Belgium 7 shot Revolver

dandyduct

I bought an old Belgium 7 shot Revolver from a gun dealer at a show. He told me that it was an 1888 Belgium made 7.62.

This gun in my opinion is good to very good condition. It has some small pits and has the original finish. I have shot this gun using the 7.62 nagant ammo and it hits the black at 50 feet in the indoor range. This was using the official 50-foot target slow fire. (There was no recoil at all.) A good target pistol.

This gun is nothing like the Russian made Nagant. Does not even look the same at all.

It has a safty on the left-hand side of the frame just above the handgrip. The handgrip is made of some sort of dyed bone, hand carved. Under the grip on the frame are several sets of numbers.

Here are my questions:

Are the number 22 on the frame, the plant at which the gun was made?

If so, what stamps on the gun would indicate the date of production?

Does anyone know who W. Grah is? The gun is stamped W.Grah's patent Liege Belgium.

There are all sorts of stamps and lettering all over this gun. They all seem to match from the barrel to the frame and cylender. Could W. Grah had this gun made just for him? The initials are on the handgrip in a circle.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


Thank you,
Mr. Dandy Duct

sea50service

Hello Dandy Duct. I have for some time noticed your attempts to find info on your revolver. The little I have tooffer;William Grah with adress Impasse Jonckeu, Liege is noted in a Belgian book of gunmakers 1879-1927 . Not very well known as this is the only thing I have found (searching a lot of books). There was hundreds of small "cellar" type manufacturers in Liege, mostly making reasonably close copies of more well known manufacturers models. Most of these small factories made a lot of different guns in small series. The 22 could be the serial number. If proofed in Belgium it will probably have a lion of some sort stamped. Turning left or right, stending on four legs or real legs? All other markings, crowned letters, kould help determine age. As to Grahs patent, i'm sure you have heard of Colt Brevete's made in Belgium.Brevette means patent though Colt had nothing to do with them, so patent didn't mean much in Liege. The Nagant brothers (Belgians) made dozens of different revolver models, so I guessit could be a copy of one of them. Pictures would help.