Here's my guess of what it is: a Franz von Dreyse 20 bore that is based on his 1874 centralfire patent and may not have begun life as a needlefire. Upon closer inspection of the photos it seems to have some protrusions required for the needlefire cartridge. So I can't say if it was converted at the factory or not. It has an extractor so it was for scattergun cartridges. Recently I've been trying to determine about when the 20 bore cartridge arrived on the scene. I don't think it began life as a needlefire since the tubes don't swing to the side and since the stamp "Papp Cartouche Cal. XX" isn't present. It's difficult to tell but it was either assembled from older components or possibly converted. I'd guess the mainsprings to be coil springs instead of leaf springs. It doesn't have precious metal barrel bands and the tubes look to be of the pattern welded variety. Those with gold barrel bands and deep relief engraving sometimes had somewhat of a jeweled watertable. The engraving reminds me of similar examples by A. Haetge or Miller & Val. Greiß. But it could have been sourced in the white and finished by any craftsman such as "CFW". I know it may be tough but pics of the undersides of the tubes may yield some direction as to the craftsman that made it and then again "CFW" may be all that is there. Considering the 1874 patent and that weapons began wearing proofmarks in 1891/1893, I'd say it was made during that period and more than likely in the 1880s, possibly in the mide to late 1880s.
Dreyse also had a firm/facility that made the components as well as cartridges.
Do the tabs/buttons on the rear release the mainsprings and are those all screws on the sides of the centralfire system?
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
