Can you decipher the letters? Possibly the maker? Thank you.
https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/french-engraved-sxs-j-gaucher.567612/#post-4994480

Although not any of the above tasked, Simon Heurtier founded S.H. & Cie(Simon Heurtier et Compagnie) in 1930 after the death of his brother...


https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=370664&page=1

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

SH & Cie - S.H.&Cie.)S.H. et Cie - Societe Heurtier et Compagnie - renown tube maker.

I'll try to find the original foto.


Lep Pozdrav

Raimey
rse

Mac crashed snd I’m on my IPhone typing with fat fingers. Nice job Raimey. The photos of the markings on the gun are incomplete. A good photo of the barrel flats including the chamber length and “choke rectifie” may give more clues as well.

Thanks Raimey.

little question that raimey has provided the insight...complete with an anchor date of 1930. as with most french guns, that's likely to be about as good as dating gets. i would question whether the beavertail forearm is original - everything else appears to be typically french...and i would judge to be built on a standard v-c side plated helice action.

handsome gun...

best regards,

tom

Thanks Argo44, but no accolades are necessary as @ our level of obsession of DoubleGuns, it is expected of us..... Obsessive Attention to Detail is my new Motto.....


Lep Pozdrav,

Raimey
rse

The beaver tail, the horn butt plate with no worm holes, the side plated boxlock action, and the level of proof have me thinking it is post WWII.

None of those things are common, pre WWII.

Best,
Ted

With ejectors almost certainly 1950’s,

Another please. All we've got is a script ? LH ?
https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/need-help-with-old-sxs.567854/#post-4996524
Thanks.

Still no computer so no data bases. Barrels bored by “B.G.” “L” might be a “J”. I’ve seen those initials before. Maybe Jean Brueil, Saint-Etienne barrel maker? 65mm chambers show post 1923?

Edit: definitively not JB.

I got nothing. Sorry.

Best,
Ted

That “LH” looks suspiciously like the “ZFr” in an oval on Zavattero Freres shotguns. We had a line about this in summer 2016. I don’t have my computer so can’t check my saved notes but searching on Google for doublegunshop and Zavattero Freres should pull it up.

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=443339&page=1

image of “LH”
https://imgur.com/a/6Rrrg74

Zavattero Freres
https://i.imgur.com/9kSIpaS.png

I believe there is enough information on Zavattero serial numbers to get a ballpark age if the SN can be determined.

Salut,
Poinçon du canonnier Zavattero. Fusil fabriqué par ?

Le poinçon ISO dans un losange nous indique que l'intérieur des canons est parachromé.

This one:



[img]https://i.ibb.co/MkxjwP6/IMG-0237.webp[/img]

Best,
Ted

Absolument Ted.

Bon dimanche à tous.

What a novel addition to our barrel info fab500. So chrome lined tubes?

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Zavattero Freres made complete guns, not just barrels. See the previously posted line which also discusses chrome bore plating: Its two principle models of shotguns were Cynea and Zedef Focor....both with a unique stamp.
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=443339&page=1

Argo44, I was referring to the >>ISO<< touchmark on the water-table.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Absolutely understood Raimey - I was clarifying Fab's comments. Here are comments by Wildcattle from the original Zavettero Frères - later Zavattero & Cie. line on chrome bores:

Argo44
"bretelle automatique et canons isochromés." Automatic sling; crome-plated bores.... Learned new gun words ....thanks. ....
Wonder how one can differentiate between "canons" for barrels and "canons" for bores...maybe it's just understood that you're not going to have a chrome barrel on the outside...sort of a Harley Davidson option?

Wildcattle
"Chromed barrels" would not semantically distinguish between inside and outside.
However, Pimping a double did not quite exist back then. So, because the only practical use of Chrome is inside the barrels, that's what this is supposed to mean.
A couple of remarks:
- "Isochrome" was a barrel plating company in St Etienne. This is a trade name, and not a scientific one.
- I have seen my fair share of Chromed barrels made by "la Manu". The problem with that process is that it does not age well, probably worse than non chromed barrels.
I don't know what the problem is, but the chrome seems to flake off after some time. I would think that the issue might be that during shooting, the barrel stretches more than the chrome, breaking the bond over time. In any event, I would stay away from chromed barrels, even if they look good today.
Of course, by the time the Chrome is flaking, I don't know the barrels can be recovered.
It could be a process issue, I don't know if other processes work better.

Side note.

In my collection of Darne literature is a catalog from American Imports, who made it perhaps 3 bird seasons as an importer for Darne guns, I’m thinking 1960-1963, in between Don White (the only guns I know for sure that Don imported were his pair of V19s, a 20 and a 12) and Stoeger Arms, who made it about a decade 1964-1974.

In the AI Darne catalog is a tantalizing note that stainless steel barrels were available for “extra cost”. I’ve never, ever seen them, but the guys at the factory in St Etienne knew the process to get them blued when I was there, mid 1990s. They were plated with iron and then blued like any set of barrels. The subject came up because the famous “Charlin in a jar of water” was in the shop at the Bruchet works, a stainless steel Charlin action, fasteners, and stub of barrels that had been immersed in water for about 30 years at that point.

I would think there would be a mark designating stainless barrels, but, I can’t add anything about that.

Best,
Ted

I kind of doubt there would be a stamp on a barrel indicating Stainless Steel ("acier inoxydable" - more commonly "acier inox" or "canon inox") except for the usual advertising logos on the barrel. There isn't a separate stamp for Steel or Damascus.

There are Stainless steel barrel makers in France. Personally I'd prefer a nickel plated barrel for use on salt water.
http://www.armurerie-grand-est.fr/produit.php?id=622
https://armurerie-au-saint-hubert.fr/brand/56-rainier-arms

Late to the conversation, but to add something on the subject of chromed barrels (exterior vs bores): Here in the States, many of us were exposed to chrome finished barrels back in the 1960's. When Ithaca began importing SKB sxs and OUs, the barrels were finished in black chrome. (The bores were also chrome-lined.) The exterior finish of those barrels appeared dull next to standard blued barrels. Later SKB's, however--after Ithaca ceased importing the guns--had blued barrels. Although the black chrome wore relatively well, it was dropped due to concerns from Japan's version of the EPA and a toxic waste disposal problem that resulted from the black chrome process.