doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian Date Codes and C&R Documentation

Can the single letter date codes stamped on Belgian firearms starting in 1922 be used as documentation for C&R status?

I'm trying to buy a gun from Cabelas with a 1941 date code, but they won't accept it unless I can document it in a book. I can't find it officially referenced in any book, and listings on the internet from folks like damascus-barrels.com isn't good enough for them. Does anyone know if these codes really count and where they're officially published?

Thanks,
Russ

Possibly your library could acquire on loan:
Trade & Hallmarks on Firearms in Belgium , Bruno Joos De Ter Beerst, 1998
or
Lee Kennett "A History of Proof Marks: Gun Proof in Belgium" 32nd edition of The Gun Digest (1978), p. 129-138

Hi Drew - I bought the '78 Gun Digest since it was cheap and easy to get, and it has no reference to date codes. I haven't found the Beerst book anywhere, if someone has a copy I'd love if they'd share the section on date codes!

I sold mine some time ago to Gunnerman. One copy is listed on the website. Possibly, for a fee, they could scan the date code page for you
http://www.gunnermanbooks.com/?CLSN_4893=1476827628489331bdc9e8aef4197f46&keyword=Trade+%26+Hallmarks+on+Firearms+in+Belgium+&searchby=title&page=shop%2Fbrowse&fsb=1&Search=Search

That book goes for $175, OUCH!!! I wonder what they'd want to scan a few pages, probabaly more than the regular FFL transfer fee. I doubt they'd want to bother, but I guess I could try - thanks friend!

Gunnerman Books only sells books and won't print or scan pages. I don't blame them, and I was actually the 2nd request they had this week for such info.

I'll just pay the fee and go the FFL transfer route, but it's odd this issue of Belgian date codes is up in the air and hasn't been definitively decided yet.

So you are scouring the internet, and jumping through a bunch of needless hoops to save $25.00?

Big retailers don't want the hassle of curio and relic dealers. For all the right reasons.

Yes, saving $40 FFL transfer fee is nice (maybe $25 in your neck of the woods, where is that?), but also the hassle of buying C&R collectable arms, which is what a C&R is suppose to be about - in my opinion anyways.

But you are missing the bigger issue, is this a documented issue or isn't it, and if not, why so? I can and will pay the extra money, but I thought it would be nice to help the firearms community and clear up this question- sorry if I ruffled your feathers trying to clarify the rules.

It's nothing personal RAS. That field has been plowed to soup.
Big retailers don't want the liability of dealing with C&R holders.

FFL's don't want the holders of C&R's putting them out of business.

It was a natural consequence of selling guns over the web.