Hi, can i say nothing with sense?
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Originally Posted by fahnenschmied
...What I'm really looking for at the moment is a list or chart with 18th century proofmarks, or barrel marks, from France, Holland, Belgium, Spain and elsewhere in Europe...
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Judging by the quoted dimensions of the punch mark and its accuracy, you will tell how well you discern its details because, if it is indeed a man holding a spear, i would say it doesn't figure in the European proof mark books. The closest thing you find there is an arm holding a (sort of) scimitar, a nitro proof London mark, which certainly you know and, anyway, has nothing to do with the spear man.
This would certainly be a maker's mark.
I will PM this thread to Stuart (kahnjar1). If i was not dreaming, the other day he offered to help decoding firearms marks.
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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
...It is noted there are no visible proof marks which seems unusual as most European barrels did have some sort of proof, perhaps the shortening of the barrel removed the proof? I am not familiar which part of the barrel would have been removed in this modification...
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A zillion things can happen to firearms during their lifes but i guess that, massively, barrels are shortened by the muzzle. Exceptionaly by the time flintlocks were converted to percussion, one of the early modifications was cutting the barrel by the breech and screw a new one, with percussion facilities; but this type of operations is a system conversion and not necessarily an actual barrel shortening. It should be also to consider that, very often you find punch proof marks under the barrel, close or not far from the breech. Also plenty gun or barrel makers (British and others) sign the pieces in this area.
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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
... It appears that many guns were dramatically shortened in the barrel length for either horseback use or use in thickly forested or rugged terrain...
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As also to used them for private defence, concealed under the coat, but a musket shortened from five foot to 36-38" is still a huge beast, still an open field thing, right ?
Fernando
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