doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com francotte vld?

What do yall think about this one from what you see??

francotte vl d

The engraving,stock,jointing is like new.prolly a restoration?
2850.?


thanks

BillyB

I like a nice Francotte, but am not a fan of damascus.

Pretty gun, what are the specifics, ga. chamber,chokes, bbls.?

Stock dimensions?

there are a couple very [1/16"] small surface where either a small dent was hammered,or just maybe pitNG,but hardly noticeable and like 6-8inches from muzzle,I dont have a gage for this kind of critique,but in person,the gun was like a merkel type new tight.

Ejectors: No
Lop: 14 1/4 "
Drop @ comb: 1 1/2 "
Drop @ heel: 2 3/4 "
Weight: 6 lbs, 0 oz
12 ga
Chamber: 2 5/8 "
Length: 26 "
Chokes: C/LM
Concave

Ha! That's a real misleading description on their site.

That gun is redone. That is NOT the original finish on the stock and metal. Bbls have been rebrowned, Checkering looks recut. The action/metalwork has been buffed or polished.

That's not a French grey finish.

I bet the bbls are cut, too.

Way overpriced @ $2850. It's a $1200 gun at best. And this isn't an "at best" market.

Buyer beware.

OWD

Obsessed with doubles,did you see the francotte in person to say that is not french grey, otherwise dont comment,the second thing is how the hell do you know the barells are cut again dont comment,the barells are original because it used to be my gun,the gun is french grey the engraving was recut buy Geoffrey Gournet and also he did the french grey,the barrels where rebrowned by Keith Kearcher, and the wood is oil finish and done by Andrew MacFarlane,so you can see that all great craftsmen worked on that gun, that gun barrel thickness is .027 if you know what that is.That Francotte is called a Featheweight thats why it has 26 inch barrels and a weight of 6lbs.So OWD dont comment if you dont know anything about a particular gun.

Mr. Thoma-

I did not mean to offend. The poster asked for an opinion and he got one.

I'm sorry if I was wrong on the length of the bbls. Notice, though, that I said "I bet the bbls are cut, too."

G & H has the gun on their site. They claim the wood and metal are all original. By your own admission, they are not. Did you point this error out to them?

That gun was originally color-case hardened. That finish was buffed away to give the gun the finish it has now. To me, that's not an original "French Grey" finish. I guess I am wrong, though.

As for it's value, I'm right on. That's just a fact. Redone, non-ejector, boxlock Francotte don't bring much money, especially ones with short, damascus bbls.

BTW: does the gun say "The Featherweight" or "Featherweight" on it somewhere? Does that name appear in a Francotte or VL & D catalog? I'm not familiar with it.

Thank you.

OWD

Almost the same as mine which is all original, 1899 vld special order "Made for C. W. Billings" on rib before gold bar, 12 ga, 2 5/8 chamber and Siemens Martin 26" barrels, smidgen improvement engraving and checkering, serial 33762. If good SWs are going for what is reported here---and I know nothing about restorations affecting value--I think the above mid-range gun is worth $2,850. My Francotte is becoming my go-to gun, choked IC/M.

The VL&D catalogs from 1896 and 1900 listed a model called a "Featherweight" in two grades - a grade I (later called the 'Ideal' grade) and a grade II. These were non-ejector guns.The name "Featherweight" also appears as a model in the VL&D records.



But there were also a range of Francottes ejector guns produced at the same time and appearing in the same catalogs called "Featherweight Ejector" models, named so as to distinginguish them from the models called "Pigeon Weight" which were meant for Trap and Live Bird shooting. The Featherweight Ejector models were the AA, BB, CC, and DD. Except for the Knockabout, none of the Francotte guns were marked as to the model until "The High Gun" appeared much later (I suppose that you could say that the Eagle Grade 45 was 'marked'). That is why so many people trying to sell Francottes on the internet have them mis-named as regards the model. The model 10, 14, 20, 25, 30, and 45 didn't appear until 1910 when a major change in model nomenclature occured. None of the pre-1910 models appear in the Blue Book or any other gun value or identification book that I'm aware of. That is why you never see a Francotte "Hammerless No.3A" offered for sale, for example. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of the pre-1910 guns out there.

Compliments of Griffin & Howe.

Question: Can you get "French grey" by buffing or polishing an original CC receiver? You might come close if the colors fade "naturally", but the buffed/polished receivers I've seen all have a pretty bright appearance. More like coin finish than French grey.