Album: Colts' Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co. and Remington Arms Co. Damascus

An E. Remington & Sons broadsheet from 1854 lists "Matched barrels for double guns" -- Plain Iron $4.50 -- Stubs twist, plain $8.00 -- Stubs twist, fine $10.00 -- cast steel $8.00 -- and solid or drilled from single bar $15.00. NAMED PATTERNS used by Remington were London (Stub Twist), Twist, Laminated, Boston N. (Horse-shoe pattern), Boston 2 S.J. (2 Iron Crolle), Oxford 2 & 4 S.J. (2 & 3 Iron Crolle in several different patterns), Chain J, Etoile 3. B.P., Legia P. (Herring-bone pattern), Washington N 3. B.P. ("Stars & Stripes" or "American Flag Bunting"), Chine P ('mottled'), Ohonon 6 S.T., and Pieper P. The Remington Damascus salesman's sample rod is shown on p. 275 of Charles Semmer's "Remington Double Shotguns". Damascus barrels with possible Belgian maker's marks include 'HP', frequently found on Oxford 4, likely Henri Pieper. Pieper had a separate barrel factory in Nessonvaux. Oxford patterns are used from the Model 1876 to the 1900 KED. A grade and Etoile pattern 1894s are found with a fused 'JP', possibly the mark of J. Pire & Cie, a large munitions firm established in Liege in 1885. The significance of 'S.J.' (Boston 2 and Oxford 2 & 4) is uncertain, but could be Simonis-Janssen. Albert Simonis, J. Janssen & Demoulin Fils was established in 1883 and used the mark 'S.J.& D.' The meaning of 'B.P.' (Washington N and Etoile) is unclear. Claude Gaier's "Four Centuries of Liege Gunmaking" states that Ernest Heuse-Lemoine of Nessonvaux named both "Washington" and "Boston" patterns for the US market. Boston N. and Boston 2 first appear on the Model 1878. Boston and Washington patterns are also found on Baker and Ithaca guns. There were at least 20 different Belgian companies that operated under the name Thonon from approximately 1836 to 1941. At least one, Fernand Thonon & Co. was the proud distributor of arms to courts of Italy and the court of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Remington graded the damascus barrels on Model 1894 guns as follows: A Grade: "Two stripe Damascus" (Boston and Oxford 2) B Grade: "Three stripe Damascus" (Oxford 4 and Chain J) C Grade: "Finer Damascus" (Etoile and Washington) D Grade: "Very fine (Four stripe) Damascus" (Chine and Ohonon) E Grade: "Finest Damascus" (Peiper and Legia) The Model 1900 was offered with Remington steel (K) or Two stripe Damascus (KD). The Remington Arms Co. inventory letter for the Model 1894 double was 'P'. The letter for Model 1900 was 'Q'. SPECIAL THANKS to Daryl Hallquist and David Noreen.

Colt used high quality damascus from Plunger-Riga & Heuse-Riga Fils., Nessonvaux. http://heuse.spahistoire.info/henriheuse.html Colt Model 1883 Hammerless was in production from 1883-1895 with a serial range of approx. 1-3,050 and 4,055-8,365. Each gun was essentially a custom order and was the most expensive American made shotgun of it's day. The 1888 catalog lists Twist, Laminated, and Damascus barrels for the 1878 hammer gun, and Damascus or Finest Damascus for the 1883 hammerless.