Old revolver

[illinoimike]

Hi there.
I know this is the S&W forum but I am amazed at the knowledge some of you have when it comes to old guns.
So, I have what I'm told is a 44cal Belgium Army Frontier made around 1880. Anyone know about this gun? I will try to get photos off my phone to post up here....The owner says it will shoot but I'm not so brave as to try.

 

[deadin]

Looks like a kissin' cousin to the one I posted here:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/241093-pair-frontiers.html

 

[illinoimike]

old frontier

cool to see those.

 

[opoefc]

It's one of the 1000s of S&W copies made in Belgium, circa 1890-1920 era. If you look at the older importer & dealer catalogs for that period you will see a variety of these guns in different calibers from .22RF to .44-40. priced at 1/3 to 1/2 of what a S&W cost. They were south of the border & in So. America with buyers who could not afford more. Ed.

 

[Thuer]

It screems BELGIUM. One of the knokoffs. I don't wannna shoot it if i don't have a good life encurance.

 

[Qball]

Well, there is a lott of information on Belgium guns on this site.
Nouvelle page 0

 

[GatorFarmer]

Not all Belgian guns from the cottage makers were bad per se, same as with the pre(Spanish)Civil War guns out of Spain. But at this late date, I'm not entirely certain how you'd know whether it was a good one or a bad one. Though if one has survived to this late date, and shows signs of use, you could assume that it at least was able to survive black powder loads.

 

[desi2358]

This appears to be one of the larger "Bulldog" type revolvers as shown in the book "British Bulldog Revolvers". Most of these copies were made in Belgium, some were well made, some were not. The Frontier branded ones were apparently intended for mail order sales in the western US. All were intended for black powder pressures, smokeless was some years down the road when these were made. I own and have shot guns of this type with black powder handloads if they were mechanically sound and had good bores and cylinders.

 

[Dr.-d]

That model revolver sold in the 1908 Sears and Roebuck & Co. Chicago ILL. catalogue No. 117 for $3.78. Blued you would have paid $3.95. Cal. listed as 44-40.
I do believe they were Belgian or Spanish made. The proof marks may tell if there are any.
The ad (with picture)reads that it is known as the imported frointier model, takes 44-40. The ad also says they do not reccommend the revolver as highly as the Colt revolver but that it is the only cheap revolver wich we can buy that takes the 44-40 cartridge.
They recommend the revolver for temporary shooting and if you shoot alot to buy a Colt.
The catalog number for the gun was 6H1434 for nickle and 6H1436 for blue.

I'd post a pic of the ad but I don't know if a 1908 Sears catalog is still Copyrighted being Sears is still in buisness.