Argo, have you run across any French guns you can document as being pre-WWII with the proof pressure marked in kilos? Even though all European gunmaking countries are now part of the CIP, they still--obviously--use different proofmarks. But the Brits didn't replace their "tons" marks with "bars" until the 80's. I've always assumed--perhaps incorrectly--that French guns marked with pressure using the metric system were all post-WWII.
My guess on this gun, given that we now know that the individual who brought it back--since he lived in Germany for a period of time after the war--likely got it there during the postwar years. If he was still serving in the military, and particularly if he was an officer, it's quite possible he was authorized to ship household goods back to the States. When I returned from Morocco in 1973, I had an SKB sxs that I'd purchased at a military rod & gun club in Spain. I followed the rules and sent it back--where it promptly ended up stuck in Customs in New York, and they were going to charge me locker rental storage fees. One of the gun dealers in my home town finally figured out how to "liberate" it and avoid the charges. But I should have followed the advice of my friend who was the vice consul in the embassy (and a former diplomatic courier), who said he always sent his guns back and forth with his household goods. Technically against the rules, but it worked for him. The individual in question may have done the same thing . . . rather than trying to bring it back in his duffelbag, like a returning enlisted soldier. Of course in those long ago days, I also reported for duty in Morocco carrying a shotgun through Moroccan customs--the gun having flown with me, in the cockpit of the Pan Am 707 on which we arrived. Which Pan Am had assured me was the legal way to do it back then. Confirmed by the pilot, although the gate agent in New York tried to argue otherwise.
Larry, As you all know I have a very limited assortment of SxS's since I just got enamored with SxS's 2.5 years ago. I have the
-- 1898 EM Reilly 12 bore hammer gun with 30" Damascus barrels (Reilly line)
-- a "Wonder" 1930's Saint Etienne 12 bore -
http://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=448156&page=5-- the William Evans 1902 20 bore -
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=475775, and the
-- 1906 Gerest Berthon 16 ga Saint Etienne 16 bore with Didier Drevet barrels - posted by Ed Goode here which provoked the "dating early French shotgun" line.
You guys have helped me with all of them and I've learned a lot. But, I'm not sure what to look for on these guns for proof pressure. On the two Saint Etienne guns there's only the Saint Etienne crossed fronds.
I have been meaning to check the Reilly barrels out for Dates - one of our British posters noted that his Reilly with a SN from 1903 had barrels proofed pre-1896.
As for shipping guns..all of mine were hidden in trunks of Baluch rugs when I transferred PCS abroad. I never declared them. I even got a complete reloading apparatus into India including the powder and primers because of at the time Indian "Permit Raj" restrictions on shotgun ammo.
From Afghanistan, if it was pre 1898, you mailed the stuff back via APO. Up to about 2007 some of the JAG officers were flexible enough to allow British .303 SMLE Enfields to be sent back, reasoning they had been designed in 1892. I did stick an old hand-made clapped out double hammer gun with Islamic inscriptions on it's rib in my luggage in Quetta about 2008 and carried it back unmolested to the USA through Chicago airport with nary a question being asked.
