500 BPE Education Note - 06/05/12 01:59 AM
Several years back I asked this forum to help me out on an engraved note on the reciever of my 1883 H&H BPE, "charge 5 drams NA, case 3 inches". The question, what does the NA stand for? I asked a lot of people from, H&H London to the Birmingham Proof House, in this country and Britain.
Well it turns out, through a fellow sxs enthuisiast's (Calif Sxs Society) perserverance on the internet. He googled that NA is the International Hazardous Materials Symbol for "Black powder for small arms". A mystery finally solved! 1883 was a turning point for the use of nitro as well as black powder, and H&H evidently wanted to make sure their rifle was not blown away with somebody using a nitro charge in it!
Thoght you guys might like to know! Herb