doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Beristain bufalo imperial

I got two DB's tonight. One was supposed to be a Jam bufalo imperial but it ended up being a beristain bufalo imperial.

(correction...just looked at the receiver...it says Jam...hummmmmm. The barrels say beristain. I also have a ARAMBERRI 56, and a Union armera grulla. They are all marked 12 70....Are these the dasterdly 70's doubles?) These guns seem to be decent workmanship. Am I fooling myself?

Was a little disappointed in such a beautiful gun with a couple nasty dings in the barrel. Ran a socket with some masking tape on one side and whammo...the dings came out and the bores look very nice. It actually smoothed the outside of the barrel pretty well...a little touch up blue and it won't be very obvious.

I know little about DB's. What's the little arm on the left hand side. It swings around...what's it for? It's on the left side lock plate.

Anyone got an idea what I have? It even has a jade ft sight bead. [img]http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?p=837755#post837755[/img]

Hi, the markings 12/70, means 12ga with 70mm chambers (2 3/4").

As to your Beristain, if you could post some pics of the bbl flats, we can get a lot of info to help ID the maker and year it was made. Can't pull up any pics from your link. The lever is your detachable sidelock screw. It allows you to take off the sidelocks without the use of a screwdriver.

All the best!

Greg

I have seen one other Beristain, a 12 gauge double. It also had some marking in Spanish "Gunmaker to the royal house." I have no idea as to which royal house. The gun wss rather plain, but well made with sling swivels so I assume European origin. I know nothing more about the name. A google search brings up litlle. Regards and best of luck finding out more.

BTW googling Beristain escopeta brings up several photos and discussions of the model including the Buffalo. Better get out your English-Spanish dictionary though.

There was an Armeria Beristain y Cia of Barcelona, Spain in the early 1900s and seems to have slipped into obscurity some time in the early 1930s. They were assoicated/peddled Bufalo pistols by Gabilondo y Urresti also in the early 1900s. Other pistol models were Ruby and Danton but I haven't found any info on scatterguns.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Here's three receiver's with markings...

1. Jam imperial (the barrels are marked beristain)
2. Union armera 210E
3. Aremberri 56

The receivers are on the link below. You've got to log into gunboards to see pics. Someone posted a site on gunboards with codes but I only see a few listed. Thanks!

The barrels on the jam show P1 (also says jam on the barrel flat)...1971? M1 on the union armera? 1967? L1 on Aremberri 56? 1966?

Did Jam make a decent top of the line gun? It's got a Jade front sight....that seems very unusual. Could the earlier versions have been better guns? The quality seems much better then todays guns along with the over all metal. It looks like a better quality then todays guns. Did Jam start making DB's in 1970? It looks so good...I know looks can be decieving. The Union armera 210E Seems like the best craftsmanship of the three...jeweled receiver and barrel hook.


[img]http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?p=839230#post839230[/img]