old_LEESPEED,

First let me give you my warm welcome to the forums. We value the contributions of each member, and your participation will enhance the valuable body of knowledge you already have commented upon.

It is the policy of NitroExpress.com to preserve, as best as possible, the priceless information exchanged here so in years to come the discussions held today will be a repository of reference data. Preservation of photos is equally important; maybe more so, than preservation of text. Some years from now this thread will be of no value if what formerly were links to photos then appear as a red "x". One of my meager contributions to our group is to do what I explained: to archive photos for posterity. Sorry if my earlier explanation was insufficient, but I didn't want to inject an off-topic discussion to this interesting thread.

Now back to the pre-1904 Birmingham proof marks. Here is a macro photo of the two Birmingham stamps used before the changes of 1904. This is not a photo from the Lee Speed rifle at issue, but is presented to facilitate discussion.

Here the lower mark is the Birmingham inspection mark used during the period 1812-1904. It has the "crown" and "V".

Above that is the Birmingham final black powder proof mark for the same period. Its devices, in counter-clockwise order from top, are "crown", "B", "P", "C".

In 1904 proof for nitro powders was standardized. Prior to that time there were various conventions, with special rules applied to the .303 British. Thus you see the words "Nitro Proved" stamped on your barrel, in addition to these stamps.

Curl