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Very lovely &interesting pin fire. Also interesting the shell in the right barrel carries a VL&D NewYork head stamp. Not familiar with the one in left barrel. Do you know who that VH L is?

The French had their own calibre scale of 32 gauge to 56 gauge based on the Livre/French Pound from December 14th, 1810 till April 22nd, 1868. Also the St. Etienne touchmark of the encircled crossed palms surmounted by a crown flanked by 3 small crosses was used from 1856 - April 22nd, 1868.


Cheers,

Raimey
rse

The VH L one was made by V. Francotte May & Cie, of Li�ge, Belgium; owned by Victor Francotte and Henry May. Their trade name at the time was Capsulerie Li�geoise. A similar headstamp of theirs from the same time period came in packets of 5 in a crate like this:


It is interesting to note that they misspelled Lefaucheux.

Here is an article I did on some of their pinfires a few years back:



And here is a little more info on VL&D shotshells (as well as some other US-loaded ones) from my article in the IAA Journal a few months ago.

Beautiful gun, thanks for sharing.

I had to do a little research on the earlier French mass measurements for an early pinfire cartridge I was researching recently.

I was wondering if you or anyone knows of a good book that goes into detail about various early measurements as they relate to guns and ammunition?

According to the information I have, that proofmark was in use from 1856-69. Certainly fits for a pinfire.

Not sure what a couple months difference would make.

1856 - April 22nd, 1868

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Likely not much. Missed your post, Raimey.

And here is a shot of the full thing.

Really nice gun!