Home / Proof Marks / C.I.P. — the fleur-de-lis (steel shot mark)

C.I.P. — the fleur-de-lis (steel shot mark)

Modern European proof (C.I.P.) · Modern arms.
What it looks like
A stylised lily, usually beside the words "Steel Shot" and the CIP monogram.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel and monobloc, often under the extractors on a modern over-and-under.
Date range
Modern arms.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The barrel was proved for high-performance steel shot. This is the newest and most consequential mark on a modern European shotgun: steel cartridges marked "High Performance" may only be used in a gun proved for them, and the fleur-de-lis with "Steel Shot" is how the gun says it can take them. Developed under C.I.P. regulations, it is the practical mark that tells a modern shooter what they can safely feed the gun.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It does not mean the gun is safe with every steel load, only with the loads the proof covers, and it says nothing about a barrel that has been altered or a choke that has been changed since. Its absence does not mean a gun is unsafe with all steel, only that it is not proved for high-performance steel.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other modern european proof (c.i.p.)

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.