Journal

What I answer at the bench

The same questions come back, on the forums and from friends and family: this inherited shotgun, what is it and can it still be fired; how to finish a stock without ruining it; what those proof marks mean. Here I answer them once, with the sources. Nothing is for sale and nothing gets valued: when an answer needs the gun in hand, I say so.

01Identifying a gun

12 October 2026 A Belgian gun: reading the Liège proof marks, dating it, and what « ELG » means On the forums, many of the inherited shotguns people show me were proved in Liège. The same questions come back: is « ELG » a brand? How old is it? Who made it? The answers are stamped under the barrels, provided you read the marks in order and know their dates. I give them here, with my directory and its date-letter tool, and I say where the reading stops.
5 October 2026 An inherited shotgun: identify it, date it, and know whether it can still be fired A shotgun that comes out of a cupboard after a death in the family always raises the same questions: what is it, how old is it, can it still be fired, and what is it worth. The first three can largely be read on the gun itself, under the barrels and on the action, provided you know where to look and take nothing apart beyond the barrels. The fourth I do not answer, and I explain why.