I do not have a stake in whether tubes are sourced from Austria, Bohemia, France, Germany or Liege. I have no bias toward Liege. It matters not what the truth might be, just as long as it is the truth as best it can be formed. I have seen countless situations where a retailer went to extreme lengths to hide the origins of the components of the sporting weapons. To me all are infuriating, as I carry the torch of the unsung small pool of talented mechanics that made it all work. Now if proper economics were in-place, sure V-C could have easily sourced Holtzer at that point in time. Analysis of a piece of tube will reveal the properties and if the composition of Holtzer steels for the period is available, then it might go a long way in solving the problem. Is the steel type names consistent across V-C's catalogues? Holtzer could have utilized a compressed cavity mold but most steel concerns found out quickly that small arms tube production was not a money maker and that's why the Germans invested so heavily in barrel production in Liege. Berger & Co.(later Witten), found this out the hard way and ceased between 1885 to 1886. From the many previous instances, just an advert in a catalogue is not indicative of tube production. Stated en nauseum, show me some external inputs that indicate tube production. I'm not basing this one just on one steel concern or 1 gun making centre as all used a very similar modell. So much misinformation has been propagated for such a long time that many find it difficult to embrace the truth.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse