doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian Hammer SxS info Needed

I have just bought a very nice Liege 12 ga hammer SxS. Moderate engraving and nice wood. Tight as a tick. The gun was proofed before 1924-the bbl wt is to the tenth KG. The inspectors mark is *over JG. Can anyone tell me when JG worked at the Liege proof house?
The only mfg marks are "Liege Firearms Makers" and Poudre Blanche on the barrels.

This was a WWII bring back. I bought from the owner of the duffel bag it came to America in.

My references about the inspector marks reflect the asterisk over letter began in 1877 and carries through to present. But the chart I have of those letters are all single letters so your JG is not shown. Is this mark clearly JG or could it be a single letter difficult to read due to double stamping for example? The Belgium guns I have seen were all single lettered but I haven't seen enough to state a double lettering might not occur.

Jerry is correct there are or was no controllers marks with double letters. It is possible that it is a markers mark but there are other members who gona give an answer about this.
Marc.

Is it marked "Liege Firearms Makers" in English? That'd be rather odd. If you've translated "Manufacture Liegeoise d'Armes a Feu", then that's a pretty well-known maker, capable of turning out nice guns.

It's in French I suppose. That was the translation I worked out. The mark is a combination that looks like an HC put together on the watertable. There is also a *M on the barrels. I found a list that says "Louis Couchant 1923-1952" so that would make it 1923 or 24. There is also a cursive "g" on the watertable. Is that 1928?
In any case it's newer than I thought but in a good period in European firearms mfg. Heavy though.

Yes, g is 1928.

On the locking lever there is crown over ML and a star underneath inlaid in gold. Does this say anything about the maker?

It really helps to post pictures. Especially pictures of the barrels removed from the gun and the receiver flats.

Very early Controller of Proof marks did have double letters. But we do not know who they are. The fascination with Controller of Proof has always amazed me. They never touched your gun. This was a supervisory position. Some held the job for 20 or 30 years, so the marks do not help date the gun. It is like knowing who inspected your engine block, but not who made it.

Here are the Belgian proof marks
http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html

Here are some Belgian maker marks
http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_Trade_Marks.html

The ML indicates that the gun was made by
Manufacture Li�geoise D�Armes � Feu
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/art...%20feu%20gb.htm

ML was a huge factory operation. They could produce a decent gun when the contract required it.

Pete

Regardless of the other marks on the flats, if the gun has 12 over a C inside a diamond rather than either 12-65 (for 2 1/2") or 12-70 (for 2 3/4"), then it was made prior to 1924. Sometimes the date code (if there is one) can be a bit confusing, because some of the letters look a lot alike.