Well, my French is pretty decent. As of 1900, they had a reputation for the production of fine firearms. The text does not state that they're looking for barrels; rather, that they're loooking for "material of very great resistance" FOR their barrels. That doesn't establish that they made their own barrels, however . . . nor does it establish that they didn't.

On p. 8 of the 1922 V-C catalog are 4 Xrays of the type of steel used in high quality V-C barrels: Diamond steel, followed by the 3 types of Holtzer steel they use. Whatever Holtzer did in 1900, by 1922 they were producing steel that was being used in V-C barrels, whether V-C themselves made the barrels or not.