| I won't attempt to
cover the all ins and outs of German proof law here in
detail, but there are a few bits useful for dating that
frequently come in handy. Guns
and rifles built in Germany and the German principalities
before the 1890s typically did not carry proof marks, but
the 1891 proof law 'grandfathered' these arms by mandating
that they be submitted to the proof house and marked with a
crown-over-V, the V standing for vorrat or 'on hand'. Any
German gun or Rifle carrying a crown-over-V dates to 1891 or
earlier.
Marks showing crowns over the
letters B, U, (proof approved); G (rifled barrel), S
(smoothbore) and W (choked barrel) span the period from the
first German proof law until 1939, but there are other marks
usually present that can narrow the date range greatly.
Rifles marked with only an
indication of powder charge and bullet type as shown below
date to 1912 or before:
2,67 g GBP
St m G
These marks show 2,67 grams of
Gewehr Blättchen Pulver (military flake powder) and
Stahl-mantel Geschoss (steel jacketed bullet). Other
possible types are "K m G" for Kupfer-mantel Geschoss
(copper jacket) and "Bl G" for Blei Geschoss (plain lead
bullet).
After 1912 marks were changed to
show just bullet type and bullet weight as in:
St m G
12 g
usually accompanied with a
crown-over-N or the word Nitro, specifying smokeless powder.
Shotgun barrels of this era will
sometimes be marked with a powder charge over a shot weight,
but the style of the marks didn't change markedly over time.
Note, however, that some will be marked with the
high-pressure proof load, while others will be marked with
the standard service load. Shotgun barrels will also be
marked with the gauge designation in a circle and, unless
they are specifically stamped otherwise, will be chambered
for 65mm or 2-1/2" shells. As an interesting sidelight, I
have seen more than one German double rifle advertised that
bore crown-over-W marks on the underside of the barrels. A
closer inspection revealed that their rifled barrels had
been sleeved into the shotgun barrels or block and they were
in no way original, or perhaps even safe. Caveat emptor!
The most frustrating but perhaps the
most useful marks of the 1891-1939 era are the various sets
of just numbers often present. The two most common sets of
numbers applied were bore dimensions and actual proof dates.
Rifles from later in this era are
sometimes stamped with a bore (not groove) diameter in
milimeters, the most common being 8,8mm for one of the 9,3mm
cartridges and 7,7mm for one of the many 8mm cartridges.
Many earlier rifles will be found
with numbers indicating the "gauge" diameter of the bore
(not groove). For instance 108/49 would indicate a bore
diameter from .350-.359" and hence likely to be a 9,3mm
chambering of some kind, while 172/28 (.300-.309") would
indicate an 8mm of some kind.
See table below for rifle gauge
numbers.
The other set of numeric marks often
found on both rifles and guns is the actual date code of
proof. The style of these numbers can easily be confused
with the gauge markings described above, so be aware that
both possibilities exist. Typical date codes will be three
or four digits signifying month and year, as in 513 for May,
1913, or 1127 for November of 1927. Sometimes there will be
a dot or slash between the month and year, but most often
they are just run together. Often the date code is above a
line, with another number below the line. The number below
the line is that gun's actual entry number in the proof
house records for that month and year.
All of the preceeding notwistanding,
there is a great deal of variation in proof marks of German
guns and entire books have been written on the subject of
proofs. One of the proof mark books we offer is Notes on
the Proof of Shotguns and other small Arms, which is
available from
our bookshop.
With so little information yet
discovered about so many German makers, a working knowledge
of proof marks can be your guide to the hidden histories of
German sporting arms.
Rifle Gauge Table
A brief table that is pretty helpful
for pre-WWI German rifles shows the use of fractional
'gauge' numbers for barrel diameters. This was largest plug
gauge diameter that would fit in the bore. The British proof
law of 1868 had set up standard gauge sizes from .300"
(172.28 gauge) to .450" (51.05 gauge) in .010" increments in
the same sense that a shotgun bore is gauged, by the number
of round lead balls of that diameter that make a pound. The
Germans adopted this somewhat awkward system as well.
Gauge - inch
51.05 - .450
54.61 - .440
58.50 - .430
62.78 - .420
67.49 - .410
72.68 - .400
78.41 - .390
84.77 - .380
91.83 - .370
99.70 - .360
108.49 - .350 very common on 9,3mms
118.35 - .340 somewhat common on 9,3mms
129.43 - .330
141.95 - .320
156.14 - .310
172.28 - .300 very common on 8mms
These are most frequently seen with
a / instead of the decimal point, as in 172/28 or 84/77 |
