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Mossberg with British proofs

Ambrose
I have a Mossberg 42M-B marked as US property and with British proofs on barrel and bolt. It appears to have had little use which brings me to my question. Were these guns (and others) proofed here in the US by British inspectors? I have seen Savage made Enfields and a Remington 1903 with British proofs and, like this Mossberg, they don't seem to have the handling marks I would expect them to have from being shipped back and forth from GB as well as being subjected to use by troops. Also, it doesn't seem likely that returning US lend/lease equipment would have been a very high priority after the war. Which makes me wonder if, in spite of the British markings, this rifle ever left the States
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6 comments

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  • rufe-snow
    There are different kinds of proofs used on British firearms, i.e. military and commercial. If the proofs on your Mossberg are commercial? My WAG is that it was done over there when it was released from government service, for sale on the civilian market. I don't see them putting commercial proofs on it if it was used as a training rifle for the limeies. Post some quality pics of the proofs so we can see what kind they are.
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  • Ambrose
    rufe-snow, Thanks for your response. Do you think it could have been proofed here in the US and then never made it overseas? We had military personal as inspectors in the arms plants in WWII. Don't you think the British would have sent their inspectors here, also?
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  • rufe-snow
    quote:Originally posted by Ambrose
    rufe-snow, Thanks for your response. Do you think it could have been proofed here in the US and then never made it overseas? We had military personal as inspectors in the arms plants in WWII. Don't you think the British would have sent their inspectors here, also?


    Not with commercial proofs. The British military inspectors wouldn't have marked .22 training rifles with commercial proofs.

    The Brits revised their commercial proof marks in the 50's. If your Mossberg has the post war type of commercial proofs it would definitively prove that it wasn't done in the States in the 40's.
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  • Mossbergboogie
    42M (b) was made 1945-1947.
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  • Ambrose
    Mossbergboogie;

    This one is a 42M-B with no parentheses and no lower case letter. It is marked:
    UNITED STATES
    PROPERTY
    SERIAL NUMBER 15167
    on barrel and receiver with British proof marks on barrel, receiver, bolt root and bolt body. According to the Havalin's book, it is WWII production.
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  • kimi
    The fact that it has British proof marks makes me believe that they were applied in Britain. ruff-snow brings up a good point that needs to be checked out too. As for condition, I returned ten Mossberg .22 rifles to Crane, Indiana around 1995 that were in pristine condition...lots of these old rifles were never used.
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