I think you're a bit off target, Raimey, and perhaps showing some Belgian prejudice here. (We'll have to start a thread of Belgian jokes, which the French love to tell.) You seem to be putting V-C in the same category as Gastine Rennette, or some of the other Paris "makers", that mostly retailed guns sold by others. Indeed, V-C's 1922 catalog does list guns made by others--clearly specifying that they were made by others. But V-C also invented and patented the "Helice" locking system, which probably ranks closely--in the world of French doubles--to the Scott spindle in the British trade. A lot of St. Etienne guns not made by V-C used it. Their catalog refers to specialization in "the production and sale of hunting guns", and it shows numerous V-C models. Boxlock, sidelock, hammer and hammerless.

And if V-C barrel steel--whether they made the barrels or not--did not come from Jacob Holtzer, I find it hard to understand why they would advertise that as their source. As for Holtzer, the firm had 1,500 workers in 1897, so we're not talking about some small outfit. Did they make barrels or simply produce the steel that went into barrels? Impossible to tell from what I've been able to find in French, which states that they did make "canons". Unfortunately, that word means both barrels and artillery pieces.

Last edited by L. Brown; 05/17/13 07:51 AM.