Originally Posted by Drew Hause
London proved twice - the Crowned R towards the front is the reproof mark
The second proof was 1954-1989 when the 2 1/2" chamber, bore of .729" and 3 TONS (for a max. service pressure of about 9000 psi) were marked

Thank you, I feel better about what I came up with before king. I got all of that right, but this:

Originally Posted by Drew Hause
Unfortunately the shot is not present; 96' - 04' would be 1 1/8 OZ MAX or MAXIMUM. 04' - 25' would be 1 1/8 OZ SHOT BUT it's not uncommon not to have the MAX nor SHOT.

...knocked my confidence.

I didn't know it was uncommon for the SHOT to be missing and the serial number and steel barrels had me feeling like it should be newer than 1896...but I was just guessing.

Originally Posted by Drew Hause
The original bore was '12' which would be .729" - .739" so the reproof was not from honing.

That makes me wonder why it was reproofed and when, exactly.