Has anyone else seen this problem?
This old S&W 45 Long Colt must have started life as a 455 Webly.
The ~.454" 5 grouve bore has bumps under all three Brit proof marks.



[ 03-29-2003, 22:57: Message edited by: Clark ]

Thanks for re-wording it; now the question is clear.

Carcano

[ 04-03-2003, 02:56: Message edited by: carcano91 ]

Clark--

Anything imported into England has to be proofed before sale.

I've owned several American handguns that were stamped by some friggen GO-rilla at the proof house so you could read them on both sides of the barrel. One was a really fine 8 3/8 pre-Model 29 S&W still in the black box with the certification and target. The proof house ruined the gun. I paid $100 for it.

It can usually be fixed enough to shoot by lapping.

[ 03-29-2003, 23:25: Message edited by: JBelk ]

Thanks for posting that. Something to watch for.

Good Lord! Either those barrels a VERY THIN!! OR, some proof-house employee had a heavy hammer!! (Maybe a bit of both, eh??).

I walked out of a fast food place in uniform and noticed a guy next to a motorcycle. Had he not looked at me and quickly walked away from the bike, I would have walked around the corner of the building and went about my business. I called him back and checked things out. A stolen motorcylce with the serial number filed off the motor. He made a trip to jail and the motorcycle made a trip to the impound lot. A few days later, a crime lab type called and told me he had been able to raise the filed off serial number on the engine. If I remember correctly, he used some sort of acid solution. He explained that when the serial numbers are punched in the block, the metal is either displaced or compressed giving the metal crystals below a different, to want of the correct memory, texture. The change is deep. The difference is enough to react at different rates to acid thus allowing the serial number to be raised. Since that day I cannot look at my rifles and wonder how punching the name in the side of the barrel cannot help but affect accuracy. I wonder, but don't worry about it.

I know some good long-range shooters who would not allow a front sight attachment point on the muzzle end of their barrels that screwed into the barrel; their comment was drilling and tapping the hole would cause a dimple in the bore.

Instead they used an sight base arrangement that clamped around the barrel to avoid any such.

jim dodd

If I'm not mistaken that's a Birmingham proof mark which I am not surprised at. They have a bad reputation for stuff like this in comparison to London (yes we have 2 proof houses). I know a couple of smiths who only send stuff to London.

It is possible to ask for engraved vs stamped.