Clement Pottet: Father of the Shotgun Shell

[Bob Riebe]

Clement Pottet was one of the original fathers of the modern shotgun shell. He took the work of men like Pauly and developed a paper-walled, metallic-base shell for shotgun use. He had two main French patents on his work, the first in 1829 and a followup in 1855. The shell he designed in the 1820s remained fundamentally unchanged for more than a century, until plastic replaced paper for the shell body.

Today we are looking at one of Pottet’s original shotguns, designed for his ammunition. It is a double barrel side-by-side type, with a unique rotary action to open and close.

Thanks to the Liege Arms Museum for access to film this for you! If you are in Belgium, definitely plan to stop into the museum, part of the Grand Curtius. They have a very good selection of interesting and unusual arms on display.