Here is a very interesting 2-barrel rolling block pistol. It has the Remington marks on top of the barrels, but I am sure that it was not made by Remington in the USA. The main question I have is if this pistol might have been made under license with Remington, or if a manufacturer just used their name to sell it. There is only one other mark I could find, a star over K (perhaps R, X?) on the bottom of the action. I could not get the pistol completely taken apart so there may be other marks, especially on the bottom of the barrels under the chambers. I could only remove the lower piece that is ahead of the action, and there were no marks under that.
I am aware that Belgian manufacturers, especially Nagant, made rolling block rifles pistols I believe under license from Remington.
Does this pistol fit the pattern of any Belgian rolling block pistol?
As for the chambering of this pistol, a Webley 500 fits just right, but chamber measures about 1.5 inches long, making me think that it might have been chambered for a longer .50 calibre cartridge.
Here is the information I have:
Belgian Remington type 2-Barrel Rolling Block Pistol, cal. 500 Webley?
no serial number
barrels 168mm, overall length 270mm
marks - on bottom of action: star/R (or K)
on top of barrels: REMINGTON ARMS CO ILION NY
Saludos,
Richard
Hello Richard,
I agree with you: this very interesting pistol was surely not made by Remington. To me the marking on the barrel is bogus, for it should be either "E. Remington & Sons, Ilion, NY USA", or "Remington Arms Co UMC , Ilion, NY USA".
The K under star resembles the ordinary post-1877 Belgian controller's mark, but so far we can't be sure since you did not find any official proofmarks.
Pity you can't disassemble it to check the bottom of the barrels - did you try with a small mirror when the barrels are open? Maybe this would work.
Nagant made indeed rolling block pistols for the Belgian Gendarmerie (police), probably under "license" of Remington, but it must be said that, since Remington (just like Colt) had never applied for any patent in Belgium, the "licenses" were totally worthless. By this I mean that the company could never suit any copiers or fakers, since there was no official basis for legal action.
I do not believe, however, that this gun was made by Nagant. If it was made in Liège, the producer is probably one of the thousands unknown small homeworking gunmakers active in that area in those days.
It could also be French or Spanish.
Marcel
