doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Early Francotte?

Peter, I think you have made a very valid point in that sporting arms production was a very small part of overall production. Francotte & Associates aggressively pursued the largest weapons contracts available and appear to have sought to be gunmaker's to the armies of the world. Le Petit Syndicat of Ancion & Company, Dresse-Laloux & Company, Auguste Francotte, Prilot Fresart and possibly others was formed to meet the needs of military weapons contracts. Then Le Grand Syndicat was formed of the members of the Petit Syndicat along with Benthin, Beurer, P. Drissen, Falisse, Gulikers, E. Malherbe, Mordant, Brothers Renkin & la Societe Liegoise in 1870 in an attempt to meet the needs of the Franco-Prussian War with a slogan of sorts that no contract was too large. But the venture was short lived and I think it dissolved in 1876. Possibly at this time Auguste Francotte realized that he need to spread his umbrella to include sporting arms sales to the U.S. of A. developing a connection for higher rung examples.

Anyone know if Conn. Shotgun owns Auguste Francotte or the trademark?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,

Remember that Fabrique National was formed to fulfil the Russian Nagant contract. Also, during WWI the German occupation forces quickly took control of Belgian gun factories to produce badly needed parts. The Belgian factories did experience a "slow down" for a time. It seems some workers would take racks of guns and move them around the factory so the German inspectors kept counting the same rack over and over. Eventually, they wised up.

Pete