a local gunshop to sell - about a year and a half ago. They were supposed to sell it and several others on Gunbroker but never got around to listing the cheap guns - just the high dollar ones. I guess they were more trouble to them than they were worth but that was the deal we made and they just cherry picked. Anyway I saw it sitting on the rack a couple of days ago and picked it up and I really liked it. It had gone from ugly clunker to interesting old hammer gun in 16 gauge - but like you said beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It is off face, loose, and has a loose rib and I don't know what I am going to do with it.


Best,

Mike

These are machine made guns with some interchangeable parts (nealy a million were turned out by WWI), so I would sell it to someone who has one in better shape.
PS. Just in case you didn't know the name Bayard comes from Rue des Bayards in the city of Liege where final fit and finish of these guns took place. It was made in Nessonvaux to the east of Liege in the valley of the River Vesdre.

Further looking after all the pics were downloaded (I'm on dial-up) showed these bbls to have a later construction method than that covered by the 1881 patent. These bbls were possibly threaded into the block from the front & go only part way through the mono-block, at least that is the way one I have is made. It however does not have the Bayard name only Pieper & is marked "Modified Diana" on the bbls.

Thanks Jager and no I didn't know how they were named. 2-piper thanks for taking time to download and look at the pictures.

I don't see any indication of model. Besides the serial number the bottom rib has "768" stamped on it. The barrel flats are marked "H" with an arrow pointing down just below it and some sort of asterisk just above it. This also appears on each tube. I assume these marks are part of the proofmarks. The right tube has "172" marked on it and the left "170". All of the marks are covered by the firearms. There is an "o" with and asterisk over it on the barrel flats. The left barrel is marked "choke" on the bottom of the tube.

Thanks again.

Best,

Mike

From the proofs it was built sometime between 1910 and 1924. I do not see a smokeless proof. This was made when Nicolas Pieper was running the company. All Pieper barrels were being brazed at about this time.


"Compressed Steel" was part of a trademark for several different barrel makers. Usually it was accompanied with some other markings. It sounds like a marketing term on this gun. Compression of the molten steel was a technique that Whitworth had adopted. I recently acquired an 1884 US Congressional Committee report with a description of the Whitworth barrel works that I will be posting soon.

Bayard was a Pieper trademark. The better grade during this period usually made some reference to the Diana, as it had won some prizes in France for design. They also had some rudimentary engraving at least. These images from the Jury Report that won the Grand Prix for Pieper.







This is from the 1938 Beretta catalog. Thought Miller would like these images.


This is a project that is underway. No, I am doing the metal work.


Pete

Wow - thanks Pete.

That monoblock system is something. How did you get the barrel to unscrew?

Mine has a single underbite with a rib extension. The rib extension is like the Parker Brothers in that nothing clamps it.

Best,

Mike

Mike,

1st that is not a Pieper. The original barrels were cut off to create a monobloc.

I am sorry. You asked about a model number didn't you. It is hard to be precise with Pieper because they changed model numbers every time the wind changed. I would think from the 1910 catalog it resembles a 4xx series. There is no way to more precisely date this gun unfortunately.

Pete

Hi Pete and thank you again. The 1910 to 1924 was close enough for me. I had assumed it was made in the late 1800s.

I wonder if there was a "766" model. That number appears on both the watertable and the bottome rib.

Best,

Mike

Could that be the first factory sleeved barrel ?