Hello,
first of all, I am not into double guns at all, so please correct me If I got anything wrong. Some time ago, I bought this well (ab-)used Francotte out of curiosity as a wallhanger. It was relatively cheap and I wanted to get a grip on a sidelock once (just as I bought an AK training model when they were still allowed). It came in a larger lot of well-used shotguns representing mostly the lower end of the European market in the last century. I guess that these guns were handed in for destruction.
I am trying now to research the gun a little bit. I think it used to be a calibre 12 gun with 7-pin sidelock, concealed third fastener, bushed firing pins, articulated front trigger and it is stocked to the fences. Probably it was self-opening, but the mechanism is now stuck.
According to the serial number and the Belgian proof-marks, the gun was made in 1929 by Auguste Francotte Liege, Belgium. The barrels are marked “Aug. Francotte Bte a Liege” on top and with Francotte Chokebore and the usual “crown over AF” from below. In front of the trigger guard, around the maker name, it says “Made under patent 308906”.
Obviously, it used to be no. 2 of a pair, as marked on the lever and the metal part of the forend.
Furthermore, there is a silver (?) monogram plate below the lower sling swivel, which is not readable any more.
The bluing is well worn, especially on the lower side and the trigger guard is bent. The gun was reproofed in Germany early in 1971. I guess that, at the same time, the barrels were reblued (there seems to be some pitting under the blueing) and the Pachmayr “White Line” pad was added:
Some things are still unclear to me:
What is the patent number standing for? I did not find it in any online patent research. I just found one other gun bearing the same patent number. It’s a much nicer gun with a serial number a little bit earlier from the same year:
https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjul...ith-case-35813/ Since the wood and engraving are rather plain, I was surprised that the serial number actually falls into the medium grade range; I would have expected bottom grade. Also, if you want to buy cheap, you usually don’t buy a pair of shotguns, no? Furthermore, the combination of a sidelock (no real technical advantage, just more space for engraving) and finish without much engraving somehow does not make sense to me. Was this gun maybe intended to be a more expensive gun but finished cheaply?
I took a look at the annual production numbers of Francotte doubles (calculated from the serial numbers published here
https://www.doublegunshop.com/dgsnos2.htm):
[img]
http://abload.de/img/francotteproductionnu4rj7v.jpg[/img]
It seems that before the first world war, the majority of the guns were medium grade. After the break during WW1, the production of bottom grade guns increased and soon reached the same level as medium grade. Around 1930, the production of both grades dropped considerably (world economic crisis?), with only the bottom grade recovering and even reaching higher values than the peak of medium grades in the mid of the 1930ies. My guess is that either the demand of cheaper guns increased in the 1930ies or the overall standard of all models was increased by Francotte (with the high-runners in the mid-class now being bottom grade).
Is there anything else that you can tell me about the gun? These kind of deacts will be forbidden over here end of this year. I am thinking about whether I spend the effort trying to somehow keep it somehow or not.
And of course it woud be very interesting if anybody knew no.1, probably serial 86194.
