circa 1914 16 ga. L.C. Smith Trap Grade.
David: Thanks for the effort and I wonder if this example was one of the earliest with the Hunter Arms logo/trademark stamped beside or over "LLH" or Laurent Lochet-Habran of Belgium. The overstamped "LLH" on the underside of the left tube looks as if the "H" has some additional spacing? Also on the tubes is a stamp of an encircled "ACM" or Acier Cockerill Manufacture Liegoise, noting Cockerill steel. It can't be both, unless the Hunter Arms Company had fellas in and around Liege making their tubes, but then what part would Halcomb steel play? Another wild guess would be that the "SB&Co." stamp pre-WWI would be that of Sanderson Brothers Steel Company and post WWI on scattergun tubes it would be that of Samuel Buckley & Company. If this is true, I wonder if it was coincidence or not that the 2 stamps were similar or that Samuel Buckley & Company was sought out as a source for tubes? If WWI cut the Belgium sourcing lines, the another source from Syracuse would have been found. But after WWI I wonder what the difference in cost would be between home-grown steel tubes from Syracuse and those sourced from Liege with the import tariff?
