It's a 'pin fire',,describing the type of cartridge primer system used. Revolvers, rifles and shotguns were all made in 'pin fire' style and many different calibers and gauges.
The origin of the pinfire may be France,,but the Belgians and even the Germans and Austrians built many arms requiring this type of cartridge.
The Belgian arms making industries in particular turned out K upon K of these. Some a direct copy of French designs(licensed or not) others of Belgian design.
Many more were made by hand labor in the Pakistan, Afganistan region.
The cartridges are somewhat easy to reload and even make. A common percussion cap of the day being set inside upon which the 'pin' is driven down into to ignite the usually blackpowder charge.
A selfconcontained cartridge using a percussion cap as an internal primer.
They have to be handled w/care for obvious reasons,especially if the pin isn't sealed in place at all.
A friend used to load and shoot a 12ga pinfire SxS. I never liked the idea of loading the cases up after the cap & the pin were already in place in the case,,much less handling them for fear of dropping one and having it hit on the pin. But he never experienced any problems,,at least not that he bragged about.
Look for proof marks on the gun indicating the country of origin. Other markings may be of the maker,,they may be of a retailer instead.
More than one countrys proof marks are somewhat common with the gun being proofed when & where it was made then reproofed if retailed/sold in another (European) country.
Quite a few of these came to the USA as War souveniers (commonly called 'bring backs') in both WW1 and WW2.
They never seem to stir much collector or dollar interest,,usually just the initial interest over the ignition system when the cartridges are seen along with one of the guns.
An original French made pinfire is said to be 'worth more" than the Belgian made editions,,but it's been a long time since I've seen anyone fight over one.
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