doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Leopold Bernard Mystery 5 digits numbers

Raimey, you can ad 5106 of 1848 found on a muzzle loader.

What an absolutely fascinating thread. I have a Sauer & Sohn, Suhl shotgun with what I believe are Leupold Bernard barrels. However, there are NO marks referencing this. My information was obtained in a book in Cabela's gun library in Omaha/Lavista, NE; where I worked until retirement some 5 years ago. The gun was in "rough condition," and has been a project of mine for some years. Friends advised "get rid of the swivels, the gunstock, the cheekpiece, and see if you can get new barrels for it." Happily, I didn't do any of those things.
Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

Mr. Ogle:

More than likely the tubes are BERN or Bernard Pattern and were soured from the mechanics in Liege. Forward me any images & I'll have a gander.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Hi Sam,
Congratulations on your project. One has to be commanded to even attempt such a rescue.
It turns out that the overwhelming majority (read all) of US guns with barrels described as "Bernard" were not made by Leopold Bernard. One could order "Bernard" style barrels from the Belgian trade and that's where all those barrels came from. Your Sauer is similar, I am certain.
LB had a touchmark that he used from the 1840s until the end of the company in the early 1900s. Those barrels also had the serial number and date or date code on the lower rib.That is well documented in previous threads. If yours does not have it, by definition it is not a true Bernard.
LB was an ultra-premium barrel maker for most of his carrier including after his death in the 1870s. Barrel sets produced were very few for many decades of production. I think annual production was around 500 per year.
Many barrel makers copied the style of his touch mark including an E. Bernard from Belgium, who produced tons of fake L Bernards.
It does not really matter anyhow. Enjoy your Sauer for what it is!
Kindest regards,
WC-

WC. with the above numbers, I don't see how the 500/year will ring true? Was the 500/year after his death?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv337...pspfhqtqk0.jpeg

I believe this to be Mr. Ogle's Sauer?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Hi Raimey,
based on my Rieger Lefaucheux built in 1898,
35321/(1898-1832)=535 per year in average over 66 years.
One could plot a curve with the data we have.
That's in the same ball park (but bigger) that Purdey by the way, so ultra-premium is appropriate.
Best regards,
WC-

Fuzzy Calculus there WC. Take the 1860 decade:

12400 in 1859

22400 in 1869

So that's 10k per decade or 1000 per year? You are giving a mean across all LB production time, which isn't a true measure of decade to decade. Probably should truncate it near LB's death then have another set post LB's passing.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Great thread and great information being discussed that could be even better if Photobucket wasn't blocking all of the pictures. There has to be some way people can upload their pictures directly from their computers to this site.

To expensive possibly?

I haven't employed it just yet, but there is a patch, app, etc.:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=492226#Post492226

Cheers,

Raimey
rse