Greetings all,

I noticed a comment that Kirby Hoyt made regarding one of the guns on his site which really has my interest peaked! He mentions that the lines on the bottom of an action are not scratches but are forging marks which often appear on guns more than 100 years old. See here - http://www.vintagedoubles.com/catalog/?sort=2&process=fullview&gunID=2236
I have never heard this before but it would make sense as you often tend to see these marks on older hammerguns with smooth action bottoms.

The picture below is from a gun built in 1899 and I had assumed that these similar lines were scratches, but they dont really look like scratches upon close inspection. It would solve a puzzling question if this is indeed the case.
Can anyone verify this? Somehow, I have never heard or seen any mention of this before.