need help identifying older pistol - The Firearms Forum

hotairgypsy · 11-04-2012, 06:28 PM

I bought this pistol from a friend of mine and do not know a thing about it. looked interesting. All i can do is list a bunch of pics and see if the tooling marks narrow it down....i am using big pics so you all can see the details if needed.

RJay · 11-04-2012, 07:07 PM

Well, just to get you started, It has Belgium ( Liege ) proof marks that was used after 1893, it also has the Lion over PV which shows after 1924. The Star over a Letter ( the W ) is an inspectors mark. It is a common design for s whole slew of pistols made from the late from the late 1800s until the 1940s. The other marks are not too clear but some of them are assembly numbers and some of them may be the makers marks. From the size of your hand as a scale it looks small and with a long cylinder, which may be for the 5.5 Velo Dog center fire cartridge. There may be forum members who are more ambitious and will try to match up the makers mark, it won't change the value, which is under a 100 dollars, fascinating little guns but they were made by the hundreds of thousands and don't have much value unless almost new.ADDED: There are so many marking on that gun it it somewhat confusing, One of the letters is the date code, but which one. the star over W doesn't add up because he worked 1952 until the 1960's so other than being Belgium and a rather common design , well, perhaps others can guess better.

Jim K · 11-04-2012, 07:59 PM

It was made in Liege as one of many thousands of revolvers of that general design made from about 1880 to about 1914. Some collectors call them all "velodog" revolvers, but the cylinder length indicates that one really is chambered for the velodog cartridge.

Here are a couple of sites with more info on those guns and the Liege gun making in general.

http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_Trade_Marks.html

http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge...belge%20gb.htm

Jim

11-04-2012, 06:28 PM	#1
hotairgypsy Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 1	need help identifying older pistol I bought this pistol from a friend of mine and do not know a thing about it. looked interesting. All i can do is list a bunch of pics and see if the tooling marks narrow it down....i am using big pics so you all can see the details if needed. -->

11-04-2012, 07:07 PM	#2
RJay Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,485	Re: need help identifying older pistol Well, just to get you started, It has Belgium ( Liege ) proof marks that was used after 1893, it also has the Lion over PV which shows after 1924. The Star over a Letter ( the W ) is an inspectors mark. It is a common design for s whole slew of pistols made from the late from the late 1800s until the 1940s. The other marks are not too clear but some of them are assembly numbers and some of them may be the makers marks. From the size of your hand as a scale it looks small and with a long cylinder, which may be for the 5.5 Velo Dog center fire cartridge. There may be forum members who are more ambitious and will try to match up the makers mark, it won't change the value, which is under a 100 dollars, fascinating little guns but they were made by the hundreds of thousands and don't have much value unless almost new.ADDED: There are so many marking on that gun it it somewhat confusing, One of the letters is the date code, but which one. the star over W doesn't add up because he worked 1952 until the 1960's so other than being Belgium and a rather common design , well, perhaps others can guess better. __________________ RonJames Last edited by RJay; 11-04-2012 at 07:22 PM..

11-04-2012, 07:59 PM	#3
Jim K Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 6,408	Re: need help identifying older pistol It was made in Liege as one of many thousands of revolvers of that general design made from about 1880 to about 1914. Some collectors call them all "velodog" revolvers, but the cylinder length indicates that one really is chambered for the velodog cartridge. Here are a couple of sites with more info on those guns and the Liege gun making in general. http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_Trade_Marks.html http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge...belge%20gb.htm Jim