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Jul 28th, 2025
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112 |
I have a boxlock marked Louis Delp who was a Hessian gunsmith. The Delp guns I found on the web were hammer guns and my gun looks like a pre-WWI Prussian gun, but it was proofed in 1949 in Belgium. Members of the German gun collectors organization speculate that its a Belgium gun made for the German market. I think its a German gun made post-WW2 proofed in Belgium when the German proof house had not yet reopened. Belgium proofs were legal in Germany and this might have been the only way for a German maker to restart sales. Has anyone else seen a German gun of that era with Belgium proofs? Pics of my gun are at: Louis Delp
John Vibber
author of "Kingdom Come: A North Country Mystery"
available at amazon.come
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,696 Likes: 226 |
Sorry, no Google account to look
Please post pictures
Mike
USAF RET 1971-95 ![[Linked Image from jpgbox.com]](http://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/57865_80x60.jpg)
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112 |
I transferred pictures on this website: Louis Delp pictures
John Vibber
author of "Kingdom Come: A North Country Mystery"
available at amazon.come
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 931
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 931 |
Looks like Nimrod action to me. If you undo the screws on the side, a lid will come off and offer a view to the innards. Nimrod, if I'm not mistaken, is a Belgian action, so the gun is probably one of many made in Liege and signed by a German salesperson.
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112 |
I looked up Nimrod. It's a German patent action. This doesn't mean it couldn't be used on a Belgium gun, but I think not in this case. This gun was apparently made for German speakers. The safety is marked "Sicher" not "safe" or "S" as I would expect on a Belgium gun.
John Vibber
author of "Kingdom Come: A North Country Mystery"
available at amazon.come
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,553
Sidelock
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Sidelock
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O-O, that looks lovely...nice warm looking wood, sweet
franc
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Joined: Nov 2002
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,409 Likes: 4 |
'....Hofbuchsenmacher....' describes that piece quite nicely. Very fitting gun for young German Junker.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,696 Likes: 226
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,696 Likes: 226 |
Your gun was made in 1949 Charlier Josef was the inspector See here http://www.shotguns.se/html/belgium.htmlBelgian Barrels  Belgian Action  Beautiful Gun 
Last edited by skeettx; 10/29/13 06:41 PM.
USAF RET 1971-95
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 112 |
Thanks to skeettx for your research. You may well be right. I had found this same proof info before I posted. You said "the gun is probably one of many made in Liege and signed by a German salesperson." Is this a guess or do you know examples of these guns. The rib of my gun says Louis Delp Hofbuchsenmacher Darmstadt which I understand to mean Louis Delp, gunmaker to royalty, Darmstadt which is a city in Hesse, Germany. As far as I know the German proof office didn't reopen until 1952. I don't know much else about the status of gunmaking in Belgium and Germany in the years right after WW2. My puzzle is that this gun seems to be a proper German gun with the wrong proof marks. Does anyone know of similar examples from the same era? Thanks.
John Vibber
author of "Kingdom Come: A North Country Mystery"
available at amazon.come
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 982 Likes: 12
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 982 Likes: 12 |
John O-O,
you have to remember the time at which your (very nice) gun has been made: It was only 4 years after WW II. Germany was total down. Suhl resources were no longer available (under russian control) and so Gunmaker Louis Delp has to take what he can get, good guns from Liege! And of course he refined it and so your gun was born.....
By the way, there wasn't any Royal Court any more since end of WW I. The US government itself made clear in some diplomatic notes, that Germany has only a chance for endurable truce if the emperor would resign...!
So, Louis Delp in 1945 was a "Hofbchsenmacher" without "Hof" ;-)
Best Regards,
Gunwolf
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