Quote:
Originally Posted by Absalom
None of this happened to any guns shipped to Britain either. No proofing occurred and no marks were applied to any BSR's that were shipped to Britain and issued to British troops.
The proof marks and view marks commonly found are all the result of commercial proofing initiated after the war by whichever entity purchased these guns from the British government as surplus. Contrary to popular misconception, these guns did not need to be proofed to be sold by the government, but only if sold by a licensed dealer to a private customer. This is most clearly illustrated by Cogswell & Harrison's conversions, which were not proofed until after they had been converted to .38 Special, and bear the markings for that proof load.
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So these guns did not receive their overseas marks until the were destined for surplus status. Then some did somehow escape even that. That makes sense.
Then either
1. My pistol escaped markings after service and somehow made it back to Oregon,
or
2. Somehow was removed from the May 3 shipment and never left.
Here is part of my letter
