SMOOTH BORE WEAPON MARKINGS

The Weapon markings, in particular of smooth-bore weapons, are extremely important to go back to the year of manufacture of the shotgun and to be aware of the technical characteristics of the weapon.

Knowing exactly what you can shoot with a rifle will be extremely important, first of all, to avoid the risk of damaging the weapon and, above all, to avoid more serious problems to itself.

Year of manifacture

Before 1953, the year of manifacture was marked showing the complete year with all four digits.

Since 1954 it has started, however, to indicate the year with a Roman numeral, starting with X.

Over the years, however, they realized that entering the figure in Roman numerals would require too long markings: from 1971 it was decided to use Roman and Arabic numerals, like XX7 for 1971, XX8 and XX9 for 1972 and 1973, ending with XXX in 1974.

Since 1975, they abolished the Roman numerals and it was decided to indicate the year with a two-letter code starting with the letters: AA, AB in 1976 and so on.

The problem is that some letters have been skipped, so only by placing a complete list of codes you can find the manufacture year of the weapon.

Below, the list updated to 2007:

X = 1954              XX8 = 1972          AZ = 1990

XI = 1955             XX9 = 1973          BA = 1991

XII = 1956            XXX = 1974          BB = 1992

XIII = 1957          AA = 1975           BC = 1993

XIV = 1958          AB = 1976           BD = 1994

XV = 1959            AC = 1977           BF = 1995

XVI = 1960          AD = 1978           BH = 1996

XVII = 1961         AE = 1979            BI = 1997

XVIII = 1962        AF = 1980            BL = 1998

XIX = 1963           AH = 1981           BM = 1999

XX = 1964            AI = 1982             BN = 2000

XXI = 1965           AL = 1983            BP = 2001

XXII = 1966         AM = 1984          BS = 2002

XXIII = 1967        AN = 1985           BT = 2003

XXIV = 1968        AP = 1986            BU = 2004

XXV = 1969         AS = 1987            BZ = 2005

XXVI = 1970        AT = 1988            CA = 2006

XX7 = 1971          AU = 1989           CB = 2007

Testing and certification

All firearms are subject to testing and certification, imprinting on the barrel and on the bascule the serial number, the manufacturer's mark and caliber.

Smooth bore shotguns must have impressed in addiction:

- The chamber length (example: cam.70 or 70)

- The diameter of the chamber (example: 18.7)

After the visual inspection of the weapon and the firing test, the National Proof House gives the marks on the weapon supplied by the Mint.