Damascus anomaly

[ArtS]

I couldn't get a good picture of all the marks. Most are understood.

At the fron are 8844, C 46, and 10x. Spacing varies between letters and numbers. There is a single B on the fore end loop.

At the rear are CANON DE GALAND, FABRICANT A PARIS, 17.8 and CHOKE. All pretty obvious. There is also a capital M with an asterisk over which is an 1877- Belgium inspector's mark and thePost 1853 Radio Tower proof mark. There is an oval cartouche that is essentially gone so no info. The only thing that looks like a maker's mark is a square punched field that contains a pair of interlaced semicircular shaped horns, or that is my take on it under a magnifier. I couldn't locate anything like it in the limited references I had on the subject.

I knowGaland was better known for revolvers, but I have seen several very nice doubles from him. This gun is marked Galand Paris on the top rib, and he had shops both there and in belgium. The bottom of the barrel would seem to indicate that it was manufactured in Paris in his Paris shop, but the proofs show that either it went to Melgium for proof or the barrel was proofed there. Probably late 1870's. The intertwined antlers may be the barrel maker mark.

[ArtS]

By the way. The 17.8 makes no sense, as that is not even 12 bore, and the chamber is a perfect fit for a modern 10 gauge 3-1/2". I don't have a 10 gauge bore gauge.

[Drew Hause]

You've no doubt seen this
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge...14367%20gb.htm

The proof marks indicate that at least the barrels, and likely the action was made in Belgium, and possibly finished in Galand's shop in Paris. Very common.

When you get a chance chalk the intertwined antlers marks and I'll try to ID the maker.

18.4 = .724" which would be the standard 12g bore of the time.

Apparently there were some 3 1/2" and 4" English 10g black powder loads in the 1880s. In the 1890s Winchester offered the 10 gauge in 2 1/2, 2 9/16, 2 3/4, 2 7/8, 3, 3 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch shells.

The Belgian Proof House typically marked the bore at the time of preliminary proof, and it is possible Galand bored the barrel and chamber to 10g in Paris.
Have you measured the end-of-chamber wall thickness?

Odd that it is marked CHOKE.
NON POUR BALLE was used for choked unrifled bores 1878 - 1897

[Dean Romig]

Parker Bros. in-house made Laminated Steel barrels are a good example of this. I have three of them and they are composed of roughly 15” segments butt-welded together.





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[ArtS]

As to the bore, it is definitely marked 17.8, which is very close to 0.700". The entire barrel assembly profile is very close to the outside dimensions of a W&C Scott 8 gauge from 1872 which I own. I suspect that Galand may have made one gun for 12, 10 and 8 gauges, so the outside would have been duplicated and fit the same action. I think the 10 x mark may be related to the 10 gauge chambering (10x being a long chamber?). As mentioned, the chamber wall at the back is over 0.36" at the thinnest. Based on the outside taper, the thickness at the front would be around 0.32", and near 0.5" under the octagon corners.
I will try to measure the length with a 10 gauge chamber gauge. It has enough length to measure longer than 3-1/2".

I don't know if a tracing will work, but I will try or maybe make a scketch.

[ArtS]

I checked the chamber and it appears to be 3-1/2". A new 3-1/2" 10 gauge brass shell fits with no play, as does a 3-1/2" new primed Cheddite. My Brownell's 10 bore chamber gauge only goes in to the 2-7/8" mark, but I have run into this before.

The entire twist forward section is exactly 1.00" outside. That makes the wall thickness from the butt section forward right at 0.10". The muzzle measures approximately 0.723". That amounts to a whopping choke of around 0.075" constriction.

I tried a tracing of the mark with no luck. I held it under a lighted desk magnifier and sketched it as well as I could. The picture is included. The arrow indicates the direction that indicates what I beliefe to be up. All the inspector and proof marks around it are oriented this way. Note that the box I sketched is actually the base of a square punch which was struck hard enough to impact the base into the barrel. The actual mark is only the curves inside. The mark itself is only about 1/4"square.

I had looked before at the littlegun.be link you listed. My gun is very similar to the first gun (the Model 16). However mine is much larger and, I believe built to a higher grade. The actions are very similar as to style and shape, but mine is built with a swivel underlever and wedge fore end attachment. The action has engraving and the wood is of a very high grade. Also, the guns shown are in the 15K to 20K serial number range. Mine is 44xx. The writeup shows they had shops in London and Liege. Mine is marked Galand Paris and is stamped as Manufacturer in Paris (in French). I have no doubt however that it was made and proofed in Liege and likely finished in Paris for that market.

[Drew Hause]

I suspect that is what is left of the Le Banc d'épreuve des armes à feu de Liège provisional proof mark

This is a Lefever and the mark is often distorted with barrel finishing

[ArtS]

I think you are correct Drew. The top half looks like what I have.
Thanks for the effort.