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
Poacher's rifle
A
“amusing” handcrafted
pinfire
rifle, almost certainly poacher’s, disassembled in four parts, calibre 20
pinfire.
There are
no punches or markings, which is perfectly normal for a weapon of this type.
The
author of this vistemboire obviously reused old parts, namely the stock and the
part containing the rear plate (probably originally percussion but now with a
dog for spindle cartridge) and its bridge, obviously coming from a weapon with a
strap. It must be remembered that at the time, it was not the consumer society:
nothing was thrown away, and everything that could still be used was taken back.
As for
the two-part gun (with its system familiar to firefighters) and its primitive
method of fixing, it is beautiful (?) home-made. Especially not to use, even if
the gun seems thick!
If that
gun could speak....
GP
