I have never dated the barrels on my guns. Maybe I should check it out. You have peaked my interest Ranger
I would agree with you except I held a little info from you guys. The gun is 1929 by serial number, however, it wasn’t sold until 1933. So is it an “h” or is it an “ l”?. The loop turns to the right just like the one in the picture.
Yep I agree could be an h looking at yours. Hope you got an l too. What does the gold book say about when they were stamped. When made or when sold?
Don’t have a L, have f I and e and other newer barrels here, 3 of my 2.5” barrels are being rust blued don’t have them here. SV book just mentions guns could sit for months or years before shipped doesn’t really speak specifically about code stamping the barrels, or the order it was done in.
Good info. One other strange thing is this barrel has a mid bead. It is missing, but it was a 2 dollar option in 1929. Looking for one of you come across any. According to browning letter they were ivory.
I think turnbull will sell a bone, boar or walrus bead you might try them. Several top end smiths could provide, JJ Perodeau, Pfrommer, you might even call Midwest gun works? Midwest will know the thread size. Even Art may have one but I haven’t ever talked to him about ivory replacements.
Don't know how relevant this will be but I've a Super Saive two barrel set with one barrel proofed in 1947 and the second in 1949. Why this should be is at best a guess but barrel markings are a dark science and best not to push too hard.
I’ve long been frustrated trying to make the date codes match the chart. The script is often different. Sometimes they look more like this: Also, all bets are off when it comes to high grade guns. It’s possible, for example, that a gun could come back to FN for engraving. And the barrel was replaced for some reason. Maybe it was blemished, or the engraver made a mistake. They would have stamped the replacement with a matching serial number. For the next 100 years, no one outside the factory would notice the date code.
Well, the plot thickens, it could be either, when it's time to make this one new it will get the "h". The more I learn the less I know. The chase is what makes them interesting to me. This particular one shows it left the factory as a grade I, but it is clearly a grade II. I have been given several different possibilities. First one was that during the late 20's early 30's browning changed their grades and grade II became the grade I. The other was it was sent back to Belgium and was made a grade II. When I got the letter, I was asked for several detailed photos and the guy at Browning agreed on grade II for what that's worth.
I must say, I didn’t really prove anything about date codes and shipping. I just realized one of my favorite barrels is Matt top 25.5” 1930 serial number with a h 1929 mark. Supposedly Matt barrels didn’t start till 1934-35? I just proved I don’t know much! Need to change name to confuza5er.
Thats pretty funny Jimmy. I think we are all in the same boat, that is sinking. I still like things documented here as a visual reference if nothing else. I'm not sure how things were done back then but seems to me that the engravers had a certain amount of " do what you want" until Mr. Funken came around. Then things got a little more standard, but I'm sure either himself or one of his prize students got to color outside the lines. Either way it's still amazing at the talent that some of these people had. I don't think we will ever figure out all the details, but it's nice to see each and every one of them.