Remington Elliot .32 questions

[Ben-Nicholson]

I have just acquired my first Remington Elliot .32 and have some basic questions.
1) Are there blocks of serial numbers for the .22 and .32, or are the two calibers mixed in the serial number sequence? How do I determine the actual date of my SN 11,0XX? Was the production run from 1863-1888, and if so where would the 11,000- 11,100 range fit?
2) Is the B mark on L.H. frame above the grips an inspection mark, and if so how many different inspectors were there and what are their letters?
3) I have some .32 RF short ammo, with a big U headstamp, (Union Metallic Carbide) and greased lead bullets. Is it safe to fire? How do I know if this is black powder?
4) I've located the patents on Google, but still wanting to know more about the history of Dr. William H. Elliot. Is there an essay or book about him. Ive checked John Karns' "Remington Elliot Repeaters" essay in American Rifleman 1989 and Roy Mariot's History of Remington Firearms for general info. He was such an interesting dentist & gun inventor, that surely there is more on him somewhere.
5) has anyone figured out how many .32's and .22's were actually produced? Some say 12,000 others 25,000, with 80% being .32's and 20% .22's. that's a big difference.
6).In time I would like to make a Wikipedia entry for the Remington Elliot 4 and 5 barrels, to compliment the entry on the Zig-Zag.
Thanks.

[admin]

I made the ZigZag and the Parlor Pistol entries.

They made little over 10,000 5 barrels and nearly 26,000 4 barrels starting at 1 serials for each, not mixed, not batches.
There's also two frames on the 4 barrels from all my "watching" I guess some would call research they change somewhere around 18,000 where the side frames were lowered.

All the patents I could find are all in the gallery if people find any missing and let me know I add.

There's quite a bit of information on Elliot in the Double book http://www.remingtonsociety.org/remingt ... -deringer/

Here's a frame line up I took after several people told me I was crazy, once you see it, it's obvious