That's an excellent question...and squarely based in rational fact finding...but there is no singular reference for this information...but that doesn't mean the information is not all over the place...Pieper specialized in that low end market, as you know from Sears, Wards, and other catalogs (1890-1915). In fact they were Belguim's largest exporter of sporting guns by far during this period. Pieper specialized in what we call "Hardware Store guns" meaning that they would supply near any sizable dealer with unmarked guns so that the dealer could market them after affixing his own name...I have always suspected that companies like Sears where resposible for affixing misleading names like Moore, Richards, and Barker. Not Pieper!
That being said, when (Sears marked) T Barkers not only have interchangable parts with the same era Bayards, sometimes they even utilize the same little tab for attaching the OSH locks to the action that is indigenous to Pieper and Bayards only. It's also well known that very few Belgian manufacturers had the drop forges and the human resources to produce the volume of guns that where imported from Liege to America. Those Barkers don't interchange parts with any ML based actions or FN based actions, leaving only Belgium's largest sporting gun exporter as the final suspect.
As I said before...these are general observations of a particular era in their 100 year history (the era of tens of thousands of JABC's being imported to America)
note...it's interesting that your list of trademarks lists "Centaure" as one of their trademarks...this is also the trademark of ? sp? Fabrique Armes de Unies, Hanquet, and Continental...all trademarks that I have suspected of being later Pieper based actions
Last edited by Robert Chambers; 12/02/07 12:05 AM.
