I am new to the forum. I am looking for information to identify a muzzleloader that I have been refurbishing. About 4 years ago I found it in an antique shop badly rusted. The only thing that could be made out was MADE IN ITALY. I gave it to a man who has been a lifelong shooter to clean up. I recently got it back and I am trying to identify the manufacturer. In the course of sanding off the rust, most of the stamped manufacturers marks were lost. In other persons postings I learned a bit which I see on this Kentucky Rifle. There is a double diamond mark which may be EUROMANUFACTURE REPLICA ARMS, but no other possible marks that can be identified. There is a faint stamping that says ARMS on the barrel. A faint serial number of 1048 can be seen with a magnifying glass near the tang. Also a stamping of Cal .4 is on the barrel which was damaged by sanding. My guess is that it is cal.44. I do not belive that it is a Euro Arms gun or an ARMI SPORT based in the Double Diamond which A.Mainardi used around 1970 -1971 when he formed EUROMANUFACTURE with his brother in Brescia Italy.. I can not find a listing of serial numbers or other information. If anyone could help, I would appreciate it.
Greetings from PaulTags
- Thread starter PaulTags
- Start date
lightman
Member
Welcome Aboard! Sorry, not much help on your muzzle loader. It sounds like an interesting project!
CoalCrackerAl
Member
Hi Paul welcome. Please check out our black powder area.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?forums/blackpowder.12/
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?forums/blackpowder.12/
Moved to Blackpowder as it is a more fitting sub forum.
hawg
Member
NO, it's not Euroarms. The double diamond logo was originally owned by MOFRA. Euromanafacture bought MOFRA out in 1980. Serial numbers on Italian black powder guns doesn't mean anything. If you want to date it there's a date code consisting on two letters in a box or Roman numerals on it somewhere.
Ephraim Kibbey
Member
Depending on the proofing date code, if you can find it, the "ARMS" you see is probably the end of either "REPLICA ARMS" of either Texas or Ohio or "NAVY ARMS" of New Jersey. All were importers. Both the Ohio and New Jersey companies imported MOFRA but Navy Arms bought out RA before Euromanufacture was established so "NAVY ARMS" is my guess for the importer of your rifle. Euromanufacture was bought out by Palmetto around 1980 so the date code for your rifle should be in the 1970's. The Italian Date Codes for that decade start as combinations of Roman and Arabic numerals with 1970 being "XXVI," 1971 as "XX7," 1972 as "XX8," 1973 as "XX9" and 1974 as "XXX." In 1975 the codes switched to a combination of capital letters in a rectangle termed a cartouche. 1975 was "AA," 1976 was "AB," 1977 was "AC," 1978 was "AD," 1979 was "AE," 1980 was "AF," and in 1981 they skipped AG and used "AH." "AE" and "AF" are hard to distinguish in partial or damaged stampings. On rifles, muskets and single shot pistols, Euromanufacture and other manufacturers often put these and the proof marks on the left side of the barrel near the breech with the muzzle pointed away. With a magnifying glass and intense light, you might be able to see their remnants. If you post pictures we may be able to identify the model since RINGO of POUDRE NOIRE in France has digitized a copy of the Euromanufacture catalog. Good Luck!
Ephraim Kibbey
Member
Here is the link to the French Black Power site with the Euromanufacture catalog posted by RINGO (in several sections separated by other comments) but, unless you are fluent in French, you should use "Google Translate" to make reading the post easier: https://repliquesoldwest.superforum.fr/t7403-catalogue-euromanufacture-a-mainardi-1980
hawg
Member
I think EIG imported MOFRA and also probably Euromanufacture. It may have been FIE tho. I really don't think it would have been Navy Arms since they imported higher quality guns. EIG and FIE handled the lower quality guns.
alsaqr
Member
Welcome from southwest Oklahoma.
Ephraim Kibbey
Member
I have a MOFRA Paterson marked "Replica Arms Marietta, Ohio" which is very well made.
This Euromanufacture Paterson (Not Mine) was sold in a Navy Arms box:
The MOFRA, EUROMANUFACTURE and PALMETTO Patersons are the same tooling passed from one owner to the next.
This Euromanufacture Paterson (Not Mine) was sold in a Navy Arms box:
The MOFRA, EUROMANUFACTURE and PALMETTO Patersons are the same tooling passed from one owner to the next.
hawg
Member
Cool, good to know. Then Euroarms probably used the same tooling since they bought out Palmetto altho it wasn't the tooling that was a problem for Euromanufacture or Palmetto it was QC.
whughett
Member
Can’t help with any ID but can offer some advise on any future restoration projects. There are much better ways to remove rust than the destructive method of using g abrasives.
I returned a civil war era Remington revolver to display condition using Evaporust. Took a few weeks of soaking but the majority of the markings survived.
I returned a civil war era Remington revolver to display condition using Evaporust. Took a few weeks of soaking but the majority of the markings survived.
Similar threads
- Locked
