H E L P - Please. British Markings on a WW-I Luger

[Johnny Peppers]

The proof and acceptance marks are not all that deep, and anyone with any experience at all would not have ground out the markings. The entire side of the frame would have been worked down to keep everything straight. I helped the local gunsmith prepare a Luger receiver for rebluing which had rusted and pitted from poor storage. I had a hard time taking out the minor pitting without removing the marks. If done expertly on your pistol, you would not be able to tell that the marking had been removed.

I have never seen an explaination of the system of commercial proofing used by the British at the London or Birmingham Proof House. The Model 1911A1's were proofed at 7 tons (15,700 lbs.) per square inch, and the M1 Rifle at 18 tons (40,300 lbs) per square inch. The US arsenals routinely proofed the M1 Rifle at 70,000 lbs per square inch which was approximately 50% over standard military ammo. Also,the tons per square inch were the proof loads used in the proofing.