unknown rifle, please help identify
- Thread starter ron90s
- Start date
Jim Watson
New member
The gun is one of the thousands and thousands of shotguns made in Belgium and sold all over the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Proof marks on this one say it was made between 1898 and 1924, probably early in that period before everybody went hammerless. Ol' Catzeflis and his son may have been the makers or just sellers of a commodity gun as were turned out in large quantities by small companies who would put any name requested on a gun. The straight grip is a fairly unusual style, maybe they meant it to sell in England or Empire and it found its way here instead... or just later.
Proof marks on this one say it was made between 1898 and 1924, probably early in that period before everybody went hammerless. Ol' Catzeflis and his son may have been the makers or just sellers of a commodity gun as were turned out in large quantities by small companies who would put any name requested on a gun. The straight grip is a fairly unusual style, maybe they meant it to sell in England or Empire and it found its way here instead... or just later.
madcratebuilder
New member
A old Belgium made shotgun that needs a gunsmith inspection if you are thinking about shooting it.
16 ga from Belgium, no doubt about it. Has some signs of having aspired to being a fairly high-quality shotgun at some point in its life. The crowns on the barrels may be intended to infer some sort of association with the royal house, I don't know. The barrels and the barrel lug are brazed, judging from the green oxidation being lifted by the oils on the steel. Decorative tooling like that on the bottom of the lug is usually found on the more expensive guns, but any decorative tooling on good guns is usually of a lot higher quality of workmanship than what you see on your gun. It would be interesting to take a look at it.
Take it to a good gunsmith for a once-over. Just remember, there was a reason it was in your father's junk pile. Parts it needed may be unavailable, or it may be unsafe to fire for any number of reasons. Or it may have just needed some work that he never got around to doing.
Take it to a good gunsmith for a once-over. Just remember, there was a reason it was in your father's junk pile. Parts it needed may be unavailable, or it may be unsafe to fire for any number of reasons. Or it may have just needed some work that he never got around to doing.