Manufrance catalog 1890



That illustration stayed in the catalog and did not disappear until the 1905 edition. Which says nothing except they were making the steel barrels cheaper than could produce damascus themselves or purchase from Belgium. This is the same time frame that the British stopped damascus production.

As for Pieper's monoblock, here is a thread that shows a bit of it:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post164088

If any one wants the entire Rapport du Jury from the Paris exhibition, I can provide that.

Among Pieper's patents was an oven for brazing barrels.

I do not think one is better than the other. It is very common to see similar patents from various countries. They simply did not have the means to do the pre-application searches we do today. In France it was possible to file an "temporary patent", in Belgium, patents were filed at "district" offices; making searches nearly impossible.

Pete

http://www.damascus-barrels.com/Movie.html