Bindii, the difference between Civilian/trade pattern and Military was the Crown and War Office/broad arrow marks.
All firearms made in England had to have the basic proofs, Manufacturers stamps and identifiers plus barrel proofs and acceptance stamps from either Birmingham or London.
Rifles made specifically for civilian/trade use were sometimes lacking in makers identifier, manufacture date and calibre, whereas rifles made specifically for the military under contract were covered with military identifiers.
The Treatise, although aimed specifically towards the military arms, does cover Trade Pattern, same volume 3 chapter 40. Common sense applied to the interpretation of these marks will define the military from the civilian trade, only Enfield and Sparkbrook were dedicated military manufacturers, all others contracted to the military, whilst maintaining their civilian trade.
Yes Muff I have a handle on all that. Thanks any way. My Q is the impress of civvie firearms for home guard use, were they reproofed before issue by the M O D in which case they would have the military proof stamp or part there of.
Who has an impressed rifle handy? Does it bear any military proofing marks in addition to the commercial ones?
Closest thing I can tell when jumping back and forth between tabbed photos is that it does resemble a poorly struck or partially scrubbed 1st proof. Note the word resemble.
In regard to possibly being a knights head, the remnant marking isn't close enough to be either an Eibar proof or a WKC hallmark. So we can discount those two which are the most commonly seen from our niche in collectorville.
I'm still away from home and away from books until very possibly today sometime.
2 week job became 3 months and I don't have cold weather clothing with me.
I’m of the opinion it is a half struck crown also and it’s what I thought before reading the rest of the posts.
regarding proofing impressed weapons. There may have been hard and fast rules for those bought in bulk, but for those that were just taken on by HG units, they likely just had commercial proofs.
And not all military arms received proof. STEN guns for example were never proofed as it was thought pointless on a blow back gun.
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