They were taken with double guns, mostly 16 gauge Lefevers, Ithacas, Parkers and Birmy boxlocks. The Birmy had nitro proofs, 2-1/2". The unproofed American guns seemed to work as well as the proofed Birmy.
No maker's proofmarks on any of those guns, Mike? That'd be unusual, in my experience. An article in "Army Ordnance" from 1934, by LTC Calvin Goddard, reports the proof standards then used by Hunter Arms, Parker, and Ithaca. Can't say that I've looked for proofmarks on all the American guns I've handled, but I can say that I've seen proofmarks on guns from all 3 of those companies. Also Winchester and Fox. Further information on proof and proofmarks on American doubles can be found in Walt Snyder's Ithaca book, pp 78-79. An example of the Fox proofmark can be seen in McIntosh's book, p. 219. (I seem to recall other reference to proof in that book, but it has a particularly poor index.) For Hunter Arms proofmarks, see pp 189-190 of LTC Brophy's book on L.C. Smiths.
Last edited by L. Brown; 01/04/12 10:22 AM.
