Well I get that, but the stamps fonts are identical all the way from the 1850s to 1900, and the numbers are sequential, which would pretty much rule this out.
It is true that Bernard stamps were imitated by a host of others.
His "brand" was very valuable, and therefore imitated. I also have to believe that the "E. Bernard" maker from Liege was benefiting from the name similarity. I have yet to see an L. Bernard gun. I have only seen barrels.
One also can see that his original stamps were just (LB) and Leopold Bernard. Down the road, the legion of honor stamp showed up (he probably got it) and the "Canonnier a Paris" as well.
Best regards,
WC-