We kind of hi-jacked the original line. On the gun FAB500 just posted:
Ted: It's proofed for "poudre pyroxylée." However we don't know whether that is "J," "M," "R," "S," or "T." I assumed it was "PT." If so, the gun was apparently ordered in 1899 but the barrels were proofed after PT became available in 1900. Which is one of the reasons I thought the gun could have been ordered by Dorian when he got back to France. This is all speculation of course.
(I wonder whether La Manu decorated that gun. It could be that the barrels were special ordered after the gun was completed and the decoration was done in Algeria or Morocco - though of course anything is possible).
I'll leave it to others to discuss the Anglais Ideal whose pictures seem to have disappeared. I do own a 1906 Gerest Berthon (discussed previously) with dated barrels by Didier-Drevet which does have the false side plates and an "English" straight stock:
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/4ZtzAGN.png)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/4SzB1HM.jpg)