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Before 1968, guns (like other imported items today) had to be marked with the "country of origin" mark, usually called the "COO mark." But US made items being brought back did not need the mark, so an Ithaca pistol would not have it, where a Webley would have an "ENGLAND" stamp.
Those markings could have been put on overseas, but were usually put on here, in bonded warehouses. The people with the stamps were not necessarily gun experts, so they made mistakes, like stamping "ENGLAND" on a Savage Rifle No.4, and sometimes missing a few.
But GCA '68 changed the rules for guns*, requiring the name and address of the importer and the caliber of the gun. For commercial sporting arms, those were normally put on at the factory, but for milsurps, they were put on by the importer, again in bonded facilities.
*Due to the time spent trying to forward trace the rifle used in the Kennedy assassination, when no one knew even which company had imported it.
Jim
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