I have a barrel with a CP stamp, C above the P and intertwined. Is this a British proof mark?
Someone on another site says CP might be a british proof mark.

Rick

Hello GSP7

That might be he London Final Proof Mark for Black Powder.
Do the interlaced C and P have a crown above them ?

Maybe this will help you more:



Cheer´s

Looks like that CP with no crown.

I will conclude that it is a british mark so this rifle has to be a british contract built

But who, Parker Hale? Is Centurion a british Co?

GSP7:

Do I understand you correctly that your rifle has a "CP" with no crown over it? If so, I don't think it is a British proof mark.

The London definitive proof mark has long been a crown over the letters "GP" (not CP) interlaced in a cypher. Yeah, it looks like "CP" but is actually "GP", which stands for "Gunmaker's Proof". This is the London mark for final, definitive proof and is not specific to black - it is used with both black and semi-smokeless.

As the crown over "GP" is, I believe, stamped at the proof house with a single die, the absent crown is strange. Either it isn't a proof mark or the crown has been stuck off during refinishing, which would be unusual. Parker-Hale was a British gunmaker. I've never heard of Centurion. What is the name on the rifle?
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Nitro , sent you a PM

I believe the proofing and marking vary between firearms sold within England and firearms exported. Perhaps the GP (makers proof) suffices for export. The crown may be added when submitted to a government proof house as required for home sale.

No, British proof doesn't vary. It was either proved in the UK or it wasn't. If a gun is proved in the UK at all, whether intended for domestic sale or export, the proof marks are the same, and always have been. The crown is an integral part of the London Definitive Proof Mark. The crown and the "GP" are stamped with the same die. The crown is either missing because this is not a British mark at all, or the Definitive Proof mark was stamped on an uneven surface, or defaced.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

What ever. Its a original 60s 0or 70s rifle . GP stamp with no crown, at the shank base, centered perfect at the top of the barrel, its very distinct and crisp. Nothing is buffed off . Just Intertwined GP.
Looks like a stamp from who ever manufactured the barrel.

Rick

400Nitro: You may well be correct for completed firearms. However we don't know if this firearm was completed in the U.K..

What do you think would be the case with a barrel only manufactured in the the U.K.? Possibly maker proved on a slave action and sent elsewhere for assembly? Haven't a clue otherwise but do know that guns imported into U.K. are not satisfactory with makers proof only and have to go through an English proof house befor they can be sold/used within U.K..

Perhaps a partially finished product is maker proved only for protection of the maker? Up to the firm that completes the rifle to do further definitive proving?

Does present a puzzle of sorts.

It occurs to me that maybe GSP7 may have been correct with his interpretation of the stamp as CP (for Centurion Proof). Does any one recall these rifles as being U.S. assembled from imported actions?

Stoker, Looking at the dehass book , it says Centurion is a marked Pasadena Calif. So its not a british Co.
The rifle could be a centurion ...?

And yes the centurions had santa barbaras marked spain on the tang,

Stocker:

Yeah, I don't think it's a proof mark. A barrel manufactured in the UK that is assembled into a completed gun in another country will not have been definitively proved in England and will not bear British definitive proof marks. The barrel could have been submitted for provisional proof, but that mark is not the same.

This has to be something else.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Just guessing, but it could be a non-British "maker's proof". Note that Winchester and Remington, for instance both stamp their rifle barrels with their own proof marks, even though no law in the United States requires such proving. Is it not possible that the same occured with whoever manufactured the Centurion?

CP Centurion Pasadena? I thought of that. I dont know if Centurion built rifles sold by Sears. The CP did look like that British stamp interlocked CP or GP...though

I bought this rifle as a fluk because it was a killer deal. Sears Mauser....