Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman, and many others, are in this book “Liège Gunmakers through their Work. 1800 - 1950”.
For more detail see: LIEGE GUNMAKERS
Philippe Counet
THE REVOLVER: This is a hefty revolver we found in Argentina. It is chambered for the .450 pistol or .450 Adams cartridge. It has a barrel that is 5-1/2 inches long (140mm), and its overall length is 10-5/8 inches (270mm).
For size comparison we have shown this revolver with a Smith & Wesson 1st Model DA Revolver in 44 Russian.
The action works well both SA and DA The gun has been cleaned and polished to the point where no manufacturing marks are visible, the only marks visible is an arrow on the serrated roller screw on the left of the action and the serial number which is repeated on all main parts. In fact it looks like an almost exact copy of the Webley except that the section that angles back under the cylinder release, which is a curved line on the Webleys, is a straight line on this gun, more like the Francotte Webley-Pryse revolvers that were made under license. There is still some surface roughness, or what is left of surface pitting, in inaccessible spots where the buffing didn’t penetrate.
THE .450 ADAMS CARTRIDGE
The .450 was a cartridge that originally was used in converted Beaumont-Adams revolvers in the early 1870s. It became the British Army’s first centerfire round.
The .450 was the forerunner of the .455 Webley round, and it was in use in South America right up into the 20th century.
I have seen .450 pistols shooting reloads with cut-down cases from Colt 45 Long cartridges.
Dave & Richard Young
The weapon
It is about a Counet revolver to double pedal already identified on the site in the Counet page.
Punches
The weapon seems to have sudden a vigorous cleaning since no punch is more visible.
Markings
The mark “Arrow” is well a mark used by the interested party!
The inventor
COUNET Philippe was a rather prolific arms manufacturer of Liège since it deposited 16 patent during his career.
It collaborated in particular with Auguste Francotte and D.D.Levaux. (See its history in the same page of the site).
GG
