Bob, as you probably know the date codes on Belgian guns started in the early 1920's. Before then there were none as far as any
one knows. In the 1978 Gun Digest there was a fairly extensive article on Belgian proof procedures by Lee Kennett; according to this article the choke marking, the chamber/ gauge marking and the smokeless proof marking changed several times between 1898 and 1924, here is what I have gleaned from this article.
choke marks
1878 to 1897---- NOT POUR BALL
1897 to 1898---- CHOKE
1898 to 1910---- CHOKE 17.0 16.3 bore and choke in MM
1910 to 1924---- CHOKE 17.0/16.3 bore and choke as a fraction
1924 on--------- CHOKE 17.0 ( no choke indication)
I have no idea how accurate this information is but it is a start, Kennett missed the date codes that started in 1922 or so. there is 10 pages of info in this article, including 2 pages of proofmarks. I think Genos posting of the date codes is accurate, the only questionable one would be 1952, which I think should be a greek letter. If you don't have this book I can scan it for you, my email is in my profile.
Jim
Last edited by james-l; 06/01/07 01:05 PM.
