doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian Load Data for Powder M or Mullerite - 1897

So Hause, do we have any solid data that Belgian Platforms peddled by French Firearms Merchants were additionally proofed/proved with a French Powder listed in the Belgian Law after 1897/1898?

Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Interesting hypothesis brother; that France would require use of French powder for proof for shotguns exported to France.
I looked through this document from 1906 regarding the Banc D'Epreuves Des Armes a Feu De Liege and unfortunately there is no mention of that possibility.
https://books.google.com/books?id=5fxGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA53&lpg
The gunmakers could specify the powder to use for the Fourth “Optional test with smokeless powder”
After 1898, “Poudre Vive Unique” proof powder was adopted, and used unless otherwise requested, at extra cost.

As you noted, November 18, 1903 a decree was issued that the 4th (Nitro) proof (no matter the powder chosen) was not to exceed 875 Kg/cm2 or 13,000 PSI (about 14,500 PSI by transducer measurement).

Well, it just about had to be true because why would the Belgian Mechanics or the Proofmaster have added so many powder in the Proof Law unless they had been lobbied hard by their clients. Belgian Mechanics & the Belgian Proof Law was always @ the whims of the of their clients, which were for the most part heavily foreign.


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Royal Decree of March 2nd, 1891 kicked it all off for the 4th Proof using English Schultze & EC Powder, adopting the British Scales of 1887.

Royal Decree June 6th, 1892 required that once a gun passed the 4th Proof, it was to be stamped w/ barrel weight & chamber dimensions, with the exactly form of the chamber dimensions stamp not defined until the Royal Decree of November 18th, 1903.


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Too, the Powder Mullerite is noted as being in »Grains & Flakes«. The only one I have seen as noted in »Grains & Flakes« forms.



Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

The French Firearms Merchants had to have a seat @ the Proof Law Table and interjected credible input as the origin of the Belgian Proof Law began w/ the French Government Decree of 8 Vendemiaire of the year XIV, i.e. September 29th, 1805. And the birth of the Liege Proof Facility can be found as authorized by the Prefect of the Department of Ourth. So the Belgium Proof Facility at its core has pure French Roots.

Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

In re-reading translated segments of »J. Fraikin - L'Industrie armurièrie liègieoise et le bank d'èpreuve des armes á few de Liège«(1940), one will find the Belgian mechanics were heavily French, but a Proud Lot independently, which is at the core of the use of the Perron, a symbol of their independence. They continually crossed swords with French Authorities, but in the end somewhat capitulated as well as had some of their demands met. The biggest difference between the French gunmaking centres of St. Ètienne & Liège was that the Liège mechanics wanted no hint of who made a weapon whilst the St. Ètienne mechanics proudly stamped their wares. The Liège mechanics strongly supported masking their wares as they contended that their clients wanted their name on the gun without any other indication of the true manufacture. The fact was that the Belgian mechanics were gunmakers to the world and they just did not want to give up that teat. So far the most part, the Belgians crafted their Proof Law to placate & accommodate their foreign clients in a effort to solidify their sourcing lines to clients.


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Heavily French, after the French ran off the Huguenots and the Belgians the Walloons, much to the benefit of the iron industries in Sweden, England and the U.S. (especially New York, the Carolinas and Wisconsin)

Indeed. But they were making pennies and pennies is all they wanted to make & they made sure those penny procurement lines were preserved. The Liège mechanics really didn't care that much about »armes de luxe«, as they allowed those armes to be heavily regulated with little or no opposition. Price-Point Gunmakers to the World & they for sure wanted to preserve that at about any cost.


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse