I picked this up only because it was dirt cheap but don't know alot about it and neither did the shop where I bought it from. (online).
It's a 12 gauge made by Meteor Fabrique D'Armes Liege.I think the chamber is 2.75 inches but not 100% sure. The bore looks good and the action locks up really tight. Both hammers work good and the is no play in them. I tried sticking a dime down the bores and to me it looks like both barrels are full choke and 29.25 inches long.
Here's a few pics and any info on the age of this gun would be great.
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Make sure it's not 16 gauge, many of these were not marked and a 12 gauge will blow it up if it's a 16 gauge, I have seen the results of someone doing this on an old side by side. Nice find by the way.
"Fast is fine, But accuracy is everything" Wyatt Earp
"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolph Hitler – 1933
etprescottazusa91 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 11:58 am
Make sure it's not 16 gauge, many of these were not marked and a 12 gauge will blow it up if it's a 16 gauge, I have seen the results of someone doing this on an old side by side. Nice find by the way.
Oh it's a 12 gauge for sure as I tried a 16 gauge shell and the rim of it went halfway down the chamber.
As for shooting it I may be a bit leary but wondering if those Federal shorty shells would be ok to shoot. These 1 3/4 inch shells can't produce as much pressure as a 2 3/4 in can they?
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I won't shoot a Damascus barrel firearm. Not an old one. They get rust in the "seams" of the steel and will open up if your not careful. I think you can have them xrayed and then if they find it OK, then it is fine. But that is not cheap.
Let Jim tell you. He knows everything about these old shotguns.
Belgian shotguns like this were heavily imported to north America 1890's-1920's. This one looks post 1900, but not by much. Barrel looks like regular steel, but it's not in my hands so you will need to eyeball it closely for wavy lines in the steel that would indicate a Damascus twist, or laminated steel barrel. These barrels were black powder and can suffer from internal corrosion , regular steel should only be shot with low pressure loads in something like this. I bet it locks up tight, see the deep peen marks all around the locking lugs on the barrel? Somebody did that to take up the slack on a very sloppy gun. I never saw anyone go that far with one of these before, and that " fix" will not last long with regular shooting. All that does is push up a small ridge of metal along the edge of the lug, the lugs do not have full contact with the receiver anymore. I would not trust firing that with anything more than blanks. I have a lot of these, they look great up over a fireplace, or on a rack, gives it that cool old time grandpa's house look. Or for display to daughters prospective boyfriends along with an explanation of what rock salt loads are for. Most Belgian imports were mid level quality comparable to the guns made here by Crescent arms. All sorts of names were put on them, either by the manufacturer, or at the request of the buyer, they sold in catalogs and hardware stores as basic working guns for the farm, or lower budget bird hunting. Belgian markers also produced some higher end guns, but you see more of them by the 1920's when the demand for lower priced guns in the US had dropped. Yea, that peened lug shit would worry me if I wanted a shooter, as a wallhanger it doesn't matter, still an antique, just not a shooting one.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
Is the left side missing part of the firing pin? Check the chamber to see if it's 2 3/4, many older ones aren't, and remove the locks to check the condition of the parts for wear. I have seen locks on these so worn the will bump fire.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
Sonny wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:04 am
Thanks for the info JYD and I'm going to heed your advice and keep this as a wall hanger.
My face is to pretty to have it blown up.
You are one step closer to being able to furnish a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Your shotgun will look really good wherever you end up hanging it.
"Fast is fine, But accuracy is everything" Wyatt Earp
"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolph Hitler – 1933
Those rounds have around 1350 muzzle energy, compared to about 2600 for a 2 3/4 Winchester super X. You say it is tight locked up, I'd probably have to shoot it, if that left firing pin is ok. I might tie it to a tree and pull trigger with a string first time or two.
" There are two kinds of people, the good people and the ones that aggravate the hell out of the good people"
Right below the Belgian proof-letters ELG in an oval is another oval with the numbers 12-65. this is the gauge and chamber length.
65 m/m equals 2 9/16 inch. Also it's a common misconception that "light" trap loads equal less pressure-not always the case. Any smokeless load will generate pressures in excess of black powder.
Thagomizer wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2020 4:39 pm
Right below the Belgian proof-letters ELG in an oval is another oval with the numbers 12-65. this is the gauge and chamber length.
65 m/m equals 2 9/16 inch. Also it's a common misconception that "light" trap loads equal less pressure-not always the case. Any smokeless load will generate pressures in excess of black powder.
