The following is an interesting 16-bore pin-fire gun, and I am looking for additional information on this peculiar action and its enigmatic inventor. The gun has a rib inscription for August Schler of Suhl, but it is of Belgian origin, with a single Lige provisional proof mark. At first I thought the gun was a Bastin system action, with the pivoted underlever and sliding barrels. I was therefore surprised to find the barrels swung on a hinge, and detached with a triggered release lever on the left side of the action bar. The action is marked M.N. COLEYE BREVETɔ, and numbered 490. As the number is shared with the barrel Im guessing it is the serial number and not a patent use number. As I am unfamiliar with Schler guns, I dont know if it is consistent with his numbering system, or is that of a Belgian maker, or that of Coleye if he made the entire gun and not just the action. The action is remarkably smooth and pleasant to use.
A search on the Internet turned up two Coleye patent guns, a military-type rifle (13mm) and another 16-bore sporting gun almost identical to this one, numbered 1469. Neither is identified as to a maker/retailer, having only the Coleye patent mark. Coleye is not a recognized Lige maker, but Colleye is.
Maximilien Nicolas Colleye (notice the double L) was a gunmaker/actioner in Hoigne-Cheratte, a district of Lige, Belgium. He was the son of Henri Joseph Colleye, another gunmaker in Cheratte. Both hold a sizable number of gun patents for breech-loading actions. In the case of MN Colleye, these include patents granted on 31 December 1849 and 31 December 1850 [new pistol design], 7 March 1857 [moving breech], 29 April 1857 [improvement of earlier patent], 18 August 1857 [perfecting pin-fire system], and 15 October 1857 [improvement on moving breech]). Sadly I cannot trace these patents or find adequate descriptions of them, and I dont know if the action in the photographs is one of these listed.
Ive not been able to track down any gun definitely marked Colleye, so Im assuming Coleye is an alternate spelling of Colleye, though why he would use the latter spelling in official circumstances and put the former on his actions is anyones guess.
I would be most grateful to hear if anyone out there has any information that can solve the Coleye-Colleye mystery, or have any similarly-marked guns in their collection that might shed some light on this inventor. This action was sufficiently known to be marketed to sportsmen in Belgium and Germany, but it is new to me.
Here is the barrel info.
