Brevete side by side

[Debrid]

I have a Brevete 16 guage. What is it?

[Lee Lapin]

Welcome aboard, Debrid.

Take a look at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=236492 and see if this describes your shotgun.

lpl

[Dave McCracken]

Verily, welcome.

It's French. French guns are a real mystery here, and probably in France also. Oodles of small,unknown makers oft using Belgian made parts.

Lots of French guns came back from France in dufflebags in 1918 and many more in 1945. While many were well made of good materials, there's some common problems.

First, The Curse of Short Chambers is on many of these. Older ammo was made by roll crimping instead of the more common pie crimps seen today. If the chamber was bored for the old 2 9/16" case that was standard for the 16 gauge then has a modern, longer round fired pressures can spike way past safe levels.

Some barrel do not have enough metal where it counts to lengthen the chambers. Short ammo is available, but not at box stores.

Any decent smith can tell you if this is true with yours.

Most of these are also over choked with today's better patterning ammo. Easily rectified. Not cheap though.

As with ALL older shotguns, a check by a qualified smith before firing is a darn good idea.

HTH....