Proof marks

[yamoon]

I bought this rifle in an internet auction several years ago it was advertised as 8.15x46r. I didn’t get a chance to chamber cast it until the guarantee had expired. It is chambered for 32 Winchester Special and on top of that the butcher who did the work did not use a pilot and the chamber is off center. I shot it by breach seating & indexing the brass. I have decided to shoot it some more. Can you tell me anything from the proof marks? Does the lack of a crown over B indicate the final definitive proof was done without the rifle being in a finished state, such as a barreled action?
Mike

[mike ford]

Mike,
I feel for you, I too have been battling a botched re-chambering job (also to 32 Win. Spec), but in my case it at least wasn't a nice rifle like yours is. While the proof is meaningless now, if it had the crown B, that would have meant it had a single definitive proof using the provisional proof charge. This proof was mostly used on imported guns. Your rifle shows two "eagles" next to a crown U. The first eagle is the mark for a provisional proof while the second shows it withstood definitive proof before View proof (which was basically a detailed inspection). What makes the marks meaningless is the rechambering (even if the new chamber was good). I understand you didn't do it, but in my experience more of these are botched than properly done. The correct solution to having a rifle for which commercial ammo is not available is to hand load (the exception being to clean an old nonstandard chamber to the standardized version). With that said, maybe if you "cleaned up" your chamber with a piloted reamer it would bring it to center, resulting in an oversized (Improved?) chamber. Anyway, if it didn't work you would be in the same position as now.
Mike

[yamoon]

Thanks Mike, can you translate the writing next to the proof marks? Is it the factory where the steel was produced? I have the Gun Digest with Lee Kinnet’s article on German proof coming, courtesy of eBay, should arrive today.
Mike

[algmule]

Hello
"Verdichteter" is something along the lines of compressed/compacted. The S is said to be for the Schilling forge. What the digit 4 is for I don't know.

Peter

[mike ford]

Peter,
Do you think it could be referring to forged steel?
Mike

[Axel E]

Verdichteter Kruppscher Stahl = compressed steel by Krupp (steelworks in Essen), barrel blank forged by the Schilling forge, Suhl. The gauge number stands for a bore/land diameter from .300 to .309", So the rifle was originally proofed in Suhl before April 1912. As the rifle is rechambered, it is out of proof, of course.

[yamoon]

Thanks, Axel, Mike, Peter, informative answers as always.
Mike

[yamoon]

I also have a nice system Frohm that has been rechambered to 303 British. The smith did a good job, I competed with it in 94 & 95 at the Grand American Schuetzenfest. At least I didn’t embarrass myself, it shoots much better than I can hold.
Mike