jaguarxk120
New member
There is a whole lot of single shot shotguns that were made with castiron recievers. Chances are up to the time H&R came out with the new Handi rifle.
Belgium rifle
- Thread starter albean
- Start date
The use of cast iron in many Spanish guns led, interestingly, to a total and complete misunderstanding of the term "pot metal". In every French and Spanish home a place of honor on the stove was given to the cookpot, into which went about everything in the kitchen except the cat. Most of the family's meals came from that cookpot ("marmite" in French, "marmita" in Spanish). Since no great strength was required, those pots were made of cheap cast iron, commonly called "pot metal".
Much later, Americans who never saw an iron cookpot, read or heard the term and were puzzled by it. Some young gun collectors, believing that quality guns had always been made of steel, but being familiar with the various zinc alloys used in cheap guns, concluded that "pot metal" meant metal with a low melting point that was melted in a pot, rather than the material a pot was made of. That misunderstanding has now become so ingrained into the gun language that it even is repeated in Wikipedia, which is often cited as the source of all wisdom by the naive.
Jim
Much later, Americans who never saw an iron cookpot, read or heard the term and were puzzled by it. Some young gun collectors, believing that quality guns had always been made of steel, but being familiar with the various zinc alloys used in cheap guns, concluded that "pot metal" meant metal with a low melting point that was melted in a pot, rather than the material a pot was made of. That misunderstanding has now become so ingrained into the gun language that it even is repeated in Wikipedia, which is often cited as the source of all wisdom by the naive.
Jim
Rainbow Demon
New member
The concerns about cast iron recievers and frames are often based on the misconception that simple "grey" cast iron was used.
In some cases that would be true, but reputable gunmakers made a point of using various grades of "White Cast Iron" AKA "Malleable Cast Iron" which has tremendous compressive strength.
White cast iron is almost pure iron with little to none of the impurities that cause fracturing of grey iron.
In some cases that would be true, but reputable gunmakers made a point of using various grades of "White Cast Iron" AKA "Malleable Cast Iron" which has tremendous compressive strength.
White cast iron is almost pure iron with little to none of the impurities that cause fracturing of grey iron.
The iron most commonly used in gun making was "wrought iron". There were many variations and names, including "(re)fined iron", "bloomery iron" , "malleable iron", and others. Colt revovlers were made of wrought iron into the 1890s and Winchesters into the 1870's. The main reason for case hardening was not decoration, as many suppose. Iron, unlike steel, cannot be heat treated for hardness, so in order to harden iron against the wear of internal parts, it was necessary to carburize or surface harden the metal. The color was a byproduct.
Many guns, like the previously mentioned Remington double derringer, were made of wrought iron to the end of produciton c. 1936. That is why broken hinges cannot be welded, but must be brazed. (Most of those hinges were broken, not by firing, but by ignorant users flipping the gun open.)
Jim
Many guns, like the previously mentioned Remington double derringer, were made of wrought iron to the end of produciton c. 1936. That is why broken hinges cannot be welded, but must be brazed. (Most of those hinges were broken, not by firing, but by ignorant users flipping the gun open.)
Jim
The gun you have is not a rolling block breech, it had a breech that was hinged and had the plunger in it. I have one just like it but in better condition. If you look below the ejector you will see the pin that the breech was held by. As was previously stated the crown over R indicates that it had a rifled barrel and the symbol below it is a "perron" which is the symbol that it was produced in Liege, Belgium as that is the symbol of this city. The oval with the crown over it and the ELG and star inside is also a symbol of Belgium manufacture and was made after 1892 because through 1892 there was not a crown over the oval. This proof also indicated that it used a black powder cartridge and the .22L was the cartridge. The .22 long cartridge of this period used 5 grains of black powder and a .29 grain bullet. This was 25% more powerful than the .22 black powder short. Everyone is correct that you should not shoot modern ammo in this weapon and is probably why your breech is missing. I fired a .22 short in mine when I first obtained it in 1954 0r 1955 to see if it worked and the breech opened about 1/4 inch and fire flew out. I never tried again. I think that the FL in front of of the .22 may have indicated the breech was Flobert designed but I am not sure. Flobert also made some .22 rim fire ammo. I'll attach some pics of my old rifle showing the breech, etc for anyone who is interested. The initials was probably the inspectors. The forum will not allow me to upload these files since they are high definition and exceed their allowed size, however if anyone wants to see them I will email them to you.
