Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman, and many others, are in this book “Liège Gunmakers through their Work. 1800 - 1950”.
For more detail see: LIEGE GUNMAKERS
MANUFACTURE LIEGEOISE D’ARMES À FEU.
Here is a shotgun juxtaposed already hammerless but still with an opening key type Lefaucheux. A product of the Manufacture Liégeoise d’Armes à feu (active between 1866 and 1929).
Beautiful pistol butts
(original ?), Damascus barrels (?). We will see
later that this rifle is “problem(s)”.
The
markings
ELG on
star in oval: accepted, between 1846 and 1893;
Peron:
inspected at the proofhouse of Liège;
X under
star: countermark of a controller, in use since 1877;
EL:
provisional proof, in use since 1852;
16 C in
vertical diamond: there is a problem, since this punch was in use between 1898
and 1924; however, the acceptance punch (ELG on star in oval) was only used
until 1893...
16.2 not
for bullet on left barrel: this means that the barrel was choked (marking used
between 1878 and 1897). BUT a 16 calibre is “normally” 17.4 mm...
16.6 on
the right barrel: see above; for info: the (very unusual) calibre 18 is 16.5 mm.
JD: These initials are usually attributed to
Jean Duchateau,
but I have serious doubts because he was a small arms manufacturer, who probably
never worked with the MLAF;
ML
crowned on star in oval:
acronym of the
Manufacture Liégeoise
d’Armes à feu.
It should
be noted that this rifle differs from those already present on the site by
1°
the opening key Lefaucheux
2°
the fact that the hammers are not visible.
It is true that the
MLAF
has filed two patents (in 1882 and 1884) for hammer-free
rifles, but unfortunately they have nothing to do with the machine in question.
But it’s true that I didn’t go to the Liege Armoury School...
GP with the help of HPH and MAX.
